Delta could be designated state’s first national heritage area
Congress will yet again consider whether the Delta should be designated as California’s first “national heritage area.”
But don’t get too excited. This is the fourth go-around.
“Hopefully, the fourth time will be the charm,” said Erik Vink, director of the Delta Protection Commission, the state agency that would manage such a designation.
U.S. representatives Jerry McNerney, DStockton, and John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, introduced legislation earlier this week. The bill mirrors legislation brought in the Senate by Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris.
The same proposal failed to advance during each of the past three sessions of Congress.
One bit of good news this time is that a Senate committee has already blessed the concept, consolidating the Delta proposal with three potential national heritage designations in other areas, Vink said.
As for the Republican-controlled House, the best chance may be for the legislation to get scooped up into a larger omnibus package.
“I don’t see this moving forward on its own accord,” Vink said. “It just doesn’t rise to the level of significance, but obviously we think it’s important and a great idea.”
The Delta designation was recommended in California’s 2009 Delta Reform Act, and has been discussed off and on ever since. Some Delta residents were initially skeptical of the concept, fearing new land-use restrictions would accompany the federal designation, but a national heritage area is not the same as a national park.
Rather, it is a chance to market the Delta using the National Park Service’s familiar arrowhead symbol.
The legislation would also make a modest sum of about $10 million available spread out over the next 15 years to promote and protect the Delta.
The commission has already written a marketing plan, much of which can be put into action even without the designation.
“But it’s pretty cool to be able to call yourself a national heritage area,” Vink said.