The Delta Science Center is a resource for the San Francisco Bay Delta and Watersheds.

 

 

 Marsh Creek Watershed Map

 

 

Education:  Hands-on field experiences and lab learning opportunities for K-12 students that connect the classroom with the real world.

     Organized tours on the R/V Robert G. Brownlee Science Vessel.  www.sfbaymsi.org/brown1.htm.  One of the goals for the DSC in 2007 is to raise enough money to insure that all 5th grade classes in East Contra Costa County have an opportunity to attend one of the cruises on the  Brownlee.

     Classroom opportunities for 5th grade teacher and students using our Delta puzzle and species definitions.

 /Documents/Delta Definitions.pdf     

Research:  Dialog among all Delta interests and the general public for an informed public policy on Bay-Delta issues.  Adaptive management, monitoring and baseline studies for the Big Break Regional Shoreline and Marsh Creek Watershed.

 

Restoration:  Oppotunities for diverse restoration activities within the Big Break Regional Shoreline, Marsh Creek Watershed and throughout the western Delta.

     Marsh Creek Restoration:  www.ccrcd.org/marsh.html

 

Access:  Easy welcoming access to the Delta for visitors traveling by foot, bicycle, car, public transit, or personal watercraft.  The site offers opportunities for exploration, exercise, picnics, wildlife viewing, volunteer restoration activities and other types of environmentally compatible recreation including fishing and hunting.

     The East Bay Regional Park District fishing pier opened in 2007.  Construction on the buildings and teaching areas will begin in 2008.  www.ebparks.org

 

 

LOCATION AND SITE: 

 

 

The location of the Delta Science Center site is unique in many ways.  It is a 40-acre parcel at the edge of Oakley, California.  It is a quiet sanctuary in the middle of one of the fastest growing areas of California, surrounded by dense housing developments and heavy industry.  It has been largely left alone since it ceased to be used for agriculture, and it is a prime candidate for restoration.  It also is one of the few places where you have access to the wild edge of the Delta.  It sits at the edge of Big Break lagoon, a flooded asparagus farm with a lush edge and an example of what nature does when left on its own.

 

Big Break is near the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and sits astride a major and minor watershed.  The major rivers flow by on their paths from the Sierras to the sea, and the smaller Marsh Creek watershed is visible as it flows from the top of Mount Diablo into Big Break.  The site is located at the crossroads of water incursion and water diversion.  Salt water reaches ever farther up the Delta as water is deverted to the great farms in the Central Valley and further south.  Here fresh water is drawn to be used by local communities and gray water is treated by the Ironhouse Sanitary District.

 

This site has different meanings to those who see it:  developers see an opportunity for affordable housing to serve those priced out of the areas closer to San Francisco and San Jose; ecologists see a potential restored wetland; fishermen see a rich shoreline with a history of world-class bass fishing; neighboring city governments see an opportunity to vitalize the community and their tax base; residential neighbors see a quiet open space threatened  by new uses; local children see a favorite playground in danger of becoming off-limits; park officials and educators see a unique opportunity to combine recreation, restoration, and education.  The site is also in the geographic midst of a huge scientific effort which was launched to better understand the Bay-Delta system and how to "fix" it.  Big Break is naturally positioned for research efforts and for interpreting these efforts to the public.

 

The Delta Science Center site is located at the upper end of the San Francisco Estuary at the confluence of the southward-flowing Sacramento and northward-flowing San Joaquin rivers.  The two rivers mingle with the smaller Sierra Nevada and Coast Range rivers in a maze of channels and sloughs extending for 700 miles.  The Delta includes 57 islands, 1,100 miles of levees, and hundreds of thousands of acres of marshes, mudflats, and farmland.  The estuary collects almost one of every two drops of rain or snow that fall on the State of California, and holds about 5 million acre-feet of water at mean tide.  The estuary provides drinking water to 20 million Californians and irrigates 4.5 million acres of farmland.  It supports the world's sixth largest economy and hosts one of the rishest diversities of life on earth.  Each year, two-thirds of the state's salmon pass through the Delta, as do nearly half of the waterfowl and shorebirds migrating along the Pacific Flyway.

    

Rotting Barge  2004                                          New Pier 2007

 

Future site with interactive education displays, classroom space and trails