The framing of a new vision for the Delta involves recreation and that is the dawning of a great idea as the farming resources become less valuable than the recreational ones promise to be.
Also, the additional vision of an expansive new trail increases connectivity throughout the region.
Promoting the Delta diversity
Efforts are gearing up to lure visitors to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta with an extensive trail system and activities that tap into the area's farming history
By M.S. Enkoji - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Monday, October 15, 2007
As autumn chilled the Sacramento Delta, Tim Neuharth steered his pickup truck down off a levee road, into a thick stand of pear trees, an orchard that rooted 100 years ago.
Pears here. Grapevines over there. Cherry trees ahead. After generations of farming, as much as $2 billion in bounty springs every year from the almost 323,000 acres of Delta farms, this levee-laced land that was once tidal marsh.
Neuharth would like nothing better than to show off his share to people who live and work in cities, viewing concrete and glass all day long.
"For me, it's about enlightening other people so they know what 'ag' is all about," said Neuharth, 58. "It's surprising how few people know the Delta is here. The Delta is the Everglades of the West."
Agritourism, the idea of luring city dwellers out to farms and ranches where they drop tourist dollars and gain an appreciation for agriculture, is growing in the Delta alongside the vineyards and pears and nearly as fast as Neuharth's alfalfa fields.
In other regions where agritourism flourishes, visitors can take cooking classes on a ranch, get married in a vineyard, paint a canvas in an orchard, pick their own strawberries or maybe impersonate a cowboy on a dude ranch.
"It's fun and enjoyable, and it's profitable," said Neuharth, who is contemplating hay rides and pumpkin patches as a way to directly sell his produce.
The Discover the Delta Foundation is already raising money to open near Rio Vista a $2.5 million visitors center, possibly next summer, that would promote the region's farms, its historical and ethnic heritage. Hordes of visitors already swarm to the Delta for annual festivals heralding the pear crop and crawfish.
