[13] In December 2014, Reclamation District 2059's Board of Trustees approved a Project Funding Agreement for the removal and mitigation of Himalayan blackberry and other invasive weeds.

Glacial meltwater flowing from the Sierra Nevada mountains[16] deposited peat and alluvium[17]: 83  over compacted lacustrine sediment [7]: 10  and aeolian sand fields.

Shaped like "broad shallow saucers", these islands consisted of tule marsh surrounded by naturally-formed levees with woody foliage extending root networks downward into peat.

[7]: 13 This large expanse of tidal marshland was discovered by Native American tribes such as the Miwok and Wintun, who used it to fish, hunt and forage;[19] while they did not cultivate it as farmland, they burned vegetation to "manage the landscape [...] to favor plants they used".

[22]: 17  In 1772, when Spanish explorer Pedro Fages found the Delta, the area was inhabited by large numbers of deer and tule elk,[17]: 83  as well as a native population somewhere between 3,000 and 15,000.

[7]: 192  In 1868, individual acreage limits for purchasers were removed, and counties were authorized to form "reclamation districts" which collected funds to administer levee improvement and maintenance;[7]: 198  by 1871, "practically all of California's swamp and overflowed land was sold".

[25] Bradford Island would eventually be cultivated as farmland, but first found use as pasture; after reclamation was completed, it was leased as a stock range for two years by cattle barons Henry Miller and Charles Lux.

[42] In May 1938, after the discovery of the nearby Rio Vista gas field, the Standard Oil Company of California began exploring Bradford Island for hydrocarbon deposits.

[55] On November 29, 1903, a murder occurred on Bradford Island; a man named Katsimo was stabbed in the back by his partner, "Big Jack", over a dispute regarding the growing of vegetables.

[61] The Daily Gazette of Martinez reported in June 1912 that the entirety of Bradford Island was to be sold to Howard S. Dudley, an Oregon businessman, by Pierce & Company,[62] a transaction which was completed in December of that year.

[75] The fire was spread to the Webb Tract by burning shingles, where farmland and buildings would also be destroyed;[76] a cut in the levees was dredged to assist in quenching the flames.

[31] This was still going strong by 1915;[26] by 1917, labor shortages caused the Meek farm to begin recruiting high school boys from nearby cities to help cut asparagus.

[107][108] By 1920, living conditions among teenage asparagus workers on the island were found to be "alarming" by state and county officials, and arrangements were sought for some thirty of them to be sent to schools in the area.

[109] However, in 1921, the Sacramento Star said that a trip to the island "seemed to take us out of one world into another [...] where child labor laws had been forgotten", with young boys picking asparagus in 115 °F (46 °C) weather with no trees for shade.

[7]: 466 Bradford Island was not served by electrical utilities until 1958, and in 1961 there were still no telephones;[134][135] the only means of communication with the mainland were the ferry and resident Joe Nichols' radio set.

[143] The suggestions mostly constituted elimination of minimum parcel sizes, expansion of the reclamation board, and requests for county assistance with community services.

[148][149] In 2005, his widow donated the ship to United States Navy veteran Mike Warren, whose "Save an MSO Foundation" began restoration by removing the large amount of scrap metal that had been stored in it and patching the hole.

[152] The fire caused an estimated $675,000 (equivalent to $943,125 in 2023) in property damage[153] and burned approximately 550 acres (220 ha) of land, as well as homes, docks, and a pumping station.

[3] It derives revenue primarily from state and federal levee subvention grants, ferry service fees, and property assessments, which landowners pay yearly in proportion to the amount of land they own.

[171]: 15 In 2008, the Board of Trustees determined that the Reclamation District lacked funds necessary for several maintenance tasks (including the ferry and a pump station replacement);[172] in 2010, a majority vote approved a proposition to change assessment procedures.

[173] Former district trustee Michael Hamman said that "everyone wanted a rural, quiet setting and nothing changed until Paul came along [...] who's going to take a ferry to play golf for Christ's sake?

[185] In October, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors announced that bids would open on November 10 for a five-year contract[182] to provide ferry service between the four islands.

[182] Due to the inaccessibility of the islands without any ferry services, Lauritzen agreed to operate a "smaller boat for passengers only" until public bidding for the contract opened in November.

[189] Instead, temporary services would be provided by John Vitale; a hearing for the formation of the taxing district was scheduled for December 22, and bids for the 10-year contract were to open on January 5.

On September 21, the county's board of supervisors authorized legal action against Immethun by the reclamation districts of both Bradford Island and the Webb Tract, due to suspension of the day's last ferry run.

[204] In 1978, the cost of operating the ferry began to "stir up a storm" for the county budget, as tax revenues had decreased significantly despite the contract being set to expire in 1988.

[181] In May 1994, the ferry became inoperable when its engines (which were 47 years old) broke; service was restored in July, after a tense period in which "tempers flared, patience grew thin and petty disputes escalated into big arguments".

[232][233] In January 1980, during the "Battle of the Delta", three floating cranes were sent to Bradford Island to shore up levees during heavy flooding from "ocean-sized waves" (which had at that point already inundated the Webb Tract).

The Contra Costa Local Agency Formation Commission estimated the annual cost of this maintenance at $2,500 per mile ($1,553 per kilometer) based on expenditures from fiscal year 2012–2013.

[13] In 2015, a "Muscle Wall" was placed on the low spots of the island's levees "just in time" for a 4.43 foot (1.35 m) high tide on July 2,[172] and work to remove the drought barrier began in September.