HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 12061988 - S.3 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Contra
`FROM: Supervisor Tom Torlakson
Costa
DATE: December 6 , 1988 County
SUBJECT: STATE PLAN TO CREATE WILDLIFE HABITAT ON SHE_RMAN ISLAND
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Refer to the Water Committee and the
Community Development Department a plan by the State Department of
Water Resources to create a wildlife habitat on Sherman Island.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Please refer to the attached news
article for additional information. I share some of the concerns
expressed by the Sherman Island farmers.
TT:gro
Attachment
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE:
RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
APPROVE OTHER
SIGNATURE(S)
ACTION OF BOARD ON December 6, 1988 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED X OTHER
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
X UNANIMOUS (ABSENT ) I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE
AYES: NOES: AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN
ABSENT: ABSTAIN: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD
OF SUPERVISORS ON THEE-DATE SHOWN.
CC: Supervisor McPeak ATTESTED D�Gul�'! 4 /98u
Supervisor Torlakson P iil Batche or,Clerk of the Board 0
Dave oki.ta, CDD Supervisorsand County AdministraWr
Community Development Director
County Administrator
M382/7-98 BY � DEPUTY
. statle e.
use
...new _ or
Delta ind . '
Sherman Island farmers
fear -plot to -divert -water P
0
By Virgil Meibert
Capital Bureau ll
SACRAMENTO—Sherman Island,the first of the great
Delta marshland areas circled by levees and converted to
farming;may soon be one of the first returned to nature.
State Department of Water Resources officials have
drafted a detailed plan to buy the rich farmland back from
Sherman Island's 200 residents and create a 10,000-acre
wildlife habitat.
Wary Sherman Island farmers, who say they've heard
little more than rumors about the state's plans,are fearful
the proposal merely masks a plot to snap up their irriga-
tion water and export it to
the politically powerful gi-
ant farms of the San Joa- .
Shermanquin Valley. Is-
"What is it that they grow land, first r e-
down there that makes the
state think they can ship our claimed ill 1868
water 500 miles to them?
asked Morgan Johnson, 3, is one of the Del-
who grows wheat, corn, .
barley and safflower on his ta's largest and
1,400 acres of Sherman Is-
�. land farmland. most eCOnOn11-
State spokesmen deny
any water grab is involved. . cally .important
in'
They explathat Sher-
man Island warrants the Wands. c
highest level of government
protection from flooding be-
cause of its critical western
Delta location.At the same time,.they say,it would make
.an ideal feeding and resting place for the hundreds of
thousands of ducks, geese and other birds and for many
species of small mammals and other Delta wildlife.
Sherman Island,'-first reclaimed in 1868, is one of the
Delta's largest and most economically important islands.
It is located at the easterly end of the Antioch bridge
across the Sacramento River from Contra Costa County.
It winds five miles up the river and is bordered on the
south by the San Joaquin River.
Its.location at the confluence of the two rivers puts it at
the strategically crucial point where fresh river water and
salty Bay water meet.
A Sherman Island levee break—as occurred most re-
cently in 1969 — would cause a massive surge of salty
water to rush in and jeopardize the quality of Delta water
available to state and federal water export pumps just 12
miles away.Too much salt makes the water unusable for
See SHERMAN, page 14
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