ECOS will have a table to Sacramento’s Farm-to-Fork Festival on September 23, 2023! If you’re at the event, be sure to stop by our booth to learn more about our Natomas Team and the work they are doing to protect wildlife, habitat, and farmland in Natomas. The ECOS booth will be #533, located in front of 555 Capitol Mall, Sacramento, CA 95814.
“It is the world that suburban development replaced in Naomas. But suburban development also helped protect some of these areas…”
Click here (and turn to page 64) for the article.
Brad Branan is a freelance journalist and photographer who sits on the boards of the Environmental Council of Sacramento and Sierra Club, Sacramento Group, both of which oppose development in the Natomas Basin.
One day, I saw a pair of Osprey build a nest atop a utility pole. Another day, I watched a Great Egret pluck aquatic creatures out of a canal and swallow them like popcorn shrimp. And on yet another day, I saw thousands of Snow Geese fly in unison near Highway 99, creating what looked like a vibrating cloud. The scenes happened on or next to property owned by the Natomas Basin Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that has collected fees from local governments and land donations from developers to protect threatened species since 1997. The Conservancy focuses on 22 plants and animals in the Natomas Basin, an area running from Garden Highway to south Sutter County, and from the Sacramento River to Steelhead Creek. Surveys have found that the Swainson’s Hawk, Giant Garter Snake and other threatened animals have maintained or increased populations during the Conservancy’s tenure. But now the Conservancy’s important work is under threat from three major development proposals
Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/article275752381.html#storylink=cpy
Photo by Brad Branan: Osprey nest in the Natomas Basin
By Brad Branan is an ECOS Board member and representative of Sierra Club Sacramento
ECOS members are leading efforts to protect the Natomas Basin from several large-scale developments proposed for the environmentally sensitive area.
Developers are proposing three major projects in the basin, including the Airport South Industrial Project (ASIP) on 450 acres of farmland outside the city of Sacramento and the County’s Urban Services Boundary line. Together the projects total 8,191 acres, larger than the entire North Natomas area.
The basin is subject to environmental protection through the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan (NBHCP), which was a federal and state requirement in 1997 to mitigate planned development in the City. The NBHCP was later approved by a federal court. The basin, which includes 54,000 acres in Sacramento and Sutter County, from the Garden Highway to the Cross Canal in Sutter County, provides habitat for the protected Swainson’s Hawk and Giant Garter Snake, among other animals.
The developers of the ASIP need approval from the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) so the land can become part of the City of Sacramento.
Habitat 2020, an ECOS committee, opposed the first step taken by the City and LAFCo staff in that process – to make the city and the commission co-lead agencies on the environmental review of the annexation and the project. A law firm hired by Habitat 2020 and Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk sent the commission a letter saying that having co-lead agencies is a violation of state environmental law. They are waiting for a response.
ECOS member and former Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo, along with the ECOS Climate Committee’s Natomas Team, has been meeting with officials to explain why environmentalists oppose the project. Fargo and other project opponents are meeting with LAFCo members and Sacramento council members and are asking that the proposed annexation be brought to the Council for a public hearing and decision by the city council.
It is not good that proposed large master plan projects are located outside of the County’s Urban Services Boundary. “The county zoned [this] area as agricultural and has numerous policies in place to protect agricultural land. These projects would eliminate the remaining farmland and habitat of the Natomas basin, in Sacramento County, and weaken the Natomas Basin Habitat Plan.”
In response to the Sacramento Bee article “Washington sending millions to fight Natomas Basin flooding” by David Lightman and Michael McGough:
Portions of the front page article on April 18 regarding Natomas Basin Flooding were inaccurate and misleading. It’s important to correct the record.
The need for strengthening the levees along the Sacramento River are well known, not just for Natomas, but all the way to South Sacramento. And we all appreciate the support of the federal government to help keep Sacramento safe from flooding.
It’s important to recognize that much work has been completed in Natomas and the previous moratorium on construction has been lifted. Natomas now has a similar level of flood protection to the rest of the city. Thousands of housing units have been built, and thousands are currently under construction. But they are all in areas previously planned for housing within the city limits of Sacramento.
Housing developments in the adjacent farmland, outside of the city, are prohibited currently by Sacramento County’s Urban Services Boundary, approved in 1993. And that’s a good thing. It allows agricultural uses to continue, endangered species to survive in protected habitat areas, and contributes to the region’s economy and quality of life, and the build out of Natomas.
The article erroneously states that “The levee improvements are expected to help trigger important economic benefits, allowing more construction to occur.” This is not true. It goes on to say that “The Sacramento River flood threat has choked off development on new homes on the acres west of Interstate 80 and El Centro Road, and south of San Juan Road.” This is also not true.
The project area referred to includes proposed, but not approved, projects. The county zoned the area as agricultural and has numerous policies in place to protect agricultural land. These projects would eliminate the remaining farmland and habitat of the Natomas basin, in Sacramento County, and weaken the Natomas Basin Habitat Plan. This plan which requires one half acre for acre that is developed with the city limits was a state and federal requirement to allow North Natomas to be developed in the first place. The future of North Natomas along with the protected species will be endangered if new projects of thousands of acres are ever approved.
The abandoned Joint Vision for Natomas, approved by both the city and county of Sacramento, called for development to occur only in the city limits, and agriculture and habitat to be done in the unincorporated areas of the county. It still makes sense.
While it’s a developer’s dream to buy prime farmland for cheap, and have it approved for development, the “highest and best use” in unincorporated North Natomas is farming and habitat.
Click here to view the article.
Photo by Edith Thacher
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Email: office [at] ecosacramento [dot] net
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