Senator urges state to open Delta island to public for recreational use

Senator urges state to open Delta island to public for recreational use

by Dan Bacher

Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) applauded the Obama administration's decision to transfer ownership and management of Prospect Island, the site of the largest fish kill in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta's history, to the state of California. In a statement on February 16, she urged the state to provide "maximum public access to the island’s recreational resources."

In November 2007, the island’s management came under major public scrutiny after an attempt by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to drain the 1,253-acre island for levee repairs resulted in a massive fish kill. Tens of thousands of striped bass, Sacramento blackfish, Sacramento splittail, largemouth bass and other species perished in the unprecedented ecological disaster.

“This is good news," said Wolk. "With the acquisition of Prospect Island, which is part of the Delta’s unique landscape, the state can improve its management to ensure that boaters, fishermen and other tourists can enjoy the island for generations to come. The Delta is world-renowned for its unique recreational opportunities. It is important that anglers, hunters, and other members of the community be included in discussions on recreational access to the island.”

During the 2007-2008 legislative session, then-Assemblywoman Wolk championed efforts to cut through the bureaucracy that resulted in the 2007 fish kill. As chair of the Assembly Water Parks, and Wildlife Committee, she convened a special committee hearing on the issue in Rio Vista where witnesses to the fish kill testified about the disaster and recommended a number of solutions to prevent future fish kills and the creation of a recreation and wildlife area easily accessible to the public.

She also authored legislation to strengthen the state’s ability to prevent and respond to incidents like the Prospect Island fish kill. That measure, Assembly Bill 1806 (the Fish Rescue Plans Bill), would have also required the state and federal projects that pump water out of the California Delta to corporate agribusiness and southern California to mitigate for the resulting catastrophic losses to the Delta’s native fisheries, as well as commercial and sport fishing resources.

“I urge the state to provide responsible stewardship of this resource, nurturing not only the island’s critical habitat for failing native and commercial fish populations, but its rich potential for hunting, fishing, and other forms of recreation,” Wolk concluded.

AB 1806 was supported by a broad coalition of recreational and commercial fishing groups from around the state including the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Water for Fish, the California Striped Bass Association, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, the Recreational Fishing Alliance and Allied Fishing Groups, which includes 37 sport and commercial fishing organizations.

Unfortunately, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in October 2008 vetoed an amended version of AB 1806. Schwarzenegger claimed, with no evidence whatsoever, that the bill was "unnecessary and duplicates authority already conferred to the Department by existing laws and regulations for mitigation for fish and wildlife impacts and coordination between federal, state and local agencies."

The fish kill was uncovered during Thanksgiving week of 2007 when Bob McDaris, owner of Cliff's Marina in Freeport, and John Soto, a Delta hay farmer, found thousands of striped bass and other fish dying in shallow water where they were stranded by the draining of the island. McDaris quickly organized a large crew of volunteers to rescue the remaining live fish.

Jeffrey McCracken, then the spokesman for the Bureau of Recreation, worked very hard to get the permits for the volunteers to do the rescue and on November 30 the fish rescue begin. The fish rescue was overwhelmingly successful, resulting in the saving of 1831 striped bass and tens of thousands of Sacramento blackfish, Sacramento splittail, largemouth bass, threadfin shad and other species. Inexplicably, the Department of Fish and Game did everything it could to discourage the rescue.

Senator Wolk, a true defender of the Delta, its fish and its people, deserves lots of praise for her efforts to preserve Prospect Island that culminated in the transferring of ownership of the island from the federal government to the state.

Wolk also stood up for the Delta when she strongly opposed - along with Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada (D-Davis), Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan (D-Alamo), Senator Mark Desaunier (D-Concord) and Assemblywoman Alyson Huber (D-El Dorado Hills) – the water policy/water bond package that creates a clear path to the construction of a peripheral canal and new dams. The peripheral canal/tunnel would cost $23 billion to $53.8 billion at a time when the state is in a major economic crisis

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) has a chance to do the right thing by opening the island to recreational use and properly managing the wonderful fish and wildlife habitat that Prospect Island provides. By doing that, the state can transform the scene of an ecological disaster in 2007 into a model for restoration.