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What Can I Do to Restore the California Delta?
Restore the Delta will feature an event, "What Can I Do To Restore The Delta?," featuring Congressman George Miller, Senator Mike Machado, Bill Jennings of the CSPA and Delta farmer Alex Hildebrand on September 14, 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. at Alder Market and Bistro, 151 W Alder, Stockton, CA. The broad-based organization will award the four with its first annual award, "The Delta Advocate Award," for their work on behalf of the Delta either through legislative and policy efforts or through advocacy efforts. The awards occur at a time when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senator Diane Feinstein are campaigning for an environmentally destructive and costly water bond that would further exacerbate the collapse of Central Valley salmon, delta smelt, longfin smelt, threadfin shad and striped bass populations.
Delta Flows: Weekly Highlights from Restore the Delta September 3, 2008
In This Issue: Restore the Delta's Special Event
"How much the greatest event is that ever happened in the world. And how much the best!" ---Charles James Fox
Welcome to the new Delta Flows, Restore the Delta's, once again, weekly newsletter on Delta news.
Restore the Delta's Special Event
To reserve a seat, see below.
"What Can I Do To Restore The Delta?"
Featuring: Congressman George Miller and Senator Mike Machado
Sunday, September 14, 2008, 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Doors open at noon; lunch is served at 12:30; program begins at 12:45 p.m.
Alder Market and Bistro, 151 W Alder, Stockton, CA
Restore the Delta is launching its first annual award, The Delta Advocate Award will be given to four recipients for their work on behalf of the Delta either through legislative and policy efforts, or through advocacy efforts.
Our first recipient, Congressman George Miller, is chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. He is a leading advocate in Congress on education, labor, the economy, and the environment. He has represented the 7th District of California in the East Bay of San Francisco since 1975. His district includes portions of Contra Costa and Solano counties, including Richmond, Concord, Martinez, Pittsburg, Vallejo, Benicia and Vacaville.
Congressman Miller is an expert on California water issues. In 1992,he passed and enacted into law the historic California water reform law, known as the Central Valley Project Improvement Act. More importantly, he has been a long time advocate for protecting the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
A spate of reports on the Bay-Delta prompted five Democratic members of Congress, including Congressman Miller, to reiterate their calls for prompt and aggressive steps to protect the health of the Bay- Delta ecosystem, restore the state's salmon fisheries, and avoid being sidetracked by the politically divisive peripheral canal.
Like Congressman Miller, our second recipient, Senator Mike Machado, has been a leader in water legislation for California, and a strong advocate for the Delta. In 2004, Senator Machado was re-elected to represent the Fifth Senate District, which includes the cities of Tracy, Manteca and Stockton in San Joaquin County; Suisun City, Fairfield, Dixon and Vacaville in Solano County; Davis, West Sacramento, Winters and Woodland in Yolo County; as well as Walnut Grove and a portion of Elk Grove in Sacramento County.
Two of the Senator's most notable accomplishments have been authoring Proposition 13, the Safe Drinking Water, Clean Water, Watershed Protection, and Flood Protection Bond Act, and assisting in the passage of Proposition 50, the Water Security, Clean Drinking Water, Coastal and Beach Protection Act of 2002.
Delta environmentalist, Bill Jennings, and Delta farmer Alex Hildebrand will also be award recipients for their years of advocacy on behalf of Delta water quality. Both Mr. Jennings and Mr. Hildebrand have displayed passion, intelligence, and integrity in their dealings with water agencies. Both are outstanding leaders from the Delta.
Each ticket is $50.00 and includes lunch. Please call Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla at 209-479-2053 to place your reservation, or email Barbara [at] restorethedelta.org. In your email be sure to include the number of people attending in your party, your snail-mail address, and whether you prefer a chicken or vegetarian lunch. If you make a reservation and do not attend, you will be billed for the balance.
Restore the Delta is working everyday through public education and citizen activism to ensure the restoration and future sustainability of the California Delta. Your general contribution can help us sponsor outreach events, enable us to educate Californians on what makes the Delta so special, and assist us in building a coalition that will be recognized by government water agencies as they make water management decisions.
Restore the Delta is a charitable 501(c)3 organization. Donations are tax deductible.
In This Issue: Restore the Delta's Special Event
"How much the greatest event is that ever happened in the world. And how much the best!" ---Charles James Fox
Welcome to the new Delta Flows, Restore the Delta's, once again, weekly newsletter on Delta news.
Restore the Delta's Special Event
To reserve a seat, see below.
"What Can I Do To Restore The Delta?"
Featuring: Congressman George Miller and Senator Mike Machado
Sunday, September 14, 2008, 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Doors open at noon; lunch is served at 12:30; program begins at 12:45 p.m.
Alder Market and Bistro, 151 W Alder, Stockton, CA
Restore the Delta is launching its first annual award, The Delta Advocate Award will be given to four recipients for their work on behalf of the Delta either through legislative and policy efforts, or through advocacy efforts.
Our first recipient, Congressman George Miller, is chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. He is a leading advocate in Congress on education, labor, the economy, and the environment. He has represented the 7th District of California in the East Bay of San Francisco since 1975. His district includes portions of Contra Costa and Solano counties, including Richmond, Concord, Martinez, Pittsburg, Vallejo, Benicia and Vacaville.
Congressman Miller is an expert on California water issues. In 1992,he passed and enacted into law the historic California water reform law, known as the Central Valley Project Improvement Act. More importantly, he has been a long time advocate for protecting the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
A spate of reports on the Bay-Delta prompted five Democratic members of Congress, including Congressman Miller, to reiterate their calls for prompt and aggressive steps to protect the health of the Bay- Delta ecosystem, restore the state's salmon fisheries, and avoid being sidetracked by the politically divisive peripheral canal.
Like Congressman Miller, our second recipient, Senator Mike Machado, has been a leader in water legislation for California, and a strong advocate for the Delta. In 2004, Senator Machado was re-elected to represent the Fifth Senate District, which includes the cities of Tracy, Manteca and Stockton in San Joaquin County; Suisun City, Fairfield, Dixon and Vacaville in Solano County; Davis, West Sacramento, Winters and Woodland in Yolo County; as well as Walnut Grove and a portion of Elk Grove in Sacramento County.
Two of the Senator's most notable accomplishments have been authoring Proposition 13, the Safe Drinking Water, Clean Water, Watershed Protection, and Flood Protection Bond Act, and assisting in the passage of Proposition 50, the Water Security, Clean Drinking Water, Coastal and Beach Protection Act of 2002.
Delta environmentalist, Bill Jennings, and Delta farmer Alex Hildebrand will also be award recipients for their years of advocacy on behalf of Delta water quality. Both Mr. Jennings and Mr. Hildebrand have displayed passion, intelligence, and integrity in their dealings with water agencies. Both are outstanding leaders from the Delta.
Each ticket is $50.00 and includes lunch. Please call Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla at 209-479-2053 to place your reservation, or email Barbara [at] restorethedelta.org. In your email be sure to include the number of people attending in your party, your snail-mail address, and whether you prefer a chicken or vegetarian lunch. If you make a reservation and do not attend, you will be billed for the balance.
Restore the Delta is working everyday through public education and citizen activism to ensure the restoration and future sustainability of the California Delta. Your general contribution can help us sponsor outreach events, enable us to educate Californians on what makes the Delta so special, and assist us in building a coalition that will be recognized by government water agencies as they make water management decisions.
Restore the Delta is a charitable 501(c)3 organization. Donations are tax deductible.
Add Your Comments
Comments
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Hi Dan,
I don't get what you say about the cost and environmental destruction here. Dude, the system isn't working the way it is. Species are going extinct as we speak. If the peripheral canal was build when it was supposed to, the delta probably wouldn't be collapsing the way it is now. You must be another one of those wealthy guys in the delta who is getting big subsidies to sell and grow crops on islands that wouldn't be there without more subsidies.
Give me a break.
I don't get what you say about the cost and environmental destruction here. Dude, the system isn't working the way it is. Species are going extinct as we speak. If the peripheral canal was build when it was supposed to, the delta probably wouldn't be collapsing the way it is now. You must be another one of those wealthy guys in the delta who is getting big subsidies to sell and grow crops on islands that wouldn't be there without more subsidies.
Give me a break.
Greetings!
Due to some last minute challenges, the Restore the Delta September 14th event is being rescheduled for January. Our award recipients, Congressman George Miller, Senator Mike Machado, Bill Jennings, and Alex Hildebrand, will all be available in January to help kick off our 2009 activities.
Watch for details and information in upcoming issues of Delta Flows.
We will contact ticket holders to make arrangements for a ticket refund or exchange.
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla
Due to some last minute challenges, the Restore the Delta September 14th event is being rescheduled for January. Our award recipients, Congressman George Miller, Senator Mike Machado, Bill Jennings, and Alex Hildebrand, will all be available in January to help kick off our 2009 activities.
Watch for details and information in upcoming issues of Delta Flows.
We will contact ticket holders to make arrangements for a ticket refund or exchange.
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla
These four getting the award aren't necessarily doing good things for the people of California. Their actions represent a very small (compared to California population) constituency of the most vocal and radical kind. It is very apparent that the water in California is getting rarer. Using water for animals and taking it away from the use by people, is nothing but a one-sided affair, and very anti-human.
Maybe that's what SER is really all about, Animals Yes, People No. Besides the striped bass is not a native fish, it was introduced. Just an small issue, but an indicator of who matters, and whether obfuscation is allowable. By and large, these four are good Humans, just not good For humans.
"Water Guy" wrote this comment;
"If the peripheral canal was build when it was supposed to, the delta probably wouldn't be collapsing the way it is now. You must be another one of those wealthy guys in the delta who is getting big subsidies to sell and grow crops on islands that wouldn't be there without more subsidies."
That's funny! Could you explain that first sentence using some science and facts to back that point up? We're supposed to believe that somehow the peripheral canal would actually have prevented the delta fisheries collapse by what method? By giving salt water from the ocean a speedy path into the delta's center?
Want a simple solution to saving the delta ecosystem? Try less amount freshwater exports going out of the delta to agribusiness! Period! This isn't rocket science either!!
The delta peripheral canal is just another escape from the reality of water overconsumption concocted by politicians (in the pockets of agribusiness) who know or care very little about riparian hydrology. There's plenty of examples found by the effects of canals on low elevation freshwater ecosystems, specifically the cypress swamps of Louisiana following years of the MR-GO petroleum transport canal enabling salt water to intrude further inland, thus killing of the freshwater cypress trees. Even the mainstream "weather channel" featured a segment on salt water intrusion into cypress swamps during their "Forecast Earth" program, so it isn't that difficult to find out about this! Why our politicians in CA don't learn from the mistakes of others is beyond logical comprehension, unless we look at their true motivation being short term profit and payoffs from San Joaquin agribusiness corporations for fulfilling their ever increasing demands for fresh water..
The only major difference between the canals around New Orleans and the CA delta's peripheral canal is that the peripheral canal has no human constructed outlet to the ocean, so therefore we are to believe that the ocean itself will never rise to the occasion and flood into the canal zone, thus saturating the regions of the delta the canal crosses through from north to south with salt water. Once again the reality of global warming's sea level rise and increasing storm surges indicates that it is indeed likely that any peripheral canal built through the delta will increase the probability of salt water intrusion..
As far as the delta islands are concerned, my position is that most islands should be allowed to flood seasonally during the rainy months, and the farmers can return to the islands in the summer after the rains have stopped to have a fresh layer of topsoil from last spring's flood. Housing on the islands will then need to be mobile and temporary, but after a few years of flooding and with enough riparian buffer plants like willows on the edges of the islands to catch and trap the silt from the floodwaters, the elevation of the islands should return to their position above sea level. This is how the islands were created in the first place, and the reason they are sinking to below sea level is that they were not flooded for several decades following the construction of levees..
This may not be what anyone wants to hear, but that's the reality of nature. If modern day people in the U.S. learned from the indigenous peoples here, how they adapted their lifestyles around nature instead of always trying to control everything with man made alterations, maybe we could be saving ourselves some trouble?
"If the peripheral canal was build when it was supposed to, the delta probably wouldn't be collapsing the way it is now. You must be another one of those wealthy guys in the delta who is getting big subsidies to sell and grow crops on islands that wouldn't be there without more subsidies."
That's funny! Could you explain that first sentence using some science and facts to back that point up? We're supposed to believe that somehow the peripheral canal would actually have prevented the delta fisheries collapse by what method? By giving salt water from the ocean a speedy path into the delta's center?
Want a simple solution to saving the delta ecosystem? Try less amount freshwater exports going out of the delta to agribusiness! Period! This isn't rocket science either!!
The delta peripheral canal is just another escape from the reality of water overconsumption concocted by politicians (in the pockets of agribusiness) who know or care very little about riparian hydrology. There's plenty of examples found by the effects of canals on low elevation freshwater ecosystems, specifically the cypress swamps of Louisiana following years of the MR-GO petroleum transport canal enabling salt water to intrude further inland, thus killing of the freshwater cypress trees. Even the mainstream "weather channel" featured a segment on salt water intrusion into cypress swamps during their "Forecast Earth" program, so it isn't that difficult to find out about this! Why our politicians in CA don't learn from the mistakes of others is beyond logical comprehension, unless we look at their true motivation being short term profit and payoffs from San Joaquin agribusiness corporations for fulfilling their ever increasing demands for fresh water..
The only major difference between the canals around New Orleans and the CA delta's peripheral canal is that the peripheral canal has no human constructed outlet to the ocean, so therefore we are to believe that the ocean itself will never rise to the occasion and flood into the canal zone, thus saturating the regions of the delta the canal crosses through from north to south with salt water. Once again the reality of global warming's sea level rise and increasing storm surges indicates that it is indeed likely that any peripheral canal built through the delta will increase the probability of salt water intrusion..
As far as the delta islands are concerned, my position is that most islands should be allowed to flood seasonally during the rainy months, and the farmers can return to the islands in the summer after the rains have stopped to have a fresh layer of topsoil from last spring's flood. Housing on the islands will then need to be mobile and temporary, but after a few years of flooding and with enough riparian buffer plants like willows on the edges of the islands to catch and trap the silt from the floodwaters, the elevation of the islands should return to their position above sea level. This is how the islands were created in the first place, and the reason they are sinking to below sea level is that they were not flooded for several decades following the construction of levees..
This may not be what anyone wants to hear, but that's the reality of nature. If modern day people in the U.S. learned from the indigenous peoples here, how they adapted their lifestyles around nature instead of always trying to control everything with man made alterations, maybe we could be saving ourselves some trouble?
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