Natomas Basin Conservancy presentation, Mar 23, 2021

March 23, 2021 — Join ECOS for a presentation on the Natomas Basin Conservancy: Sacramento’s original Habitat Conservation Plan, with John Roberts, Executive Director of the Natomas Basin Conservancy. He will be discussing the accomplishments and challenges in the face of proposed major development in the Natomas Basin.

The Natomas Basin Conservancy is the entity responsible for implementing the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan. John Roberts is their first and only director. Roberts is an economist by training whose career has focused on managing non profits in the Sacramento region. He previously managed the California Rice Growers Association and the Metro Chamber of Commerce.

“In essence, the Conservancy provides refuge and sanctuary for wildlife displaced by urban activity in the Natomas Basin. Annual biological monitoring by independent third parties demonstrates wildlife is thriving on Conservancy-owned mitigation land.”

-John Roberts, Executive Director

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Meeting ID: 818 6537 7865
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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.

Nesting in Natomas, Cathryn Rakich, Jul 2020, Inside Sacramento

Unaware they are trespassing on land owned by the Sacramento Kings, hundreds of snowy egrets and black-crowned night herons have taken up residence in a deserted oasis on the north side of Sleep Train Arena.

From a chain-link fence surrounding the grassland, the birds can be seen gliding among cement slabs and rebar, the foundation for a baseball stadium project led by Greg Lukenbill in the late 1980s that never came to fruition.

Click here to read the full article.

City Council member calls hospital’s opening plan ‘awfully optimistic’

February 19, 2020
By Lance Armstrong, Staff Writer
The Elk Grove Citizen

Elk Grove City Council Member Pat Hume on Feb. 11 referred to California Northstate University’s (CNU) proposal to build a $750 million to $800 million teaching hospital in the Stonelake neighborhood by November 2022 as “awfully optimistic.”
“I know that OSHPD (Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development) and some of the standards that are put on (the construction of) hospitals are pretty onerous and that the oversight is pretty strict,” he said. “So, I don’t know. I know that they like to be aggressive and assertive in what they do. If they think it’s realistic, okay. But it seems awfully optimistic.”
…
Hume additionally told the Citizen that he has a variety of concerns regarding California Northstate University’s proposal to build a teaching hospital in the Stonelake neighborhood.
“I’ve got all kinds of concerns,” he said. “Does it fit? Do they address some of the concerns that were raised here (at the meeting) tonight with respect to traffic and circulation and flooding and floodplain and neighborhood issues?

Click here to read more.

Mather South Environmental Review

On January 27, 2020, the Environmental Council of Sacramento, 350 Sacramento, and the Sierra Club Sacramento Group submitted a letter of our comments on the Final Environmental Impact Report for the Mather South Community Master Plan.

Our comments focus on Chapter 7, “Climate Change.” We present general and project-specific concerns.

Click here to read our comment letter in full.

Arco Arena Reuse Comments

December 9, 2019

On December 9th, ECOS/Habitat 2020 partnered with Sacramento Heron and Egret Rescue to submit comments to the city regarding the Arco Arena Reuse Plan. Click here to learn more about the huge pond we are trying to preserve at the site.

Below is an excerpt from the letter:

The ideas presented in the PUD completely ignore that there is a fully functioning aquatic resource (the Sleep Train Arena pond) in the Plan area that is currently providing habitat and nesting opportunities for hundreds of waterfowl. The PUD presents a completely people oriented urban landscape without any consideration for the local species that we share the region with. This paradigm ignores the appeal that such an aquatic resource would have for the new residents of the project area. It also demonstrates a lack of creativity because it is not even considered for use as part of the drainage basins that the Plan area will need to include. The grassy-sloped drainage basin depicted in the PUD, with anticipated residents recreating there, presents a vastly inferior option to a biologically dynamic pond supporting a large healthy nesting population of herons, egrets, cormorants, and other local avian species.

If this pond is eliminated, the over 1,000 herons and egrets that nest from April to August each year would very likely move to the surrounding neighborhoods to roost and nest, creating issues for residents and businesses. This would also result in hundreds of injured baby birds each year that would greatly strain local wildlife rescues, which are doing the work that our local shelters would otherwise be dealing with. The pond would provide the area with a nature viewing experience that would serve as a recreational and educational opportunity. It would allow residents access to nearby nature, which has been shown by research to have mental health benefits.

Click here to view the comment letter.