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Delta Plan on Paper

by Tom Torlakson, Past Chair, Delta Protection Commission

"A new comprehensive land use and resource management plan developed specifically for the Delta was just completed and adopted February 23 by the Delta Protection Commission. It offers a comprehensive set of policies and includes recommendations designed to protect the Delta's rich resources - its fisheries and wildlife, its farming and agricultural soils, its recreational opportunities. To develop thisplan, we had an open process with advisory groups of people and agencies with a `stake' in the Delta. The consensus building that went on over this two-year process led to a workable, acceptable plan that can be implemented by local government and is backed up by state law.

"The plan has several key elements: it seeks to preserve the Delta's unique agricultural character; it identifies important farmlands and sensitive wildlife areas that should be protected from urban growth; it suggests ways to safeguard local water quality and supply; and perhaps most key, it supports an aggressive program to cut through the red tape that's keeping levee maintenance and repair from occurring easily and economically. The plan calls for the Department of Water Resources, Cal Fish and Game and the U.S. Army Corps to coordinate and expedite their approval process for levee projects. Doing a better job with our levees will enable us to protect the Delta as we know it in its current physical configuration.

"We've also approved the idea of a study of recreational use of the Delta, which would identify areas of demand and corresponding user impacts. With this use plan, we can then go on to balance out how to accommodate more recreational use in the Delta without adversely impacting agricultural use. We may, for example, need to direct users into more specific and controlled points of access so we don't have people fishing off every levee, starting fires, disturbing wildlife and littering.

"In addition to developing a planning document and future goals, we've also succeeded in creating a central clearinghouse for information - an agency, the Delta Protection Commission, that people can turn to when they see that the Delta needs help, a voice for the Delta."

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