 Most
of the 500,000 acres of the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta are privately
owned, purchased from the state in the 1850's to 1900's by families who
have farmed the land since California became a state.
These land
owners have the right to use fresh water for their existing uses and
purposes, usually farming. BUT IT'S NOT JUST
ABOUT THE WATER! As the maps below show, there's tremendous
natural resources in the Delta: natural gas (confirmed), maybe oil,
solar and wind energy opportunities.
Land ownership facts: When California became a state, the Federal
government gave the lands to the state to SELL to persons interested in
reclaiming the lands to use for farming and other productive uses.
The federal government did keep substantial lands in California outside of
the Delta area, and today the lands are managed by the USBR which owns 40%
or more of California lands according to references. But the federal
government did NOT retain ownership of the Delta lands, and the state
promoted reclamation into farmlands. Some islands had natural
levees already, as shown in maps from the 1850's. Ryer Island, Grand
Island and those areas along the Sacramento River from Antioch to
Sacramento are examples of natural-formed levees. Families who
came to California for the gold rush instead bought Delta lands for
farming, homes and recreational opportunities. Many of the smaller
farms of 20 acres to 200 acres still remain in the same families five
generations after the land was reclaimed. The levees of the Central
Delta area were built later, as large companies or families bought the
lands and created more defined Delta islands in the Central and South
parts of the Delta, along the San Joaquin River area.
Based on the maps below, it appears that over the last
10 years state and federal agencies have bought larger Delta parcels or
whole islands from corporate owners, and then turned the Delta lands
over to agencies like Fish & Game or nonprofits like The Nature
Conservancy to manage. There are also pending plans to use several
more Delta islands for in-delta storage (IDSP), with the owners of those
islands proposing the alternate use of the land. But the majority of
the private land owners of the Delta, especially the farmers, are opposed
to the taking of more fresh water from the Delta because then they will
not be able to have fresh water for farming, residential well use, and
their other traditional uses. Delta land owners have riparian
water rights that would be violated if the fresh Delta water was
diverted to new canals or tunnels. The media talks about the "fish
vs farmer" conflict, but entirely ignores the FACT that if farmers of the
Central Valley and Urban dwellers of the East Bay take more Delta water,
they are taking it from the Delta farmers who have first rights to the
water. See below for various maps found showing who owns what in the
Delta: |
