Please Take Action Today to Protect Endangered Species

The City of Sacramento is considering landowner demands that it allow development on agricultural lands adjacent to the Fisherman's Lake preserve area where they will have negative impacts on Swainson's Hawk nesting. Please write to your councilmembers and the Mayor asking the City to hold the line on any further development approvals in the Natomas Basin. Ask the Council to provide full protection to the Fisherman's Lake area and the species that use it.

You can find your councilperson's contact information here

The City/County Joint Vision for more development in Natomas Basin is described here.

A high priority for Swainson's Hawks is to keep further urban encroachment away from the Fisherman's Lake area. The Natomas Basin Conservancy to date has only been able to acquire 130 acres in this sensitive habitat zone. Houses have been built just to the east, called Westlake. The owner of the land between the new houses and Fisherman's Lake, AKT, wants permission to build more houses in what they call "West Lakeside." Swainson's Hawks nest very close to this site. AKT and Laupe are also asking that agricultural lands to the north be rezoned for industrial use. Natomas Basin Conservancy lands are shown in yellow below. The Natomas Basin HCP and North Natomas Community Plan would allow development just east of Fisherman's Lake and south of Del Paso Road. The width of the buffer here is a major unresolved issue.

  

For more information about Natomas Basin

For more information about Fisherman's Lake

  

Write letters to:

Mayor Heather Fargo, City Councilmembers Ray Tretheway, Dave Jones, Lauren Hammond, Steve Cohn, Bonnie Pannell, Jimmie Yee, Robby Waters, Sandy Sheedy at City Hall, 915 I St., Sacramento, Ca. 95814 or fax to 916-264-7680.

Letter to the Editor, Sacramento Bee, 2102 Q Street, Sacramento, Ca. 95814

Sample letter:

Dear Mayor and City Councilmembers,

The Natomas Basin is home to wildlife, including imperilled species. The Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan has just begun to be implemented. Until it is proven as an effective way to protect species in this area, no further development should be approved on the agricutural lands that now sustain these wildlife populations. This is particularly true in the Fisherman's Lake area. Please protect the wildlife in the Fisherman's Lake area from encroachment by urban uses. Wildlife and agriculture are important to our community's future. Please conserve them.

Your name, address and phone number.

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