“The Delta Protection Commission developed a plan that promotes the continued appreciation and protection of the natural, historic, and cultural resources associated with the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta National Heritage Area, a place important to our nation’s history and heritage,” wrote Charles F. Sams III, Director of the National Park Service.
“We commend you for completing this well-conceived plan and for involving the interested Tribes, citizens, and organizations in the five counties of the Delta region.”
The Delta NHA, created by Congress in 2019 (PDF), is California’s first and only National Heritage Area. The Delta Protection Commission, a California state agency, was designated the local coordinating entity for the Delta NHA.
“We are grateful to Interior for its approval,” said DPC Executive Director Bruce Blodgett. “The Management Plan is critical for the success of the NHA, because it serves as a guide for the DPC and the NHA partnership network going forward.”
Diane Burgis, Chair of the Delta Protection Commission, also lauded Interior’s action. “The Delta is precious and fragile,” she said. “It is a national treasure, worthy of recognition, celebration, and protection. The approval of the Management Plan acknowledges that and assures us that we are on the right path.”
The NHA
The NHA’s boundary extends from Sacramento to Stockton to Vallejo with the junction of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers at its heart (see map below).
The Management Plan outlines five broad themes that will be celebrated as implementation moves forward:
Water: Precious Lifeblood for the Delta and California – The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is California’s oasis, located at the center of the state’s water challenges and opportunities, and a water passage between the Pacific Ocean and inland California.
The Beating Heart of Natural California – The Delta lies at the center of California’s biological and physical environment, supporting numerous biologically diverse species and connecting California’s freshwater resources to the Pacific Ocean.
Abundance, Diversity, Resistance, and Survival – Native Americans in the Delta – Native Americans thrived in the Delta prior to European settlement, developing complex and diverse societies, deeply rooted in the landscape, that have endured despite existential threats such as disease and genocide.
The Delta Becomes California’s Cornucopia – Through capital, human labor, and technology, the Delta became one of the nation’s most productive agricultural regions, with the ability to grow a large variety of crops, farmed by large and small operations.
Cultural Influences of the Delta – Enduring Legacies of American, Asian, European, and Latin American Immigrants: Bringing their own ambition and skills to the Delta, cultural and ethnic communities from Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the United States shaped the region’s agriculture and industry during the late 19th Century and early 20th Century and continue to leave an indelible imprint on the landscape.
Next Steps
The Management Plan will go to the Commission for final approval in March.
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Media contact: Bruce Blodgett, Executive Director, Delta Protection Commission, (530) 650-6811 or bruce.blodgett@delta.ca.gov.
ANTIOCH, Calif. (Nov. 17, 2024) – More than 80 Delta heritage professionals and aficionados gathered Friday at the Antioch Historical Society Museum for a day of storytelling and inspiration at the 6th Delta Heritage Forum.
The Forum was organized by the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta National Heritage Area. The NHA – California’s first and only – was created by Congress in 2019, underscoring the region’s historical and cultural value. The NHA is coordinated by the Delta Protection Commission.
To receive notifications about next year’s Delta Heritage Forum, sign up for the NHA’s bi-monthly newsletter, the Delta Heritage Courier.
Protect the Delta – come work for the Delta Protection Commission as an information officer!
The person in this half-time, limited-term (one year) position will serve as the communications and tourism marketing lead for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta National Heritage Area, the first and only National Heritage Area in California.
The person will:
Guide development of a tourism branding and marketing plan.
Plan, coordinate, and implement tourism initiatives.
Prepare effective written and visual communications about the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta National Heritage Area.
Requirements: Examination, employment application, Statement of Qualifications
Protect the Delta – come work for the Delta Protection Commission as a senior environmental planner!
The position acts as an in-house consultant performing the most difficult and complex work that is critical to the Commission’s basic mission and of statewide significance. Work includes:
Ensuring compliance with the Land Use and Resource Management Plan.
Planning and implementation of Community Action Plans for Legacy Communities, including tourism enhancement and other regional economic development and sustainability projects.
Agency GIS work (GIS experience is required).
Work may include serving in a lead capacity over other personnel within the scope of activities conducted within the Commission.
Requirements: Examination, employment application, Statement of Qualifications
Registration is now open for the Delta Heritage Forum, a free, full-day annual event that celebrates Delta stories, nurtures collaboration, and inspires new thinking and initiatives in the Delta heritage community.
The event will be held during the day (tentatively 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.) at the Antioch Historical Society Museum. Attendance is free, but seating is limited. Food will be provided. Registration deadline is Nov. 1.
The theme of this year’s forum is “Creating Community Through Heritage.”
The event will feature panel discussions, short storytelling sessions, and Lightning Talks (short presentations). Panel topics include:
Using public art to cultivate sense of place
Leveraging relationships with partners to get more done
Getting youth involved in, and excited about, heritage
When Azorean Portuguese arrived in the California Delta during the Gold Rush, they brought with them a Medieval tradition that has proved resilient in a sea of constant change: the Holy Ghost Festa.
“My dad always talked about ‘the footsteps, the footsteps, the footsteps,'” said Jim Souza, one of the organizers of the Freeport/Clarksburg Festa. The oldest in the Delta, it was founded in 1893, and has been held at the same hall since 1905.
“He was referring to the fact there was a lot of history there.”
The particulars of this tradition have changed, but its core tenet remains the same: feeding people, for free, as an act of generosity and sharing.
Festas began the 1400s in mainland Portugal, inspired by the lore of Queen Isabel, who took food from her own table to feed the poor during a famine. But their roots trace back even further to a radical utopian ideology promulgated by an Italian monk born in 1132. (Story continues below photos.)
When the Portuguese settled in the Azores in the mid-1400s, they took the tradition of Festa with them, and it thrived there, even as it mostly died off on the mainland. Azoreans comprise the bulk of Portuguese who immigrated to California in the 1800s, and the tradition followed them here.
For Souza, Festa has always been part of his life. “I was born into it,” he said. “My parents were involved in it. That’s where they made their first connection!”
As a kid, Festa meant getting a new pair of jeans and cowboy boots and maybe a hat that he’d wear to the dance. “And obviously you’d see all your cousins and Portuguese friends and whoever else came along,” he said.
Festa also involves the crowning of a young queen, in honor of Queen Isabel. Professor Diniz Borges, the founding director of the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute at Fresno State, said the queen is a feature that arose in California.
“There were no queens in the Festas in the Azores. We don’t know where or why it started, but they’ve become part of the tradition in California,” he said. And now some Azorean Festas have begun adopting the tradition.
The Queens Court in television news coverage of the 2024 Freeport/Clarksburg Festa – click to watch video.
An even newer evolution is the growing presence of non-Portuguese at Festas. “More and more they attract a lot of outsiders,” Borges said. “I’m happy to say we now have queens who are not of Portuguese backgrounds, and people playing in marching bands who are of different ethnicities as well.”
But there is one constant that dates back to Medieval origins: “They are religious in nature, but the church doesn’t control them,” Borges said. “There is a Mass, there is a coronation, but the whole idea of the serving of food free of charge to everybody, the idea behind the celebration, whether it’s music or parades or whatnot, is it’s all done by a committee of men and women.”
Souza became the youngest president of the Freeport/Clarksburg Festa’s organizing council at 17, and he remains a key organizer to this day. It is a mountain of work – “five days of preparation, one day of festivities, one day of cleanup.”
But it’s worth it.
He tells the story of a psychic advisor who came with a potential buyer to view the property next to the Hall where the Festa is held. The advisor told the buyer he could see someone on one side of the property who wasn’t happy.
“What do you see over there?” the buyer asked him, nodding at the Hall, Souza recalled.
“There’s just nothing but happiness,” the advisor said. “There’s children everywhere and they’re all smiling.”
The Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute produced the following short documentary about Festas:
Panel (Standout Highlight)
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West Sacramento, Calif. (Jan. 16, 2025) – The U.S. Department of Interior today approved the Management Plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta National Heritage Area (Delta NHA).
NEWS
Protect the Delta – come work for the Delta Protection Commission as an information officer!
The Forum is organized by the 
