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. 28, July 12, 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) Ensure appropriate planning, development
				and funding for expansion, ongoing maintenance and supervision of existing
				public recreation and access areas.
(2) Encourage expansion of existing
				privately-owned, water-oriented recreation and access facilities that are
				consistent with local General Plans, zoning regulations and
				standards.
(3) Assess the need for
				new regional public and private recreation and access facilities to meet
				increasing public need, and ensure that any new facilities are prioritized,
				developed, maintained and supervised consistent with local, state, and federal
				laws and regulations. Ensure that adequate public services are provided for all
				existing, new, and improved recreation and access facilities.
(4) Encourage new regional recreational
				opportunities, such as Delta-wide trails, which take into consideration
				environmental, agricultural, infrastructure, and law enforcement needs, and
				private property boundaries. Also, encourage opportunities for water, hiking,
				and biking trails.
(5) Encourage
				provision of publicly funded amenities such as picnic tables and boat-in
				destinations in or adjacent to and complimentary to private facilities,
				particularly if the private facility will agree to supervise and manage such
				amenities, thus lowering the long-term cost to the public.
(6) Support multiple uses of Delta
				agricultural lands, such as seasonal use for hunting and provision of wildlife
				habitat.
(7) Support improved
				access for bank fishing along State highways, county roads, and other
				appropriate areas where safe and adequate parking, law enforcement, waste
				management and sanitation facilities, and emergency response can be provided
				and where proper rights-of-access have been acquired.
(8) Ensure, for the sake of the environment
				and water quality, the provision of appropriate restroom, pump-out and other
				sanitation and waste management facilities at new and existing recreation
				sites, including marinas; encourage the provision of amenities including but
				not limited to picnic tables and boat-in destinations.
(9) Encourage the development of funding and
				implementation strategies by appropriate governing bodies for the surrender
				and/or removal of water-borne debris and dilapidated, unseaworthy and abandoned
				vessels from waterways, to minimize navigational and environmental
				hazards.
(10) Promote and encourage
				Delta-wide communication, coordination, and collaboration on boating and
				waterway-related programs including but not limited to marine patrols, removal
				of debris and abandoned vessels, invasive species control and containment,
				clean and safe boating education and enforcement, maintenance of existing
				anchorage, mooring and berthing areas, and emergency response in the
				Delta.
(11) Recognizing existing
				laws, encourage establishment of Delta-wide law enforcement protocols on local
				public nuisance and safety issues, such as trespassing, littering, and
				theft.
(12) Support and encourage
				programs for waterways that provide opportunities for safe boating and
				recreation, including removal of floating and sunken debris and abandoned
				vessels from Delta waterways in collaboration with appropriate
				agencies.
(13) Support the
				development of a strategic plan, in consultation with all law enforcement
				agencies having jurisdiction in the Delta, to improve law enforcement and the
				use of available resources to ensure an adequate level of public safety. The
				strategic plan shall identify resources to implement the
				plan.