On November 30, 2018, the Habitat Committee of the Environmental Council of Sacramento submitted a letter to Tom Buford, Principal Planner, and Adam Randolph, Project Manager, with the Community Development Department of the City of Sacramento.
Habitat 2020 is a citizen coalition that works to protect the lands, waters, wildlife and native plants in the Sacramento region. It also serves as the Environmental Council of Sacramento’s Habitat & Conservation committee. The great Central Valley of California has been identified by the World Wildlife Fund as one of North America’s most endangered eco-regions. Preserving its remaining open space and agricultural land is essential for sustaining native plants and wildlife, and ensuring a high quality of life for ourselves and future generations. Members of Habitat 2020 include the Sacramento Audubon Society, California Native Plant Society, Friends of Swainson’s Hawk, Save the American River Association, Save Our Sandhill Cranes, Sierra Club Mother Lode Chapter – Sacramento Group, Friends of Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, the International Dark-Sky Association and the Sacramento Area Creeks Council.
The American River Parkway is a unique and singularly important riparian habitat corridor in the County of Sacramento and is a rare remaining remnant of what was once a much more extensive riparian ecosystem in northern California. Any project to construct facilities within the Parkway and to increase human activities in the Parkway has impacts on the wildlife, habitat and plants of this corridor. This project would create 3.4 miles of new Class 1 bicycle and pedestrian trail primarily along the waterside levee toe west from Sutter’s Landing Regional Park to the Sacramento Northern Bikeway Trail at North 18th Street, and east from the eastern terminus of Sutter’s Landing Regional Park to the H Street Bridge. The trail would be 14-16 feet wide. As stated in the MND/IS, page 5, the project is proposed to be constructed largely in an area designated as “Protected Area” under the American River Parkway Plan, with habitat preservation and recreation-related activities being the primary uses. As stated on page 9, it is one of the objectives of the project to “Complete the project in a manner that minimizes environmental impacts to the Parkway, given the proposed project’s location within the environmentally sensitive Parkway.”
Our comments on the MND/IS focus on the conservation of the Parkway as natural habitat. Moreover, we support the mission of the Save the American River Association (SARA) and endorse (and incorporate by reference into our comments) all comments made by SARA on this MND/IS. Likewise, we endorse and incorporate comments made by the Friends of the River Banks and the Friends of Sutter Landing Park.
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We request that the City draft and circulate a full EIR, considering alternatives to the project width and alignment, and significantly improving the mitigation measures for the project.
View the full letter by clicking here (PDF).
View more information about the project on the City’s website by clicking here.
