December 19, 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Liv O’Keeffe, California Native Plant Society/ lokeeffe[at]cnps[dot]org / 916-738-7602, ext. 202

December 19, 2025, Sacramento — Today, the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) and the Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS) filed suit against the County of Sacramento for its recent approval of the Coyote Creek Agrivoltaic Ranch Project. The organizations cited numerous deficiencies in the project’s Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR), and warned county officials ahead of the Nov. 18 Sacramento County Board of Supervisors vote that the report “is so deeply flawed that it is insufficient to support informed decision-making.”

The project site comprises 2,704 acres of the historic Barton Ranch, a property characterized by rolling hills, oak woodlands, grasslands, vernal pools, and seasonal wetlands. Plans include a solar development area covering 1,412 acres, which would require permanent changes to the landscape, including the blasting and excavation of 1,461,000 cubic yards of earth and rock. The industrial-level repurposing of the land would result in the loss of 3,493 trees, many of which are mature blue oaks and heritage trees. The largest oak proposed for removal has a chest-height diameter of 67 inches and is estimated to be approximately 850 years old.

“We’re talking about trees dating back to the time of Ghengis Khan and the Middle Ages—destroyed without appropriate due diligence and in conflict with the county’s own plans,” said CNPS Conservation Program Director Nick Jensen, referencing the multiple ways the project is out of compliance with the Sacramento County General Plan. Points of potential conflict include county plan elements concerning the placement of energy production and large-scale renewable energy facilities and replanting requirements for mitigation.

“But make no mistake, this is not a choice between clean energy or irreplaceable habitat,” said ECOS Policy Analyst Luz Lim. “We all want and need appropriately planned clean energy for our county, but thanks to other projects underway, SMUD is already on track to fulfill its 2030 Zero Net Carbon Plan. Instead, and ironically, we’re potentially destroying thousands of oaks, which are one of nature’s most powerful tools to trap and sequester carbon.”

A single oak can sequester vast amounts of carbon each year and support as many as 300 different types of wildlife, making these native trees a “nature-based solution” to the impacts of climate change. Some ecologists also use the term “keystone species” to describe oaks, because of their disproportionately large impact on ecosystems.

In just one example of the FEIR’s deficiencies, the plan accounts for a 1:1 replacement of oak saplings for each mature oak removed. In contrast, the Sacramento County General Plan calls for one tree seedling for each inch of trunk diameter removed—a total 79,126.40 inches, according to the Arborist’s report for the project. In a November Sacramento Bee article, U.C. Berkeley integrative biology professor Todd Dawson, said the mitigation is “severely misaligned with the timescale to reestablish ‘mature’ trees and the woodlands they would compose,” and explained that blue oak acorns are hard to grow successfully, and that young trees often die from heat, drought or being eaten by wildlife.

The project also represents potential and significant ecological impacts to two perennial streams feeding into Deer Creek and ultimately the Cosumnes River; multiple sensitive or endangered species, such as tricolored blackbird (Agelaius tricolor), burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea), and American badger (Taxidea taxus); and 25% of the entire known occurrences of the rare western spiked rosinweed (Calycadenia spicata).

Concern over the Coyote Creek project has generated an outpouring of local activism. Hundreds of people showed up for the November Board of Supervisors vote to provide testimony. More than 150 people spoke at the meeting, and more than 900 provided written comments, with 95% opposed to the project.

And it’s no wonder, said Carol Witham, an ecologist and representative of the local CNPS Sacramento Valley Chapter. “Destroying high quality intact habitat that is home to some of the highest biodiversity and highest capacity for carbon sequestration in the county is unacceptable and sets a dangerous precedent for future development. One of the largest threats to biodiversity is climate change, the approval of projects like this makes efforts to reduce this threat a threat of its own.” 

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California Native Plant Society is a statewide nonprofit organization that protects California’s native plants and their natural habitats through science, education, stewardship, gardening, and advocacy. CNPS has more than 13,000 members and 35 chapters supporting its mission throughout California and Baja California, Mexico. Learn more at cnps.org.

The Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS) is coalition of Sacramento area environmental organizations that work to protect the lands, waters, wildlife and native plants in the Sacramento region to drive conversation and action for good planning. Learn more at www.ecosacramento.net.

Image: Blue oak (Quercus douglasii) woodlands in Coyote Creek (courtesy of CNPS)