We will be gathering to rally against and discuss the impacts of Voluntary Agreements (VAs) on
Friday, January 30th, 2026. The workshop will be held at the
CalEPA Building in Sacramento. If you are planning to attend, we would like to know if you have food or mileage reimbursement needs. We would also like to know if you want to share or help out. Please complete this form so that we have the information. Feel free to reach out to
info@californiasalmon.org if you have any questions
. If there are more people in your party, please submit a separate form for each person.
State Water Board & Voluntary Agreements
The State Water Board (SWB) is in charge of developing and implementing a water control plan for the Bay-Delta (Bay-Delta Plan) but has delayed updating this plan for decades. As part of the second revised draft of the Bay-Delta Plan update process, the SWB is considering the adoption of these exclusionary Voluntary Agreements (VA) that will not provide the flows the watershed needs and will harm the Bay-Delta watershed. The SWB is holding hearing dates on January 28, 29, and 30th in order to make a decision and we need to tell them that the VAs are not a viable option. We need the SWB to develop a Bay Delta Plan update that will effectively protect Bay-Delta flows, water quality, and salmon.
Why is this important?
The Bay-Delta watershed covers more than 75,000 square miles and many rivers and is the largest estuary on the Pacific coast of the Americas. Native species in the Bay-Delta are experiencing an ecological crisis due to habitat conversion, degraded water quality, harmful algal blooms, reductions in flows, and the inability to access natural habitats that are blocked by dams and levees. This has led to severe decline and extinction of native fish and other aquatic species. The salmon levels have become so low that salmon fishing has been canceled in California for the second year in a row and only the fourth time in history. Climate change and frequent, unpredictable weather patterns leave the health of the Bay-Delta uncertain and especially vulnerable each year. Years of scientific studies have shown that 65% of the water in the Delta watersheds needs to stay in the rivers for clean water and fisheries. We need an effective Bay-Delta Plan to save the Bay-Delta ecosystem.
