Wednesday January 8, 2025
Metropolitan Water District via Maven’s Notebook —
Webb Tract is about to be transformed by a Nature-Based Solutions grant from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy. The current steward of the approximately 5,500-acre island, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, is leading the effort to stop or reverse subsidence, reduce greenhouse gas emissions through carbon sequestration, create a mosaic of habitats with eco-cultural benefits, and explore sustainable farming opportunities in the Delta. It’s a big challenge funded by the $20.9 million grant and contributions from Metropolitan.
The planning for the Webb Tract Wetland Project (funded by the Delta Conservancy’s Nature Based Solutions grant program) continues on pace. The design team is developing a plan that is flexible, implementable and forward thinking. The team that includes local engineering and restoration consultants, ecocultural specialists, an ecocultural working group, and land managers have learned from other Delta restoration projects and are using their combined experience and knowledge to design a sustainable wetland plan that will have multiple benefits even in the face of climate change.
Challenges include finding the right balance between wetland water management, working with the existing infrastructure, and limiting earthwork to provide a variety of habitats. Borrow material has been identified for future levee maintenance while protecting existing remnant sand dune habitat, and design takes advantage of an existing paleo slough to reduce construction of new berms.