Resolution in Support of Expanding and Enhancing Sutter’s Landing Park

WHEREAS, the Lower American River provides a beautiful place for Sacramento-area families to connect with nature, enjoy quality outdoor time together, and inspire children to learn about science; and

WHEREAS, the Lower American River and the American River Parkway generate about 8,000,000 visitor days per year making this resource one of the most popular recreational areas in the Sacramento region; and

WHEREAS, the Lower American River, the American River Parkway, and Sutter’s Landing Park provide vital habitat for a wide variety of wildlife including the Swainson’s Hawk (California threatened species), the White-tailed kite (species of special concern), river otters, and many other wildlife species; and

WHEREAS, there are very limited opportunities for Sacramento area residents to access the southern banks of the Lower American River or enjoy significant natural areas along the river’s southern banks within the City of Sacramento; and

WHEREAS, Sacramento area residents have rated parks, trails and recreation areas as the amenities most in need of investment and have rated large habitats for walking and hiking where interpretive and educational programs can take place as their top priority for the type of park and recreational facilities to be provided in the future; and

WHEREAS, the Governor and the California Legislature established the Lower American River Conservancy Program to assist local governments in protecting, restoring, and expanding wildlife areas and public access along the Lower American River and voters recently approved millions of dollars of state park bond funding for this purpose; and

WHEREAS, the City of Sacramento has the opportunity to establish one of California’s most significant urban riverside parks by expanding Sutter’s Landing Park to the west of the existing park when these lands become available from willing landowners and protecting and restoring existing open space areas; and

WHEREAS, expanding and improving Sutter’s Landing Park will provide Sacramento diverse population with a tremendous natural area that can readily connect children and other community members with nature in the heart of our city; and

WHEREAS, expanding Sutter’s Landing Park to the west is necessary to help fill the existing gap in the Two Rivers Trail gap between 16th Street and the current Sutter’s Landing Park; and

WHEREAS, each generation has a responsibility to leave our children and future generations with an improved environment and affordable recreational opportunities.

WHEREAS, the opportunity to place lands near Sutter’s Landing into public ownership has arisen, and should be seized;

WHEREAS, ECOS has long supported conservation of the American River Parkway and supports conserving and restoring the lands adjacent to Sutter’s Landing that are now in private ownership;

WHEREAS, it is important that the design process of the eventual public park be open and collaborative across Sacramento’s many communities;

WHEREAS, the park should have modern facilities, including adequate restrooms, and be designed to be accessible and useful for all;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Environmental Council of Sacramento respectfully urges the Mayor of Sacramento, the City Council of Sacramento, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, and the Wildlife Conservation Board to:

1. Make expansion, protection, restoration, and improvement of Sutter’s Landing Park a priority.

2. Support educational programs at Sutter’s Landing Park and along the American River Parkway to provide children with information about the river’s contribution to the natural and cultural history of our region.

3. Support and allocate funding to make Sutter’s Landing Park one of California’s greatest urban natural oasis providing our communities and other visitors with ready connection to nature and one of America’s most beautiful rivers.

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT ECOS will transmit this resolution to the Mayor of Sacramento, Members of the Sacramento City Council, Members of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, and Members and Staff of the Wildlife Conservation Board.

Click here to view the resolution in PDF.

Greenbriar: where Sacramento plans to put nearly 3,000 new homes, by Tony Bizjak, May 29, 2017, The Sacramento Bee

Advocates for the Swainson’s hawk, listed as threatened by the state, are unhappy with the habitat mitigation land chosen for the hawks, which is an orchard west of the airport, adjacent to the Teal Bend golf course. Advocate Jude Lamare said the site is too close the airport, where 11 Swainson’s hawks have been counted as hit and killed by jets in the last four years.

The hawks forage in various places around the Natomas basin, but, as development continues, nesting areas will be reduced, forcing more birds into limited sites, including the one next to the airport. “If you are picking a ‘forever’ home for threatened avian species, it would not be next to a runway,” Lamare said. “You are squeezing the species down.”

Read more here.

 

Sacramento Wild and Scenic On Tour Film Program Announced!

Thursday, December 8th, 2016

Doors Open at 6:00pm, Films 6:30pm-9:30pm

24th Street Theater at the Sierra 2 Community Center (2791 24th St, Sacramento, CA 95818)

Click here to view all the details about film festival.


Film Program

Parker’s Top 50 Favorite Things about Northwest Rivers

This fun film celebrates the best things about Northwest rivers, from a kid’s perspective. From sun, to rain, to waterfalls, to wild salmon, to time with mom, it’s the rivers that make the Northwest such a special place.

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Walt

Explore the life of Walt Shubin, San Joaquin-area grape farmer who has been striving to bring back this amazing river for over six decades. How do we value a river? How does a river form your life? Walt reminds us of the importance of a place like the San Joaquin.

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Kew Gardens: Beyond the Gardens- The Forgotten Home of Coffee

This is a story of guardianship over one of the world’s most economically valuable crops, revealing the surprisingly fragile foundations that lie beneath the multi-billion pound industry, showing just how important Kew’s scientific research is to securing the fate of our cup of coffee.

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The Fire Next Time

When the Rim Fire burned 256,000 acres of the Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park in 2013, it exposed the impacts that high intensity wildfires are having on watersheds, wildlife, and carbon storage. It also forged a coalition of environmentalists, loggers, scientists, officials, and land managers who are responding to this megafire and recognize the need to forestall the next one.

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Co2ld Waters

Five of the most respected names in the fly fishing world converge on a single creek in Montana to talk about their passion and to discuss the single biggest threat to their timeless pursuit, climate change. Can four million fly anglers make difference? Legendary fishermen, including Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia, believe it is possible.

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A Dam Problem

Building successful relationships takes time but those relationships are the key to completing a successful dam removal and floodplain restoration project near Sisters, OR, that benefited farmers, fish and the surrounding ecosystem.

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Sagebrush Sisters

Join three intrepid women, from ages 65 to 80, as they hike more than 50 miles following a pronghorn migration path across the high desert. The Greater Hart-Sheldon Region on the Oregon-Nevada border is a wildlife stronghold in the sagebrush sea, and these women hope to keep it that way.

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Avaatara: The First Route Out

David Lama achieves first ascent of the Baatara gorge in Lebanon. “If you travel roads that have already been discovered, you are basically always just following. But if you go somewhere where no one’s ever been and do something no one’s ever done, you’re on the lead and that’s one thing that I really like.” David Lama’s guiding philosophy has already taken him to the most impressive mountain ranges of the world and, more recently, to the Baartara gorge in Lebanon. A surreal ‘Avatar’-like landscape, unexploited and untouched.

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Plant for the Planet

Eleven-year-old Felix Finkbeiner from Germany learned about climate change and how trees take up CO2. Inspired by Wangari Maathai, he founded Plant for the Planet which has now planted millions of trees. This and the other Young Voices for the Planet films document young people playing a vital role in catalyzing change in their homes, schools, communities… and the world.

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Soil Carbon Cowboys

Many people talk about the cattle business as a big environmental problem. Cattle, when properly grazed, offer solutions to soil health, animal health, human health, water supply and food nutrition. It’s a brave new world, and it’s below our feet.

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Diversity and Inclusion In Our Wild Spaces

A campfire discussion on improving the diversity of both the visitation and the employment within our parks and wild spaces happened last May in Yosemite National Park. A gathering of extraordinary people from non-profit agencies, land management bureaus and those involved in the movement to encourage more people of color to visit and seek careers in the outdoors brings light to important issues facing today’s conservation movement and outdoor recreation.

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Defined by the Line

Josh Ewing began visiting the Bears Ears region of southeastern Utah to climb at Indian Creek and explore the local archaeology. But when he moved to the town of Bluff, he saw degradation from oil drilling, looting, and careless visitors. Ewing knew simply loving a place was no longer enough.

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Dredging Up A Solution

Howard Wood, an amateur diver, restored the marine ecosystem in Lamlash Bay by establishing the first community-developed Marine Protected Area in Scotland. Narrated by Robert Redford, Dredging Up A Solution illustrates how an ordinary person can effect extraordinary change. Howard Wood is a true environmental hero who placed himself squarely in harm’s way to battle intimidating adversaries while building strong grassroots support.

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One Woman Roadblock

A former tribal chief of the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation, Marilyn Baptiste led her native community in defeating proposed gold and copper mines that would have destroyed Fish Lake—a source of spiritual identity and livelihood for her people. Narrated by Robert Redford, One Woman Roadblock illustrates how an ordinary person can effect extraordinary change. Marilyn Baptiste is a true environmental hero who placed herself squarely in harm’s way to battle intimidating adversaries while building strong grassroots support.

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A Line in the Sand

Edward Abbey’s words have always been deliberately provocative–especially when said in defense of the desert landscape he loved so much. The words in this film are a mash-up of quotes from speeches to articles, to interviews and books. Abbey was willing to say things that no one else would, and his sentiment is relevant now more than ever. What will we stand up for? What will be lost if we chose not to stand at all?

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62 Years

The last time Ken Brower traveled down the Yampa River in Northwest Colorado was with his father, David Brower, in 1952. This was the year his father became the first executive director of the Sierra Club and joined the fight against a pair of proposed dams on the Green River in Northwest Colorado. The dams would have flooded the canyons of the Green and its tributary, Yampa, inundating the heart of Dinosaur National Monument. With a conservation campaign that included a book, magazine articles, a film, a traveling slideshow, grassroots organizing, river trips and lobbying, David Brower and the Sierra Club ultimately won the fight—ushering in a period many consider the dawn of modern environmentalism. 62 years later, Ken revisited the Yampa & Green Rivers to reflect on his father’s work, their 1952 river trip, and how we will confront the looming water crisis in the American West.

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Del Paso Park Open Space Under Threat

March 16, 2016

ECOS has reviewed rehabilitation plans for Renfree Field and its potential impact to the adjacent Del Paso Park. We have taken a position of opposition to the utilization of Del Paso Park open space for overflow parking and we request that further study of alternatives be undertaken prior to any decisions.

Read the letter by clicking here or on the image below.

del paso capture

Sacramento County Plastic Bag Ban

Yes, the City of Sacramento has banned plastic bags as of January 1st, 2016!

The County of Sacramento, however, has yet to make the same move.

ECOS fully supports the single-use plastic bag ban in Sacramento County.

Here’s your chance to weigh in on the burden of plastic bags. Contact the Board of Supervisors in the form of a phone call, e-mail, letter, or attending their workshop on Tuesday March 8, 2016 at 2:00 pm (in the Board of Supervisors chambers). Show where YOU stand on plastic bags! Any help is greatly appreciated.

As you may know, the organization Californians Against Waste is working diligently on upholding the statewide plastic bag ban. That effort involves assisting local jurisdictions in implementing their own bans. Sacramento County is en route to adopting a single-use plastic bag ban that will eliminate plastic bag litter in the rivers, parks, and communities throughout the area. It will also save the county countless tax dollars spent to clean-up the 4 million plastic bags that are distributed weekly in unincorporated Sacramento County. And of course, the benefit to wildlife will be priceless.

District 1, Phil Serna, (916) 874-5485, SupervisorSerna[at]saccounty[dot]net
District 2, Patrick Kennedy, (916) 874-5481, SupervisorKennedy[at]saccounty[dot]net
District 3, Susan Peters, (916) 874-5471, susanpeters[at]saccounty[dot]net
District 4, Roberta MacGlashan, (916) 874-5491, macglashanr[at]saccounty[dot]net
District 5, Don Nottoli, (916) 874-5465, nottolid[at]saccounty[dot]net

Some useful information:

  • Single-use plastic bags are expensive to clean up, environmentally damaging, and an easily preventable source of litter.
  • California’s Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery found that less than 5% of these single-use plastic bags are recycled in California.
  • Even when properly disposed of, bags tend to blow out of trash cans, solid waste vehicles and off the face of the County’s Keifer Landfill landing in the county’s parks and waterways.
  • Much of the county’s plastic eventually washed out through the Delta into San Francisco Bay and then to coastal waters.
  • 147 cities and counties, including the City of Sacramento, have adopted local restrictions on single-use plastic bags which have been to be both popular and effective.
  • In unincorporated Sacramento County, almost 4 million bags are distributed every week, which means that each day without a ban contributes about 540,000 bags to the problem.
  • The local Material Recovery Facility shuts down on average 6 times per day to remove plastic bags from their sorting equipment.
  • The Sacramento County Environmental Commission recommends this ordinance.

Flex your citizen power. Encourage the Board of Supervisors to pass a plastic bag ban in Sacramento County!

Contact:
Genevieve Abedon
Californians Against Waste
genevieveabedon[at]cawrecycles[dot]org