Staten Island lies in the heart of California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, and exemplifies the woes of this troubled region. More than one quarter of the Delta―about 200,000 acres―is deeply subsided. This extreme soil loss puts stress on the levees encircling the islands. And, because the soil there is peat and so rich in organic matter, subsidence in the central Delta also spews carbon into the air. … But Staten Island also offers among the best hope for solving the Delta’s soil loss and greenhouse gas emission problems. The Nature Conservancy is testing ways of halting and even reversing subsidence on the island, and the latest project is a wetland restoration slated to begin as early as this summer.