The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The Yolo Bypass is a 59,000-acre flood control facility located in the Counties of Yolo and Solano that absorbs excess flood waters from the Sacramento River and conveys the waters 40 miles south into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
(b) Authorized by Congress in 1917 and built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in the 1920s, the Yolo Bypass provides critical flood protection to over 650,000 people, several small communities, important agricultural land, and over sixty billion dollars ($60,000,000,000) in public and private assets.
(c) Agriculture, recreation, and wildlife thrive within the Yolo Bypass, exemplified by the state-owned Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, which supports wildlife-friendly rice cultivation and livestock grazing, managed wetlands for migratory waterfowl, nature education opportunities for the region’s schools, nature viewing, and hunting.
(d) Cache Slough is located primarily within the County of Solano, intersecting with the southern portion of the Yolo Bypass. Cache Slough supports remnant tidal habitat where restoration of natural conditions could benefit delta smelt and other native aquatic species. Cache Slough is also a regionally significant agricultural area where the location of multiple-benefit projects could affect the operations and maintenance practices of agricultural diverters and core flood control and levee maintenance responsibilities of reclamation districts within the Cache Slough Complex.
(e) The North Bay Aqueduct portion of the State Water Project delivers source water directly from the Cache Slough Complex to over 500,000 residents in the Counties of Napa and Solano. Opportunities for multiple-benefit projects must consider impacts to municipal water supply and water quality.
(f) Together, the Yolo Bypass and Cache Slough region presents unparalleled opportunities for multiple-benefit projects that improve flood protection, fisheries and wildlife habitat, water supply and water quality, agricultural sustainability, and recreational opportunities. As such, the Yolo Bypass and Cache Slough region is the focus of an increasing number of federal, state, and locally developed projects intended to improve these multiple public values.
(g) The numerous interests in this complex and important region present an opportunity and an imperative for governmental agencies at the federal, state, and local levels to collaboratively align planning efforts and project implementation.
(h) In May 2016, a total of 15 federal, state, and local agencies signed a memorandum of understanding outlining principles necessary to achieve a common vision for the Yolo Bypass and Cache Slough region. The resulting Yolo Bypass Cache Slough Partnership serves as a model for public agency cooperation and achievement.
(Added by Stats. 2021, Ch. 275, Sec. 1. (SB 369) Effective January 1, 2022.)