This exhibit of images represents a selection from an ongoing three-year documentation of the Delta by photographer Terry Holter. The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region is an approximately 1100 square mile area. It is supplied by the Sacramento River at the north end and the San Joaquin River to the southeast. Its roughly triangular boundaries encompass Sacramento to the north end, reaching down just past Tracy at the South East corner, and running across into the San Francisco bay at the South West corner near Pittsburg.
Since the mid-19th century, this natural inverted river delta has been transformed through a series of man-made levees into islands of fertile agricultural land. Besides agriculture, its uses include transportation, recreation, hunting and fishing, natural habitat (important especially for migratory waterfowl), and urban development. Historic towns within the Delta include Locke, Walnut Grove, and Isleton. Half of the water needs of California’s human population depend on the Sierra waters flowing through the Delta.