Revising Delta Plan Chapter 4: The Ecosystem Amendment
An overview of the need for and approach to strengthening Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem restoration
The Council has amended Chapter 4 of the Delta Plan (Protect, Restore, and Enhance the Delta Ecosystem) to provide a more comprehensive approach to ecosystem protection, restoration, and enhancement, as required to achieve the goals and strategies described in the Delta Reform Act of 2009. The future Delta will differ from both the Delta that was known to the region’s first inhabitants and from its current ecosystem. The survival and recovery of native species, and the level of benefits provided by the Delta ecosystem, are dependent partly on the actions Californians are willing to take today to restore the Delta ecosystem. - Jeff Henderson, Council Deputy Executive Officer for Planning & Performance
Background
About the Delta Stewardship Council
The Council is the California State Agency tasked with advancing statewide water supply reliability and Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta ecosystem resiliency in a way that protects and enhances the Delta as a place where people live, work, and recreate. The Council advances these coequal goals by implementing the Delta Plan , which was developed to serve as a common vision for collectively taking-on current and predicted challenges. It includes regulations, non-regulatory recommendations, and performance measures.
Informed by the Delta Science Program and advised by the Delta Independent Science Board (Delta ISB), the Council oversees Delta Plan implementation through coordination and oversight of State and local agencies proposing to develop and implement Delta-related activities. Adopted in 2013, the Delta Plan anticipated the need for periodic reviews and updates in response to changing circumstances and conditions in the Delta and Suisun Marsh.
This map depicts the Delta (gray hashed area) in the context of its watershed (areas 1-3) and areas that receive exported Delta water (4).
The Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta
Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and the San Francisco Bay, the Delta spans 738,000 acres in northern California. Historically, the region was a tidal marsh of riparian and grassland habitat that supported indigenous cultures. It has since been leveed and dramatically transformed, losing much of its natural habitat. It currently supports a highly-productive agricultural area and water supply system that supplies millions of people in California and beyond. Despite large-scale landform change and pressing human stresses, the Delta ecosystem supports more than 750 plant and animal species (including 55 fish species), over 250 of which are considered threatened or endangered. These changes, along with rapid climate change, demand that habitat restoration focus on providing greater resiliency, allowing native species to maintain thriving populations.
Amending the Delta Plan in Response to Changing Conditions
The Delta Reform Act called for the Delta Plan to provide a long-term approach to restoring the interconnected habitats within the Delta and its watershed by 2100 (California Water Code section 85302[e][1]). The Ecosystem Amendment provides a comprehensive approach to ecosystem protection, restoration, and enhancement, as required to achieve the goals and strategies described in the Delta Reform Act.
When it was first adopted in 2013, the Delta Plan relied on the emerging Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to provide a framework for ecosystem restoration in the Delta. When the State pivoted away from the BDCP in 2015, it became critical that the Council undertake the proposed Ecosystem Amendment to fill a gap in regional restoration efforts; consider changed conditions in land use, climate, and regulations; and incorporate the latest restoration science and practices.
The Ecosystem Amendment is the result of a multi-year, iterative effort of public and agency comments and coordination.
This digital overview summarizes the Ecosystem Amendment’s strategies, policies, recommendations, and performance measures. The Ecosystem Amendment and supporting appendices on the Delta Plan Amendments web page provide more detail about the amended policies, recommendations, and performance measures.
A Portfolio Approach
The Ecosystem Amendment focuses on the importance of protecting and restoring existing ecosystems, enhancing the working or urban landscapes that provide habitat resources that benefit species, leveraging decades of research and recovery planning to lay out a path forward, and increasing coordination to work toward a common vision for a restored Delta ecosystem. Together, this portfolio of approaches, targets, reporting, and enhanced coordination and funding can reestablish ecological processes in natural communities to be resilient to land conversion and climate change.
Core Strategies
The Ecosystem Amendment presents five core strategies to achieve the coequal goal of protecting, restoring, and enhancing the Delta ecosystem, as set forth in the Delta Reform Act:
- Create more natural, functional flows
- Restore ecosystem function
- Protect land for restoration and safeguard against land loss
- Protect native species and reduce the impact of nonnative invasive species
- Improve institutional coordination to support the implementation of ecosystem protection, restoration, and enhancement
These core strategies form the basis for six policies, fifteen recommendations, and a suite of associated performance measures. They take a balanced approach and identify changes required within the physical environment to reestablish ecological processes and connections within the Delta’s complex and diverse natural communities. Implementing these strategies will result in a landscape that is more resilient to the threats of climate change and other factors.
A Foundation of Collaboration and Best Available Science
The proposed Ecosystem Amendment provides guidance describing how to implement restoration in the Delta through policies, recommendations, and performance measures. Each of these three components is grounded in best available science and is based on extensive outreach to and collaboration with stakeholders; federal, State, and local agencies; and the public.
The Ecosystem Amendment was developed through collaboration. Council staff worked with a wide range of stakeholders and subject matter experts, scientists, independent peer reviewers, and others – including federal, State, and local agencies; Delta residents; Council and Delta ISB members; the public; and more – to receive input on the past and potential restoration futures of the Delta.
Supporting Documents
A robust series of scientific syntheses, technical appendices, and performance measure datasheets was produced to support the development of the Ecosystem Amendment.
These documents represent the compilation of foundational and the latest best available science that form the basis for the Ecosystem Amendment. The Ecosystem Amendment, along with the Final PEIR, associated appendices, and supporting documents including a FAQ , are available in PDF format on the Council’s Delta Plan Amendments web page .
Contact Us
For questions about the Ecosystem Amendment, email ecosystemamendment@deltacouncil.ca.gov . To receive email updates on this effort and others, subscribe to the Council’s listserv .
