LMC lecture series details history of the Delta

By Jeff Weisinger Staff Writer

BRENTWOOD A new lecture series at Los Medanos College’s Brentwood campus is educating those who are not only interested in Brentwood’s and the Delta’s history, but also to new residents.

“The New Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Heritage Area” series at LMC discusses the history of the Delta starting back in the 1800’s and everything about and around it. Registration for the lecture costs $19 per session and takes place once a month. It’s led by Carol Jensen, a local historian and Delta National Heritage Area (NHA) Committee member, and Blake Roberts, the NHA Commission Program Manager.

“This series is specifically designed to introduce the new people in the greater East County area – Oakley, Brentwood area – about their new home,” Jensen said. “The intention is to provide a little history and background education for those that are new to this community, let’s say less than seven years.”

The Delta features 57 reclaimed islands and tracts all surrounded by 1,100 miles of levees that border about 700 miles of waterways. It lies within Contra Costa, Sacramento and Yolo counties.

The series, and Tuesday’s lecture more specifically, has also been a way for Roberts and the NHA to spread the word about

.the National Heritage Area Commission, what it is and what they’re ultimately trying to accomplish.

“We’re still kind of going through the phases of finishing up the management plan and we still want to get word out there that we’re doing this and that we’re trying to get input,” Roberts explained. “On top of that, the other thing we’re trying to do is just get word about the national heritage. I think there’s a lot of people that just aren’t aware yet.”

The biggest difference between a national heritage area and a national park is in who controls it. The national parks are federal land while national heritage areas don’t have any regulation or land ownership, allowing the committee to simply work with local organizations to tell its stories. The Delta National Heritage Area earned its label in 2019 and is the only national heritage in California, according to Roberts.

The lecture series about the Delta NHA has been fairly popular so far. Tuesday’s lecture attracted about 20 people, mainly senior citizens who are local to Brentwood and Antioch, however, Jensen mentioned that previous lectures in the series have had over 40 people in the classroom, making it standing room only. Jensen discusses the history by being informational on the history of the Delta.

LMC’s faculty members fill out proposals to host lectures on different topics, providing a variety that people like about the community education program.

“It’s lifelong learning,” said David Wahl, the community and contract education program coordinator at Los Medanos College, said.” “That’s really what it’s all about: no stress, no notes, no tests, just learning for the joy of learning.”

Jensen and Roberts go into detail about the history of the Delta itself and now the Delta NHA when it was officially titled as such in 2019. The lecture also mentions several highlights about the history of the Delta – the fact that milk and dairy was the biggest product coming out of the Delta, how the Delta had no unemployment because everyone, literally, had a job, that time when a riverboat on the Delta River served as the set for a few of Mark Twain’s movies, and how the army tank was, technically, invented in Brentwood.

“We may do the whole thing over again because there’s still lots of people that haven’t heard about the program yet,” Wahl added. “We’ll do one about Bethel Island and the East Delta and we certainly will wind up with people from Discovery Bay, Bethel Island that are interested in the Delta as a topic.”

The series runs through the end of the semester in May with the upcoming Bethel Island lecture coming on March 21 at 1 p.m. For more information, check out the community education section on Los Medanos College’s website.