- Author: Michael Levy
As anyone familiar with California water and politics could probably guess, in thinking about climate change, water and society, we end up thinking about the Delta quite a bit. For those who don't know, the Delta is the confluence of the rivers that are formed high up in the Sierras, run down the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys (i.e., the Central Valley), and meet just east of the San Francisco Bay. It is the largest estuary on the west coast of North America and was historically a great wetland with a variety of habitats that supported incredible fish and wildlife (check out fellow CCWAS Trainee Alison Whipple's great work on the history of the delta in map form here). Now, it's mostly agricultural land, with a little modern development, and canals instead of wetlands and networks of rivers.
The academic learning without the experience of a place can feel hollow, so a few of us headed down to the Delta last weekend to get a little taste of the flavor of the delta. Here are some pictures of what we saw...