The satellite photo shown here reveals changes in the Natomas Basin since last year’s satellite photo. The Conservancy purchases these “bird in the sky” photos each year, overlaying on them the approximate boundaries of the Conservancy’s land holdings. This provides the Conservancy with an excellent historical record, year by year, of the sanctuaries it has acquired for the benefit of the covered species in the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan (NBHCP). Others are using them as well to track general growth and development in the Natomas Basin.
New land acquisition
The latest Conservancy land acquisition, the “Richter tract,” adds 80 acres to the organization’s Central Basin Reserve Area. This is the portion of the Natomas Basin where rice production is the dominant land use.