Tag Archives: sacramento

Support Sacramento Trees – Your Input Matters!

Trees are more than part of Sacramento’s Landscape, they’re part of who we are.

Sacramento’s identity as the City of Trees is more than a nickname. It’s a legacy rooted in community, health, and resilience. Our urban forest is an essential infrastructure that keeps neighborhoods cool, cleans our air, boosts property values, and enhances quality of life. But protecting this vital resource for future generations demands commitment, dedicated investment, thoughtful planning, and inclusive actions. There are numerous Plan strategies that will help to increase our tree canopy; however, without help from outside public stakeholders, it will be difficult for the City to implement this plan.

Sacramento’s 20-year Urban Forestry Plan (UFP) for trees has entered its final phase and will be presented to City Council for adoption on June 24, 2025. We must act now to make sure trees remain a fundamental part of our city as we grow.

Email your council member and the mayor with the amendment below, and ask them to add language to the plan to ensure its implementation:

  1. Find your Council and Mayor’s email: https://www.cityofsacramento.gov/mayor-council/Find-Your-District
  2. Ask them to establish a collaborative working group comprised of City staff implementing the plan and key tree canopy stakeholders.
  3. Copy (CC) your email to: trees4sacto[at]gmail[dot]com

To Attend Council Hearing 6/24/2025 in Person:

Sacramento City Hall Chambers
915, I Street, 1st Floor Chambers, Sacramento, CA
5:00 pm

Send E-comments to Council Hearing – Go to Council Agenda Item for Urban Forest Plan

The agenda and e-comment portal will be accessible on Thursday, June 19, 2025.
Provide e-comments here.
In “upcoming meetings” section > June 24 Council Hearing.
For assistance with the e-comment process, contact the Office of the City Clerk at 916-808-7200 or clerk[at]cityofsacramento[dot]org.
You can also watch the Council hearing from the above link.

Review the Most Current Urban Forest Plan

As an advocacy group of residents, Trees for Sacramento champions sound public policy and works with the City Council and local organizations to ensure trees are treated as a core component of city planning.

Thank you for your continued support.

Decarbonizing California’s Transportation – Is It Working? 7/17/2025

The transportation sector is the largest contributor of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and threatens healthy air quality in communities. What is working and not working in California? Join us for an update of strategies to improve it, and examples of local transportation decarbonization efforts.

Environmental Council of Sacramento Climate Change Committee Meeting: July 17, 2025
Decarbonizing California’s Transportation – Is It Working?
Hybrid meeting: On Zoom and at Mogavero Architects, 1322 T St., Sacramento
Link to join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6656164155 | To phone in: 669-900-6833, Meeting ID: 665 616 4155
6:30 PM: Social period (for those in-person) / 7:00 PM: Welcome and Introductions, Zoom start

7:10 PM: California’s Climate Goals Are in Jeopardy! Neil Matouka, Net-Zero California

California’s ambitious decarbonization goals rely on several federal, state, and local implementation policies. This makes our goals vulnerable, given the change in federal administration, and the unpopularity of certain necessary actions at the regional and local levels. Neil Matouka will show us an indicators dashboard for statewide tracking of our climate goals (ZEVs, Renewable Portfolio Standard, land conservation, etc.), and show climate impact resources available to support decision makers and community members.

At Net-Zero California, Neil manages its Clean Power program, developing and implementing data-driven policies to address climate change challenges. Neil launched California’s Fifth Climate Change Assessment at the Office of Planning and Research, and served as the Air Resources Board’s Local Government Climate Action Planning Liaison, working with communities to develop climate solutions and transition to an equitable, low-carbon future.

7:30 PM: Communities Matter! – Environmental imperative, safety imperative, socioeconomic imperative. Larry Rillera, California Air Resources Board

Larry Rillera will present key clean transportation regulations and incentives, and give examples – such as Sacramento’s Green Technical Education and Employment. Larry will also discuss outreach and engagement, and how we can get ready for an upturn.

At the Air Resources Board, Larry serves on interagency teams and public-private-partnership ventures, engaging with communities, tribes, and businesses to decarbonize the transportation sector, including heavy-duty vehicles. At the California Energy Commission, Larry developed financing solutions for solar panel manufacturers, electric vehicle charging stations, and ZEV manufacturing. He has also developed career pathway programs at schools and with community-based organizations.

7:50 PM: Join the discussion!
Questions will include:

  • What are opportunities and barriers to decarbonize the transportation sector?
  • What is the state of environmental justice in this work?
  • How can we at ECOS (and others) get involved?

After Q&A, we’ll have updates and announcements (open to all).

Click here to view the agenda (in PDF).

ECOS Letter to LAFCo re  Airport South/LAFCo Meeting 5/7/2025

On May 7, 2025, ECOS submitted a letter to the Sacramento Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCo) regarding the Continued Public Hearing To Consider And Certify The Environmental Impact Report And Approve The Respective Amendments To The Spheres Of Influence For The City Of Sacramento And Sacramento Area Sewer District (LAFCo Project #2023-03).

Click here to read our letter.

You can read the recap and/or watch the recording of their last meeting on this here.

Sign the Airport South petition here.

Airport South Industrial Project Vote

April 2, 2025

LAFCo is scheduled to vote on Airport South Industrial on April 2, 2025.  Please be there to help protect open space.

The Sacramento Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) will vote on including the acreage proposed for Airport South Industrial (ASIP) into the City’s Sphere of Influence (SOI).  This is the first step to approving the landowner’s request to build warehouses on agricultural land west of the City limit.

If five people on this commission vote yes, they will undo decades of public planning of land use in our community without the Sacramento City Council ever having a public hearing. We need to put a stop to this outrage.  We must be there in large numbers to ask Commissioners to vote NO on expanding the City of Sacramento at the request of one landowner. 

ECOS opposes this project for its inconsistency with every plan approved in the region for the last 25 years including: the City General Plan, the County General Plan, the SACOG Metropolitan Transportation Plan, the Urban Services Boundary line, and the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan.  In addition, according to the draft Environmental Impact Report, the three main issues that CANNOT be mitigated to an acceptable level are the increased air pollution, the loss of farmland and loss of aesthetic value of open space.  Sacramento already has some of the dirtiest air in the nation and the City should not put industrial warehouses with their trucks and pollution next to an elementary school and residences.

Perhaps most important is that ASIP is the first of three major proposed projects in Natomas, and if approved, would provide precedent and justification for the following two, which would add up to 70,000 new residents and several million square feet of commercial development.

On March 30, 2025, at 5 pm, ECOS will hold a Zoom meeting to review the project and talk about how to make a spoken or written comment to LAFCo.

For your Calendar:

  • Wednesday, April 2, 2025 5:30 pm, LAFCo meeting, 700 H St, Board Room, Sacramento
    The vote on the proposed Airport South Industrial project

Actions:

  1. Ask your friends, family, neighbors and networks to SIGN the PETITION to LAFCO! Just put your name here. We need 1000+ signatures. 
  2. Ask people you know to attend the LAFCo meeting on April 2, 2025. Comments are limited to 2 minutes each.
  3. To submit a comment:
    • Send your email comment to the Commission at BoardClerk[at]saccounty[dot]gov
      (Refer to April 2nd Agenda item #6, Airport South Industrial)
    • Write a letter: send to Sacramento LAFCo, 1112 I Street, Suite 100, Sacramento, CA 95814

Updates on the Campaign to Stop Warehouses Next to Residential Neighborhood:

At our presentation at Paso Verde School 50 people and two TV stations were present.  Heather had a great interview, with the proposed site for ASIP in the background.  See the CBS interview here.

If you want to learn more about the Airport South Industrial Project – An article by Heather was recently reprinted in N Magazine.  Nmag.net  It is on page 8.

Dennis Spear, publisher of N Magazine, wrote an article about the meeting at Paso Verde school.  Find it here, on Facebook.

Thanks:

Thanks to all of you who have attended meetings, organized meetings, passed out flyers at meetings and more. 

  • We were delighted to meet about 60 new supporters at the meetings at Leroy Greene Academy and at Paso Verde School. 
  • We met with another 85 who live along Garden Highway in the Alamar Marina, Bar and Restaurant. 
  • And a big thank you to the Ecology Task Force of Natomas Performing Arts Charter School and the student interns of Sierra Club and 350 Sacramento who have met with us several times and have provided invaluable help in creating flyers and wonderful videos. See a video about bird life on rice fields north of Elverta Rd!

ECOS letter

You can see the letter ECOS submitted in preparation of this meeting here.

New! Streets for People Draft Plan – Comments due 4/6/2025

New! Sacramento’s Streets for People Draft Plan is out! We want to make it easier for everyone to choose walking, rolling, or biking for the short trips they take every day.

Sacramento’s Streets for People Draft Plan is available for review through April 6. You can comment on the Plan in the link below or by sending staff a comment.

Part two will include completing the Streets for People Active Transportation Plan, with the public review of the Draft Plan available March 5 through April 6, and Plan adoption in summer 2025.

Comment on the draft plan at sacstreetsforpeople.org.