The Natomas Basin Conservancy had acquired a key property essential to its reserve consolidation and “habitat green belt” strategy. The acquisition adds to an assembly of property along the Sacramento County and Sutter County boundary that advances preserve consolidation of Conservancy-owned habitat land.
“Acquiring contiguous property not only facilitates more effective habitat land management, it also makes each acre more valuable biologically,” noted the Conservancy’s Board Chair, Chandra Chilmakuri, PhD. “Additionally, with this acquisition, we have the added value of nearly completing what we call a habitat lands green belt on the Sacramento County side of the Sacramento – Sutter County boundary” he noted.
The newly acquired 202-acre property was part of a land dedication in lieu of mitigation fees. The mitigation was conducted under the Metro Air Park Habitat Conservation Plan. The Conservancy serves as Plan Operator of that Plan as well as the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan. The transaction involves a mitigation project facilitated by the Conservancy for Buzz Oates, Inc.
John Roberts, Executive Director and CEO of the Conservancy noted, “this has been many years in the making. The Buzz Oates team worked with the Conservancy and the State and federal Wildlife Agencies years ago to plan how the firm’s mitigation land acquisitions could be accomplished in such a manner that both its and the Conservancy’s goals could be met. Today, the final piece of that puzzle west of Highway 99 gets secured.”
An additional win comes in the form of a nearly consolidated land assembly along the county line in Natomas on both sides of Highway 99.
The newest acquisition brings the Conservancy mitigation land holdings under the HCPs to 5,386 acres.
