Point Buckler Island: Rescuing a keystone of the California Delta ...Middle East

Point Buckler lies in an area where the fresh water of the Sacramento River and its tributaries surrender to the salty water of the Bay and the Pacific Ocean. This mostly flat, mostly barren dollop of marshland perched on the edge of Suisun Bay might not look like much, but the health of the Bay is riding on the Delta island’s 29 acres of decaying vegetation.

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For the last decade, Point Buckler Island has been embroiled in a battle involving county, state and federal regulators. At issue was what some state officials call egregious environmental violations and the actions by its owner — entrepreneur and former America’s Cup competitor John Sweeney — to turn a completed tidal wetlands project into a playground, complete with new levees, helipads, restrooms and a lounge for the ultra wealthy.

That chapter ended in January, when the island was sold at an auction on the Solano County Courthouse steps. Its new owner, the nonprofit John Muir Land Trust, hopes the island will build a connection to the future.

Researchers who study the Great California Delta see the marshland islands as a crucial part of a connected, evolving and continuous estuary that affects not only the health and welfare of marine life but life on the lands that extend far beyond.

For centuries, Northern California’s snow-fed rivers have made their way to the ocean, flowing mostly unimpeded through the Delta, into Suisun Bay, through the Golden Gate and out to the Pacific. But the water flows both ways, with the ocean tides causing ebbs and flows in the inland waters.

“The islands were formed naturally by the sediment and material coming down the river,” says John Callaway, UC San Francisco professor emeritus and former lead scientist for the Delta Stewardship Council. “It built up freshwater marshes – wetlands with rivers flowing through them.”

The islands teemed with life, as fish found food sources and safe places to spawn, and mammals and birds made homes there.

That system began to change after the Gold Rush. As most miners failed to hit the mother lode and their gold fever cooled, many turned back to their previous professions – farming – and found that the islands of the Delta contained a different type of gold in the form of rich, loamy soil.

“People realized the soils were highly productive for farmland,” Callaway says, “as long as they got the water off.”

And so was born the levee system, more than 1,000 miles of earthen structures that dominate the Delta and surrounding lands. By keeping the river water away, farmers could cultivate crops, and communities could grow. That was great for humans, but the effect on the Delta and the animals who live there was immediate.

The once free-flowing water to the marshland was cut off, leaving fish with fewer safe places and food sources. The changes have proved disastrous for migratory fish, such as the salmon that spawn in freshwater but live most of their lives in saltwater. Crisscrossed by levees, Point Buckler Island is akin to a giant cork that is stopping the flow. The channels through the island are blocked, and the vegetation so important to both marine and mammal life is dying.

California has the unfortunate distinction, Callaway says, of having lost the most wetland acreage of any state in the continental United States. About 90 percent of wetlands here have been lost to urban and commercial development and agriculture.

The John Muir Land Trust was deep into its restoration of nearby Pacheco Marsh and, further upstream, Bethel Island’s Hoover Ranch when Point Buckler Island went on the block. Having dipped a toe in wetlands restoration, the trust was ready for another project, says executive director Linus Eukel, especially one as important to the environment as Point Buckler.

The island’s past is as brackish as the water that surrounds it. Point Buckler already appeared on wetlands survey maps as a completed tidal marsh project in 2004, but Sweeney, who bought the island seven years later, claims not to have known it was protected. He originally planned to build a private duck hunting club there, but after bringing friends to the island for kiteboarding, he pivoted to plans for a private kiteboarding club for the wealthy. He built helicopter pads and brought in shipping containers to convert into buildings.

He quickly ran afoul of the California Water Board, the Bay Conservation and Development Commission and other agencies, which accused him of environmental atrocities and violations of the Clean Water Act, among other things. In dispute was a levee that surrounds the island. Sweeney said he had only repaired the existing levee; state and county officials said he had built a new levee and dike.

With fines rising to more than $4 million and Sweeney facing jail time for contempt of court, an order was made to auction the island to someone who would restore it. In late January, Point Buckler was purchased by the Land Trust for $3.8 million.

Eukel says it will cost far more than that to return the island to its former state, but adds that it will be worth it.

Callaway says Point Buckler is a keystone in the overall health of the estuary and the surrounding Bay Area. Its place in the Suisun Bay means it will be the last sanctuary for fish heading toward the ocean, a place where they can find food, rest and a spawning place.

“These islands are an indicator of the overall health of the entire watershed and ecosystem,” Callway says. “Those ecosystems provide marine life habitat but also provide flood protection and reduce contaminants. The more we can protect those ecosystems, the better.”

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