California Code of Regulations
Title 14 - Natural Resources
Division 9 - Delta Protection Commission
Chapter 3 - Regulations Governing Land Use and Resource Management in the Primary Zone of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
Section 20090 - Recreation and Access: Including Marine Patrol, Boater Education and Safety Programs
Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 38, September 20, 2024
(a) Overview
The Delta is a unique geographic region that provides exceptional recreational opportunities including boating, fishing, hunting, hiking, biking, camping, and wildlife viewing. Recreational users originate from both within and outside of the Delta. Many of the visitors value the wide expanses of open land, interlaced waterways, historic towns, and the feeling of a slower pace of life within the Delta.
Navigable waterways in the Delta-Suisun area are publicly accessible and currently constitute the majority of the recreational opportunities within the Delta. Boating use totals more than 6.4 million visitor days annually, composed of 2.13 million annual boat trips in the larger Delta-Suisun area (Status and Trends of Delta-Suisun Service, California Department of Water Resources, May 2007). The Aquatic Recreation Component of the Delta Recreation Strategy Plan prepared by the Delta Protection Commission forecasts demand for boating recreation through 2020 and identifies a deficit of facilities.
Most of the recreational facilities within the Delta are provided through private marinas. Several thousand boat berths are located in the Primary Zone, almost equally allocated among Contra Costa, Sacramento, and San Joaquin counties. Private facilities also provide launching facilities, recreational vehicle and tent camping, picnicking, restaurants, and bait and tackle shops. Waterskiing and riding Personal Water Craft (PWC) are popular water-oriented activities.
The majority of the land within the Delta is privately owned, which reduces the availability of land-based recreation. Five fishing access/launching facilities owned by the California Department of Fish and Game and managed by Sacramento and Yolo counties are located within the Delta. San Joaquin County provides land and water access at Westgate Park. Brannan Island State Recreation Area provides boat launching, camping, swimming, nature interpretation, and wind surfing. Hunting occurs mainly on private lands; although some hunting is allowed on State- and federally-owned lands and waterways.
Concerns regarding existing and future recreational activities within the Delta include compatibility with agricultural operations and other private property uses, funding availability for the long-term maintenance and supervision of existing recreational facilities and for the development of new recreational facilities, compatibility with wildlife uses and levee maintenance requirements, overuse of existing facilities and popular waterways, the abandonment of vessels and other debris within Delta waterways, and increased demands on law enforcement and other emergency response providers.
Opportunities are available for new recreational facilities to be provided within the Delta on publicly-owned land. Examples include pedestrian access on publicly-owned levees adjacent to Brannan Island State Recreation Area; construction of new visitor facilities, interpretive facilities and trails at the Stone Lake National Wildlife Refuge; and pedestrian trails, visitor facilities, and water access facilities at Delta Meadows Park Project.
In addition, Senate Bill 1556, signed by the Governor in September 2006, creates a California Delta Trail and requires the Delta Protection Commission to create a plan for designing, constructing, and maintaining this trail. The California Delta Trail is planned to be a bike, pedestrian and equine trail system and recreation corridor along more than 1,000 miles of Delta waterfront that will connect with the 450-mile San Francisco Bay Trail.
(b) Goals
To promote continued recreational use of the land and waters of the Delta; to ensure that needed facilities that support such uses are constructed, maintained, and supervised; to protect landowners from unauthorized recreational uses on private lands; and to maximize public funds for recreation by promoting public-private partnerships and multiple use of Delta lands.
(c) Policies
1. New section filed 5-8-2001; operative 6-7-2001 (Register 2001, No. 19).
2. Amendment of section heading and section filed 10-7-2010; operative 11-6-2010 (Register 2010, No. 41).
Note: Authority cited: Section 29752, Public Resources Code. Reference: Sections 29760, 29763 and 29763.5, Public Resources Code.