Delta NHA Themes and Storylines

    The following is excerpted from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta National Heritage Area Management Plan (PDF).

    You may also be interested in Delta NHA Management Plan Goals, Objectives, and Strategies.

    Statement of National Significance

    At the heart of California lies a vast tidal estuary where the state’s two largest rivers converge, forming a rare inland delta, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California’s most crucial water and ecological resource. The Delta is a place that nurtures a unique ecosystem, has been supported and shaped by a culturally diverse population for millennia, and served as the setting for Native American creation stories. Historically, the Delta had a sky filled with waterfowl and other birds, land with large and small mammals and lush vegetation, and water filled with salmon and other aquatic life. The region’s water, fertile land, and proximity to the San Francisco Bay fuels California’s economy and is a critical linchpin in California’s ongoing struggle to balance environmental conservation with critical water infrastructure. As California’s population has grown, the Delta has served as an important recreational respite for the surrounding bustling cities.

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    Primary Themes

    Supporting Themes

    Primary Themes

    Theme 1: Water – Precious Lifeblood for the Delta and California

    Theme Statement: 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. Prior to colonization, the creation stories, lifeways, and worldview of local Tribes were shaped by this precious water and the abundance of aquatic and wildlife resources found here.

    Storyline 1.1: Stewardship of a Precious Resource (1930s-Present)

    Storyline Statement: A finite, unpredictable, and much-desired resource for California, Delta water is an ongoing lesson in stewardship by public and private partners that will grow more difficult with the impacts of climate change.

    Storyline 1.2: Northern California’s Water Highway (1840s-1940s)

    Storyline Statement: The Delta’s maze of interconnected waterways and levees and narrow Carquinez Strait creates a vital transportation corridor from the Pacific Ocean to the Central Valley, bringing forty-niners to the goldfields, uniting small farming communities and larger metropolitan areas, and transporting agricultural and industrial goods.

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    Theme 2: The Beating Heart of Natural California

    Theme Statement: 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.

    Storyline 2.1: The Delta’s Terrain as Foundation for Life

    Storyline Statement: Weathered mountains, water flowing from the Sierra Nevada mountains through five rivers (Sacramento, San Joaquín, Calaveras, Cosumnes, and Mokelumne), and the tidal influences of the Pacific Ocean have supported the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta’s abundant ecosystem.

    Storyline 2.2: The Delta Shapes West Coast Ecology

    Storyline Statement: The Delta is part of the second largest estuary on the West Coast of North America and a significant part of the wintering grounds for a variety of waterfowl along the Pacific Flyway.

    Storyline 2.3: The Delta’s Robust Fisheries (Prior to 1850)

    Storyline Statement: Native fish play a significant role in the lives of Delta residents, particularly Native Americans, despite their decline due to changing Delta conditions.

    Storyline 2.4: The Downriver Environmental Legacy of the Gold Rush (1853-1884)

    Storyline Statement: The environmentally destructive effects of hydraulic mining on the Delta and its watershed led to early court decisions that dramatically influenced federal and state environmental policy.

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    Theme 3: Abundance, Diversity, Resistance, and Survival – Native Americans in the Delta

    Theme Statement: 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.

    Storyline 3.1: The Delta is a Living Organism

    Storyline Statement: The Delta is the heart and soul of Native American Tribal culture, society, and ecology within the Delta watershed.

    Storyline 3.2: Enduring Responsibility for the Delta Landscape

    Storyline Statement: Native American Tribes managed Delta landscapes to support permanent settlements and large populations sustainably and continue to utilize Delta resources, despite the loss of their traditional homeland.

    Storyline 3.3: One People of the Delta, Many Communities

    Storyline Statement: Native American cultures of the Delta and adjacent central California are exceptionally diverse in languages, histories, cultural practices, and world views.

    Storyline 3.4: Native American Resistance and Survival in the Delta Tules (1790s-1840s)

    Storyline Statement: Native Americans in the Delta resisted settler colonialism by defending their homeland with force, experienced waves of disease, systemic genocide, and forced removal from their ancestral lands, yet survived to carry on traditional knowledge and culture.

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    Theme 4: The Delta Becomes California’s Cornucopia

    Theme Statement: 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.

    Storyline 4.1: Transforming Wetlands into Farmland (1860s-1930s)

    Storyline Statement: Conversion of the Delta from wetland to farmland was one of the most significant land reclamation projects in United States history; the technologies, techniques, and infrastructure that were invented locally revolutionized agricultural and earth-moving practices around the world.

    Storyline 4.2: Development of a National and Global Market for Delta Goods (1880s-1950s)

    Storyline Statement: The Delta’s productive farmland, rich fishing opportunities, and access to waterways inspired the development of industries to facilitate the distribution of food to the nation and world.

    Storyline 4.3: Challenges of a Reclaimed Delta (1930s-Present)

    Storyline Statement: While large-scale land engineering has allowed people to harvest the Delta’s rich resources, the Delta continues to face natural and human-made stresses that resulted from reclamation and the impacts of climate change.

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    Theme 5: Cultural Influences of the Delta – Enduring Legacies of American, Asian, European, and Latin American Immigrants

    Theme Statement: 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.

    Storyline 5.1: Development of Robust Physical and Social Communities with American, Asian, European, and Latin American Influences (1860s-1940s)

    Storyline Statement: Through adversity and perseverance, immigrants from Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the United States built their lives in enduring Delta communities.

    Storyline 5.2: Native American and American, Asian, European, and Latin American Immigrants as the Foundation of Delta Agriculture and Industry (1860s-1970s)

    Storyline Statement: Delta agriculture and industry was built on the tireless labor, knowledge, and skill of people from many cultures, including those who fought for labor rights that impacted the development of the United Farm Workers.

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    Supporting Themes

    Supporting Theme 1: Northern California’s Inland Defense (1850s-1940s)

    Theme Statement: A place of both defense and defiance, the military installations of the Delta and Carquinez Strait tell a story of local support for U.S. military operations throughout the Pacific and incalculable sacrifice by African American sailors.

    Supporting Theme 2: The Creative Inspiration of the Delta (1900s-Present)

    Theme Statement: Distinctive urban, rural, and aquatic landscapes, labor and leisure, and relaxed lifestyle have drawn many writers and artists to the Delta for solace and inspiration.

    Supporting Theme 3: Delta as Recreational Retreat (1950s-Present)

    Theme Statement: The Delta’s waters and rural communities provide a retreat from our busy lives and reconnect us to the land and each other.

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