Contra Costa shoreline offers hope for a Delta in crisis

The merging shorelines of California's two major rivers, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, form the 1,100 square miles of the California Delta, the largest estuary on the west coast. The Delta provides two-thirds of the state's drinking water, irrigates half of California's farm land, and is home to 54 species of fish. Unfortunately, the Delta faces environmental problems of historic proportions. Several of the Delta's open-water fish populations have collapsed to record low levels, and likely causes include invasive species, pumping of Delta water to the Central Valley and Southern California, and toxin loads which include mercury deposited during the Gold Rush era along with pesticides and other organic compounds in use today. These three insults are likely to get worse in the immediate future. When one adds in the insane pace of development, the outlook seems gloomy indeed.

In the Contra Costa portion of the Delta, however, one strong hopeful sign is visible: large portions of the shoreline are in public ownership, and efforts are being made to protect and restore them. The largest single actor in this trend is the East Bay Regional Park District, which has been able to preserve thousands of acres of Delta shoreline for wildlife habitat and public enjoyment.

• Just north of Discovery Bay, the Park District holds a 360-acre portion of the Orwood Tract in a land bank for future Delta access.

• The Big Break Regional Trail now extends almost two miles along the shore from Jordan Lane to Big Break Bridge in Oakley, with additions planned this year and next. It links to the 7.7-mile Marsh Creek Regional Trail, which leads south through Brentwood.

• Antioch-Oakley Regional Shoreline in Oakley provides the public with a 24-hour fishing pier and landscaped picnic areas.

• The 595-acres of Browns Island, just off the Pittsburg Marina, preserves critical wildlife habitat and offers unmatched opportunities for nature study.

• Named to commemorate the route of 18th-century Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza, the Delta de Anza Regional Trail currently spans over 15 miles of its planned 25-mile length.

• The District owns a 70-acre parcel in Bay Point near McAvoy Harbor for future river access.

• Muir Heritage Trust, the Park District, and Contra Costa County have teamed to purchase 200-acre Pacheco Marsh near the mouth of Walnut Creek to set aside as wildlife habitat.

• Martinez and Carquinez Regional Shorelines consist of more than 3,000 acres of shoreline and uplands with beautiful views of Carquinez Straits. Two new bridges have just been completed to link the parks across creeks and railroad tracks, creating a key extension of the San Francisco Bay and Ridge Trails, which join at that point.

• Next year the Park District will open to the public 1,960-acre Crockett Hills Regional Park, an entirely new parkland just south of the town of Crockett, on beautiful open space formerly owned by C&H Sugar.

• With its 1,656 acres of land and water, Big Break Regional Shoreline is the largest shoreline park in Eastern Contra Costa. Just off Big Break Road the District has constructed a pier for wildlife observation and fishing. In partnership with Los Medanos College, the District will be developing the Delta Science Center, the first phase of which will consist of a classroom and a series of outdoor interactive exhibits, interpretive signs, and programs focused on the Delta. "This will be a great place for people of all ages to see and learn how the Delta ecology works," said Mike Anderson, the Park District's assistant general manager for planning and design.

Immediately east of the Big Break Regional Shoreline is the Dutch Slough Tidal Marsh and Floodplain Restoration Project. Bucking the usual trend, the farsighted Emerson, Gilbert, and Burroughs families sold their historic dairylands to the California Department of Water Resources rather than to developers. With financial support from the Coastal Conservancy and California Bay-Delta Authority, 1,166 acres of this land will be restored to natural habitat. The Natural Heritage Institute is managing the planning stages of this project.

The environmentally progressive Contra Costa County Community Development Department is sponsoring Global Position System (GPS) mapping of key county watersheds, along with benthic macroinvertebrate surveys, both of which will help identify areas of health and decline in the waterways that feed into the Delta. Volunteers from many community groups, including the Sierra Club, are the essential "labor force" for these surveys.

The county's Resource Conservation District has obtained several grants, allowing them to spearhead the formation of stakeholder-created management plans for the Alhambra, Kirker, Marsh, and Mount Diablo Creek watersheds.

Over the past decade, employee volunteers from Dow Chemical have restored a 500-acre wetlands preserve adjacent to the company's Pittsburg plant. This is an important stopping point on the Pacific Flyway, and is home to two endangered species, the salt-marsh harvest mouse and the Suisun aster. Dow's wetlands, plus the neighboring Delta Diablo Sanitation District's laboratory, have been made available to UC Berkeley, Los Medanos College, and the region's K - 12 students for research and restoration programs.

The Delta is still in serious trouble. But along its Contra Costa shoreline, at least, many people and organizations have decided to be cautiously optimistic, and with excitement generated by unique collaborations, we are striving to halt and reverse the Delta's ecological crises, regardless of its dismal prognosis.

Ned MacKay and Mitch Schweikert