![]() “ And, it helps so that we can actually step up the pace and scale of restoration that we need to achieve statewide objectives for biodiversity and nature-based solutions and natural working lands.” “It helps move that money quickly and justifies more in the future,” he said. Ingram also noted that the grant monies have a short timeline and must all be obligated by 2025, making the large grant “reasonable.” “Essentially, with our public money, we can’t pay for anyone else’s mitigation,” he said. Some board members, however, wanted to make sure the Southern California water company did not use the island to mitigate the proposed Delta Tunnel Project that would divert water from the Sacramento River into a nearby 45-mile tunnel to more easily transport it to Southern California.īut Ingram assured board members that was not possible. Walters: California water rights at risk as three bills advance “Successful completion of this project will serve as a showcase for other landowners, demonstrating rice and wetlands as mutually beneficial alternatives to the current agricultural practices,” Damon said. (Contra Costa Times/Bob Pepping) (Contra Costa Times/Bob Pepping) 2004 FILE-Aerial photograph showing Bouldin Island in the foreground and Webb Tract in the background shot Wednesday, May 19, 2004, over the Sacramento River Delta island. She also noted that the agency received letters supporting the project from residents, agricultural and environmental organizations, tribal leaders, local reclamation districts and water districts. “This project will achieve its goals by rewetting the landscape and converting pasture into restored wetlands and rice crops.”ĭamon said planning is already underway for the two-phase project, including designing and permitting followed by construction, which will be over a three-year period, according to company documentation. “Each year the islands continue to oxidize and subside, resulting in increased risk for climate change and flooding,” Damon said. The Delta has more than 150,000 acres of deeply subsided or sinking islands that are a contributor to climate change as they produce greenhouse gases and pose flooding risks to communities and agricultural lands in the Delta as sea levels rise, she said. “The primary goal of this project is to halt organic soil subsidence and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Damon told the Delta Conservancy board at its May 24 meeting. Transforming the island into wetlands could slow the sinking and may help trap carbon dioxide, reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, according to Metropolitan officials and scientists who study the issues. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California also will provide $4.4 million in in-kind staff services for planning the project. The grant for the project comes from the state Amended Budget Act of 2022, which provided the Delta Conservancy with $36 million for projects that support restoration, conservation and climate resilience for wetlands. “This is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate how we can manage the deeply subsided islands of the Delta in a way that stops subsidence and related carbon emissions, maintains agriculture, provides habitat benefits, and – most importantly – improves the long-term economic viability and resilience of the islands,” Delta Conservancy Executive Officer Campbell Ingram said in a statement. Aerial photographs showing Webb Tract, top, Bouldin Island, lower right, and Venice Island, lower left, shot on over the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Deltasland in Calif. The new plan to turn one island into wetland and rice fields, however, seemed to get a measure of support all around. ![]() At the time, the district said it could use them to store construction equipment, but critics warned that it would make it easier for the governor’s proposed - and later scrapped - California Water Fix project to send more water to Southern California, with twin tunnels to be built smack in the islands’ pathway. The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy Board recently approved funding for the restoration work at Webb Tract, which the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California proposed on land it purchased along with three other islands – Bouldin, Bacon and Holland – for $175 million in 2016. The company plans to restore nearly 5,000 acres of Webb Tract, including 3,000 in wetlands, 1,500 in rice fields and the rest in other habitats, such as grasslands and scrub. Grazing cattle on an island in the central Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta could soon make way for Contra Costa County’s first rice fields and a mosaic of restored wetlands now that its owner has received a $20.9 million state grant.
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