The Delta Protection Commission works to protect, maintain, and, where possible, enhance and restore the overall quality of the Delta environment consistent with the Delta Protection Act. The goal of the Commission is to ensure orderly, balanced conservation and development of Delta land resources and improved flood protection.
Programs and responsibilities:
- Land use: The Delta Protection Commission is charged with adopting, maintaining, and implementing the Land Use and Resource Management Plan, which guides projects impacting land use, agriculture, natural resources, recreation and accessibility, water, levees, and utilities and infrastructure in the primary zone of the Delta. General plans and projects in the five Delta counties must be consistent with the LURMP.
- Economic Sustainability Plan: The Delta Protection Commission also prepared the Economic Sustainability Plan for the Delta and recently updated the chapters on agriculture, recreation, and tourism.
- Delta as a place: Levees, Community Action Planning, Delta water, Plan to increase broadband access in the Delta.
- Recreation and tourism: Great California Delta Trail, Delta National Heritage Area.
Governance
The Commission has fifteen members, largely from the Delta region, to provide for stakeholder representation in agriculture, habitat, and recreation. The members include:
- One member of the Board of Supervisors of each of the five counties within the Delta (Contra Costa, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano, and Yolo), whose supervisorial district is within the Primary Zone;
- An elected city council member representing the County of San Joaquin;
- An elected city council member representing the Counties of Contra Costa and Solano (on a rotating basis);
- An elected city council member from the regional and area councils of government representing the Counties of Sacramento and Yolo;
- Landowners from north, south, and central Delta reclamation districts;
- High-level leaders from Business, Transportation, and Housing, the Natural Resources Agency, Food, and Agriculture, and the State Lands Commission; and
- Two ex-officio members that are representatives of the Senate and Assembly.
The Delta Protection Commission is advised by the Delta Protection Advisory Committee (DPAC). They provide recommendations to the Commission on diverse interests within the Delta, including the Delta’s ecosystem, water supply, socioeconomic sustainability, recreation, agriculture, flood control, environment, water resources, utility infrastructure, and other Delta issues.