The Draft Natural Resources Management Plan (NRMP) for the American River Parkway has been released for public comment by the Sacramento County Department of Regional Parks. Comments are due mid-May.
Tag Archives: American River
The Kassis Property: one of the city’s last pieces of open space
By Scott Thomas Anderson | January 27, 2021 | Sacramento News and Review
The Kassis property includes 40.7 acres that form an alluvial terrace on its upper plateau, and a lower basin that stretches along the river in the 100-year floodplain. There are 335 trees in the formations, split by a grassy, 30-foot-high bluff at the edge of a quiet neighborhood. For years, the property was owned by John P. Kassis. After his death, its title transferred to members of his family.
“Concerns about this project? Where to start?” said Ralph Propper, president of the Environmental Council of Sacramento. “We’re very concerned about protecting the last significant open space along the American River.”
Click here to read the article in full.
Click here to learn more about the property.
Where is the Kassis Property?
Here is a map showing exactly where the property is.
American River Parkway Resource Impact Monitoring Plan
August 4, 2020
Sacramento County Regional Parks has begun the long awaited process to get a Resource Impact Monitoring Plan in place for the American River Parkway. Before a Resource Impact Monitoring Plan can be developed and implemented, Parks has put together a technical team to develop a Natural Resource Management Plan. The purpose of this plan is to provide relevant and defensible information to the Parkway Manager so the Manager can make informed decisions for managing, maintaining and restoring the American River Parkway natural resources.
Please participate and complete the survey by the deadline, August 15th, and share it with your networks!
E. Coli Measurements in Lower American River still very high
May 28, 2020 | By Ryan Sabalow and Theresa Clift | The Sacramento Bee
As the summer weather begins to hit Sacramento, thousands of families head to the American River to cool off. That was the case over Memorial Day weekend.
Yet, recent measurements of E. coli bacteria in the river have reached the highest limits the testing equipment could detect.
Will Sacramento ever clean up the beautiful American River to a point where it’s safe for all to enjoy?
SMUD Roseville Water Transfer comments
On September 10, 2019, the Environmental Council of Sacramento and Habitat 2020 sent a letter to Sacramento Metropolitan Utilities District (SMUD) a letter regarding a proposed water transfer between the City of Roseville and SMUD. Below are some excerpts from the letter, followed by a link to the letter in full.
Recently the Environmental Council of Sacramento and Habitat 2020 became aware of the pending temporary water transfer between the City of Roseville and SMUD. Our review of the environmental assessment and decision document prepared by the Bureau of Reclamation found specific deficiencies in the analysis and a casual dismissal of the transfer’s cumulative significance. We believe that the proposed transfer of water does not contain the necessary safeguards to protect Lower American River fisheries. We request that the SMUD Board direct its staff to include provisions in the contract that will address these concerns.
…
We believe the transfers must be governed by the standards and requirements contained in the Modified Flow Management Standard. These standards and requirements would much better ensure that the transfer would not negatively impact the American River flow and temperature standards.
Click here to read the full letter.
Photo by George Nyberg of the American River
Sacramento Needs Public Bathrooms
Need to go to the bathroom in Sacramento? Good luck! Unless you are close to home or happen to be somewhere where you have just been a customer (but what if you didn’t “have to go” then?) your chances of finding a toilet are slim. Even our parks are lacking. According to the Sacramento Bee, “…the city operates 205 parks, but most either have no bathrooms or have facilities with limited hours. In the central city…only 5 of 22 parks have restroom facilities.” Many times, park bathrooms are locked up without warning or notice of when they may reopen.
Many of the river access points closest to downtown Sacramento completely lack any bathrooms for beach-goers, such as Sutter’s Landing. Imagine taking your family to have a nice day at the beach, only to find that your kids or your aunt have no where to relieve themselves! That’s what Sacramento is like, and it’s time to change that.
Why? Diseases, for one thing! Now the river is full of bacterias that can make people really sick, like E. Coli.
The link to this SacBee article, published September 12, 2019, has been changed or removed and is no longer available.
Sacramento will continue to struggle with sanitation and risk of disease so long as the city refuses to provide an adequate number of public restrooms, on and off the river, for both people who are experiencing homelessness and those who are not.
Alexandra Reagan
Director of Operations, ECOS
