Talk:Van Sickle Island/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Smallchief (talk · contribs) 09:21, 19 March 2021 (UTC)

Interesting article

I'm not an experienced reviewer of articles, so my only rating criteria is that the article tells me what I want to know about the subject -- and not too much about what I don't want to know. I believe the summary paragraph needs more information. I immediately wanted to know two things not found in the summary (and a bit difficult to find in the text): who owns the island and how do you get onto it? Ferry, bridge? (I don't see a bridge on the map.) I think those facts should be made more explicit in the text of the summary paragraph or paragraphs.

I was also curious about why governments are investing sizeable sums in maintaining the levees, as mentioned in the budget statistics. Does the island have importance for wildlife conservation -- or is this just a subsidy to influential landowners? Any controversy on that? The rationale for the government investment in the island might be made more explicit.

I dislike red links, but that may not be relevant in reviewing the article. In any case, this is an interesting article about a subject unfamiliar to me that I enjoyed learning about. Smallchief (talk) 09:21, 19 March 2021 (UTC)

@Smallchief: I'll attempt to address what you've said:

As for the ownership, the last paragraph in §Geography and ecology is the most comprehensive information I could find (that it's divided into 22 privately owned parcels used for duck hunting clubs and residences; I'll include that information in the lead.

As for access, it is hard to find information, but I've done my best, and you can see the result in what's now the third paragraph in §Geography and ecology.

As for why the government spends a lot of money on keeping it above water, sources don't really give a clear answer. A lot of islands in the Delta are maintained for water quality reasons (i.e. preventing saltwater intrusion), but Suisun bay I am not sure about. There are some conservation efforts (Grizzly Island Wildlife Area is directly to the north); it'd certainly be nice if the articles about Suisun Bay, Grizzly Bay and Honker Bay had more info on this, but it looks like slim pickins since the last of those is a redlink. Anyway, I've added some information about that in the first paragraph of §Geography and ecology.

Let me know what you think of it so far! jp×g 03:26, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

You've met my concerns. I'll declare the article "good." I don't know what the next step, if any, is. Good job. Smallchief (talk) 08:23, 24 March 2021 (UTC)

@Smallchief: Thanks for the review! There are a couple more steps, at Wikipedia:Good article nominations/Instructions#Passing, mostly replacing

{{GA nominee|01:26, 8 March 2021 (UTC)|nominator='''[[User:JPxG|jp]]'''×'''[[User talk:JPxG|g]]'''|page=1|subtopic=Geography|status=onreview|note=}}

on the talk page with

{{GA|~~~~~|topic=Geography|page=1}}

and replacing "C" in the WikiProject classification templates with "GA". jp×g 19:34, 24 March 2021 (UTC)