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Anthropology and Environment Society
Oral Presentation Session
Alejo Kraus-Polk
PhD Candidate
University of California Davis
Brett Milligan (University of California Davis)
Franks Tract is a 3,532-acre accidental lake located in the center of California’s Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta. Franks Tract is in the middle of the beating heart of California’s vast water
management system. A holistic view on the health of the Tract is thus connected to the health
of the larger hydrosocial system. However, the Tract is also tied to local economic livelihoods,
property values as well as human and more-than-human health. Reconciling interscalar, situated
perspectives on relational wellbeing will require negotiating across diverse environmental
knowledges. Follow Escobar, we propose a pluriversal approach that incorporates the varied
environmental knowledge of the multiple worlds that inhabit Franks Tract (Escobar 2019).
In this presentation, we will discuss the results of a survey and fieldwork conducted as part of a
State-led feasibility study, which proposed to “restore” nearly 1,000 acres of tidal wetland to
reduce salinity intrusion and provide habitat for critically endangered species. We will also
speculate on Franks Tract design process in which we are a part, based on our modification to
the session prompt: what does it mean to [design] the good-life in ways that remain committed
to a future built on environmental justice, and how can [“restoration”] reconcile situated
perspectives to relational wellbeing?