Editing Central Valley Project (section)

=== Background ===
The Central Valley Project was the world's largest water and power project when undertaken during [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s [[New Deal]] [[Public Works Administration|public works]] agenda.  The Project was the culmination of eighty years of political fighting over the state's most important natural resource - [[water in California|Water]].  The [[Central Valley (California)|Central Valley of California]] lies to the west of the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada Mountains]] with its annual run-off draining into the Pacific Ocean through the [[Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta]]. It is a large receding [[Geology|geological]] [[floodplain]] moderated by its [[Mediterranean climate]] of dry summers and wet winters that includes regular major [[Droughts in California|drought cycles]]. At the time of its construction, the project was at the center of a political and cultural battle over the state's future.  It intersected with the state's ongoing war over land use, access to water rights, impacts on indigenous communities, large vs. small farmers, the state's irrigation districts and public vs. private power. Its proponents ignored environmental concerns over its impacts, other than the outcome not damage the major [[Project stakeholder|stakeholder]]s at that time.

The [[Central Valley (California)|Central Valley of California]] has gone through two distinct culturally driven [[land use]] eras. The first was the [[Native Americans in the United States|indigenous]] tribal period that lasted for thousands of years. Then came the arrival of Europeans, first by the Spanish [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|colonial model]] of [[Catholic]] [[Spanish missions in California|missions]] and [[Ranchos of California|ranchos]] (1772–1846) was then followed by the current United States era. Due to its [[Mediterranean climate]], the first [[Culture|cultural]] period was [[hunter-gatherer]] based. The Spanish missions' ranching and [[Tanning (leather)|tanning]] business was based on the forced labor of [[The Californias|Las Californias]] tribes. Spain's model of land use with the [[grazing]] of [[livestock]] for meat, wool and leather started along [[Alta California]]'s coast eventually spreading inland.  The U.S. era evolved from primarily ranching to large-scale [[plantation]]s or more commonly known today as [[corporate farming]] that turned the Central Valley into the [[Breadbasket#North America|breadbasket]] of the U.S.

Following the 1848 [[California Gold Rush]], large numbers of U.S. citizens came into the region and made attempts to practice [[rainfed agriculture]], but most of the Central Valley land was taken up by large cattle ranchers like [[Henry Miller (rancher)|Henry Miller]] who eventually controlled 22,000 square miles of land.<ref name="Miller">{{cite news |title=The King Of Ranchers |url=https://www.americanheritage.com/king-ranchers |newspaper=American Heritage |access-date=15 September 2019}}</ref> The large-scale [[levee]] construction by Chinese workers along the [[Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta#History|Delta]] was where limited [[irrigation]] for orchards first started.

Following the arrival of the [[Transcontinental railroad#Transcontinental railroad|Transcontinental railroad]], immigration from Asia and the rest of the U.S. led to growing numbers of settlers in the region. Despite the rich soils and favorable weather of the {{convert|42000|sqmi|km2|adj=on}} Central Valley, immigrants to the valley who were unfamiliar with its seasonal patterns of rainfall and flooding began to take up irrigation practices.  Farmers soon found themselves troubled by frequent floods in the Sacramento Valley and a general lack of water in the San Joaquin Valley.<ref name="historyoverview"/> The [[Sacramento River]], which drains the northern part, receives between 60 and 75% of the precipitation in the Valley, despite the Sacramento Valley covering less area than the much larger San Joaquin Valley, drained by the [[San Joaquin River]], which receives only about 25% of the rainfall. Furthermore, cities drawing water from the [[Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta]] faced problems in dry summer and autumn months when the inflowing water was low. In order to continue to sustain the valley's economy, there needed to be systems to regulate flows in the rivers and equally distribute water among the north and south parts of the valley.<ref name="historyoverview">{{cite web |url=http://www.usbr.gov/projects/Project.jsp?proj_Name=Central%20Valley%20Project&pageType=ProjectHistoryPage |title=The Central Valley Project |publisher=U.S. Bureau of Reclamation |work=Bureau of Reclamation History Program |year=1994 |access-date=2010-01-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613140442/http://www.usbr.gov/projects/Project.jsp?proj_Name=Central%20Valley%20Project&pageType=ProjectHistoryPage |archive-date=2011-06-13 }}</ref>