The Cosumnes River flows through Rancho Murieta in East Sacramento County on its way to the Cosumnes River Preserve in South County. The Corridor between Rancho Murieta and South County is very important to Swainson's Hawks. Candy Chand, Rancho Murieta resident and advocate for smart planning, showed us some of the special features of the Rancho Murieta landscape in May. Below are photos of Candy with Graham Brownstein, Executive Director of ECOS, the Environmental Council of Sacramento and James P. Pachl, ECOS Board member and legal counsel for Friends of the Swainson's Hawk.
There's a bevy
of DEIRs in Rancho Murieta all flawed by the same environmental assessment deficit.
The issue of cumulative impacts flows through all of them. The County of Sacramento
has erred in not updating the Rancho Murieta Master Plan. It is decades out
of date on key issues such as water supply, sewer capacity and impacts on wildlife.
Environmental review of that plan is very sadly out of date. No projects should
be going forward that require any discretionary action by the County until this
Plan is fully updated and compliant with today's environmental standards. Friends
of the Swainson's Hawk is particularly interested in an updated assessment on
the Swainson's Hawk nesting and foraging habitat in the plan area. We are concerned
about water supply to the riparian forest that sustains Swainson's Hawk nesting
activities along the Cosumnes River. The County should do a cumulative impacts
analysis of impacts of full Rancho Murieta buildout on the Cosumnes River and
wildlife dependent upon it before
it acts on Murieta's Residences and Retreats and other projects in the Plan
area.
