Foundation Statements
DVF Letter to John Laird,
California Secretary for National Resources
Dear Secretary Laird:
Congratulations on beginning the release of the Administrative Draft Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). The Administrative Draft is a significant accomplishment for the Natural Resources Agency and its departments and it provides a comprehensive scientific basis for development of an overall Delta solution. The Delta Vision Foundation (DVF) preliminary review of the initial chapters finds that it is advancing important elements of a plan to address the challenges in the Delta. However, it falls short of the linked-actions approach set forth in the Delta Vision Strategic Plan and is insufficient to achieve the Two Co-Equal Goals:
Advancing BDCP Plus
By Charles Gardiner, Executive Director
Adding to the suggestion list – and controversy – around the issue of conveyance through the Delta, six environmental and business organizations recently wrote to Federal and State agency leaders requesting formal consideration of a "portfolio-based alternative" in the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) process. Seven water agencies followed with a letter of support for the alternative.
The letters both describe the approach necessary to achieve real and measurable progress toward the Two Co-Equal Goals and protection of the Delta as an evolving place, as outlined in the 2008 Delta Vision Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan, authored by the Delta Vision Task Force, became the basis for the historic water package passed by the Legislature in 2009.
Delta Action Gaining Traction
By Charles Gardiner, Executive Director
The past couple of months have offered the Delta Vision Foundation important opportunities to communicate a vision for the Delta that is essential to solving California's water challenges. Two important water leadership conferences provided a forum to emphasize the urgency of immediate action to address critical needs in the Delta, and advance the Two Co-Equal Goals of ecosystem restoration and water supply reliability.
On December 5th, DVF President Sunne Wright McPeak inspired the more than 1,500 water leaders attending the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) conference in San Diego to work together and get solutions moving. She highlighted the need for linked, integrated action that will achieve the Two Co-Equal Goals, saying, "Fish need water, so we have to build the water infrastructure that will allow us to capture water in wet years when it is truly surplus to the environment. Only then can we eliminate the conflict between fish and farms by leaving water for the ecosystem in dry years." As anyone tuned into the State's water challenges knows, current operations in the Delta divert more water in dry years than in wet years, as shown on the info-graphic at the end of this post.
Delta Plan Is Headed Toward the Finish Starting Line
By Charles Gardiner, Executive Director
"A comprehensive management plan for the Delta is now within reach." Those are the words spoken by Delta Stewardship Council Chairman Phil Isenberg upon the release of the Final Draft Delta Plan on November 30th.
The release is a significant step forward in the decades long effort to address the Delta's challenges. It's also a major milestone in implementing the Delta Vision Strategic Plan, the granddaddy of Delta planning documents. Released in 2008, the Strategic Plan described a vision and strategy for achieving a sustainable Delta over the next 50 to 100 years through implementation of 85 integrated, linked actions to achieve the Two Co-Equal Goals of ecosystem restoration and water supply reliability. With legislation passed in 2009 to establish new governance and ratify the Two Co-equal Goals as official state policy for the Delta, the state has set a new direction for resolving the estuary's problems while protecting and enhancing the Delta as an evolving place.
Factsheets/Strategic Plan >
Maps of the Delta Region >