Coyote Creek Solar

Please join us at the upcoming October 6th, 2025 Sacramento County Planning Commission meeting to tell them that you oppose destroying thousands of oak trees, native wetlands, native grasslands and numerous local and rare species.

The Sacramento County Planning Commission will be deciding on October 6th, 2025 whether to recommend to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors the approval of an approximately 1200 acre industrial solar facility in the eastern part of Sacramento County. Whereas we 100% support renewable resources, this is an unacceptable location to site such a facility because:

  • It will kill more than 3000 native oak trees
  • It will destroy habitat for numerous local and protected species
  • It will disrupt an important wildlife corridor at a time where such corridors are increasingly important because of climate change and the growing need for species to seek colder climes.
  • They are many far more appropriate sites in the county.
  • SMUD does not need this project to be able to close local fossil fuel plants or meet its 2030 net zero carbon goals
  • It disrupts the ability of the South Sacramento Habitat Conservation plan to achieve its conservation goals.
  • It runs counter to Sacramento County general plan directives for the use of this area.
  • It will destroy sacred ground and associated cultural resources for local tribes.
  • It will be a visual blight in a very scenic part of the county.
  • It will negatively impact operations and events in the state vehicular recreation area, immediately adjacent to the proposed facility. These events generate 57 million dollars for the local economy and that revenue would be at risk with the degradation of a massive industrial solar facility being installed immediately adjacent to their facility.

It is extremely important for the planning commission meeting to be packed so the commissioners will know the level of opposition to this project.

Email a comment to BoardClerk@saccounty.gov  

The meeting will be held at 700 H street, Suite 1450, Sacramento, CA at 5:30 pm.

Public comment is not necessary if that makes you uncomfortable. We need to fill that chamber!!!

Better Parks for Sacramento

A number of parks advocates have seen how our city struggles to maintain and expand our park system to benefit our growing city with recreation opportunities and nature based solutions. We’ve identified a need for stable and dedicated funding for parks and are asking our leaders to support and effort to create this funding.

Please sign on to this letter to Mayor McCarty & Sacramento City Council to show support for new funding for parks and natural spaces in the City of Sacramento! We’ll keep you updated as we roll out the ideas for how we can make our parks better!

Sign on letter for better parks

Natomas Sprawl Alert

Should Sacramento County pave over almost 2,000 acres of Prime Farmland that is outside the Urban Service Boundary, not planned for by the Blueprint, and was supposed to be permanent agriculture according to the Natomas Habitat Conservation Plan? We think that’s a terrible idea!

There is an opportunity to comment this Thursday – if you agree it’s a bad idea take a few minutes and send in your thoughts – https://www.ecosacramento.net/2024/09/natomas-meeting-with-natomas-community-planning-council-cpac-10-3-2024/

Here are a few highlights you might want to include:

  • This project would destroy farmland that we need to be the Farm to Fork Capital. SACOG’s CROP report has found that in 30 years (1988-2018) Sacramento County has converted more than 73,000 acres of ag land to urban uses – an area larger than the entire City of Sacramento (63,852 acres).  It specifically calls out the Upper Westside project as destructive to Prime Farmland and indicates the mitigation requirements are inadequate.
  • This project is outside of the Urban Services Boundary and should not be considered. The Sacramento County General Plan states the Urban Services Boundary ” is intended to be a permanent growth boundary not subject to modification except under extraordinary circumstances.” Those circumstances do not exist and any project outside of the USB is inconsistent with many General Plan policies.
  • In June 2024, SACOG adopted the 2025 Blueprint Land Use Assumptions, which do not include this project as an area to be developed. Therefore, approving this project is inconsistent with our regions Sustainable Communities Plan and risks non-attainment of greenhouse gas reduction targets along with a loss of transportation funding.
  • The Natomas Basin HCP was predicated on land outside the USB remaining undeveloped. Starting to develop this land is incompatible with the protections put in place through the HCP and the analysis provided in the DEIR is lacking details on the impacts to the HCP.

#3 Party on a Bike – 50 Ways to SacParkCity

It’s flat and the best way to explore Sac is by bike! If you want to go with a group, Bike Party is first Friday (Onesie ride Feb 2!), SABA has their social ride Feb 18 (Ice Cream!), or find one on 916Bikelife. Plus win some prizes for biking by joining Love to Ride and their Ride into Spring campaign.

Flying through the urban forest on 2 wheels, check out the Fun Map for destinations, looks around at some murals, get some food and drink at a place with good bike parking, and have fun exploring our National Park City! It’s good for you, good for the planet, good for the City, and we want to see you out there!

#2 Plant Trees and Care for Them – 50 Ways to Sacramento National Park City

Home to the world’s largest hand-planted urban forest, the City of Trees is blessed by massive specimens and canopied streets that make our seasons a joy. But the trees don’t last forever so we need to be diligent in constantly planting replacements and caring for them so they have great structure and give us the promised benefits.

Many of our neighborhoods are lacking in canopy, but great local groups like Sacramento Tree Foundation, Tree Davis, Roseville Urban Forest Foundation, and CA Releaf are working hard to improve that. Get trees to plant and advice for care, help with community planting events, and support these local Tree Champions this season while the planting is good and pruning month (Feb) is on us! Let’s keep our urban forest in tip top shape so it can give us the clean air, water, and enjoyment we need!

50 Ways to Sacramento National Park City – #1 Honor the Land

Recognizing that you live in a National Park City requires a change of mindset as we strive to connect with nature. The cars and concrete that dominate our urban fabric can’t last forever (#naturewins). Less than 200 years ago (before Sutter’s fort) western explorers found wide river floodplains and lush grassland under canopies of soaring valley oaks, largely tended by the Native peoples. Try to imagine what your neighborhood once was- is that a Tule Elk on the corner?

One of the few remaining natural areas in the City of Sacramento is a Del Paso Regional Park

This land sustains us with food to eat, water to drink, clean air, and views that soothe our souls, yet this is hidden from us in our day to day. Honor the land by finding ways to connect to it.

The Native residents of the Sacramento Region are role models in honoring the land and we also honor them. I had the good fortune to learn from Mountain Maidu elder Lorena Gorbet how the land speaks to Native peoples and guides them in stewarding it. It speaks to her as she walks through the forest as she cares for the land and it cares for her in turn.

We acknowledge that we are on the ancestral homeland of Sacramento’s Indigenous peoples. We recognize and honor the first peoples who lived along our rivers, including the Miwok, Patwin Wintun, and Nisenan peoples, and those who have lived on and stewarded the land from time immemorial. We commemorate the bravery and resiliency of their descendants. With great humility and gratitude, we strive to respect the wisdom of the original land stewards and their reciprocity to the land.

This land deserves our honor. Get angry when developers want to fill in some of the last remaining floodplain in the American River Parkway. Get angry when electeds consider allowing massive industrial projects outside of the urban growth boundary.

Ready to take the leap? Here’s a way to connect and start honoring the land: Join us for a walk and photo event along the new Del Rio Trail with four essential elements of nature: water, earth, sun, and wind. We will reflect on each element and interpret them through the medium of photography. The golden hour will allow us to capture the saturated colors and shadows of the landscape.

Date: Saturday, January 27, 2024

Time: 3pm – 5pm

Location: Riverside Boulevard and Darnel Way, Sacramento, CA, 95822

REgister here

2024

Pixlr AI developed this image of 2024 Sacramento National Park City. Not very likely – but what is real is that for 2024 we will be gathering the pieces of our proposal to apply in 2025. Upcoming posts will explore 50 Ways to Sacramento National Park City – a Maker’s Guide!

For 2023 we asked “What If?…” and gathered ideas of what people would like to see with a National Park City here. There is still time to add yours and here are some of the ideas submitted:

  • What if we restored channelized creeks and made them into a network of greenways with trails? – Steve
  • What if we made statues at each school for the people they are named after? – Erika
  • What if we created community art hubs were artist could come together? – Erika
  • What if there was a “Water Trail” from Folsom to Discovery Park/Old Sac? – Dave
  • What if the downtown grid was closed to vehicles? – Deb
  • What if every neighborhood in Sacramento enjoyed the big tree canopy that draw people to neighborhoods like East Sacramento, Land Park and Curtis Park? – Caity
  • What if there was walkability with increased and diverse tree canopy -John
  • What if there was a growwth management initiative – Lena
  • What if we had a big beautiful tree canopy, more bikeped corridors, and super blocks like Barcelona along bioswales – Judy
  • What if we had artwork, cleaner streets, and a botanical garden – Kallell
  • What if we had less pavement and more green space – Bonnie
  • What if we had more planting of indigenous plants that can survive climate change – James
  • What if we had urban trail with marked sights to find such as important trees, murals, water features, architecture -Marco
  • What if we had a plaza culture where people can come together -Sandy
  • What if we had less traffic, more bike and ped facilities – Glenda
  • What if Sacramento had a network of botanic gardens throughout the city showcasing the ecological diversity of our state and Mediterranean climates as well as the cultural diversity of our inhabitants through food and ornamental gardens that showcase a variety of traditions. – Kitty
  • What if we turned our older strips into Grand Green Boulevards? – Steve
  • There were weekly, advertised , tree plantings. What if we again celebrated Arbor Day in schools, with a tree planting, what if we had a tree parade, a tee shirt, a logo? – Sharon
  • Half of all on-street parking was replaced with native plant gardens. – Troy

What if trees mattered?

When people describe what they love about Sacramento, the trees always make the list. But it is a rather abstract love for most people and aside from Midtown and the inner ring suburbs there are many streets devoid of trees and the welcoming shade they cast. In the neighborhoods that have the trees, residents can be passionate about them – like Markham Way residents who rallied to replace the 270 year old oak in the center of their street with a new tree and planter. They had to fight the City to not have the area paved over but prevailed!

How can we raise the profile of trees and help neighborhoods with less canopy reap the benefits? This comprehensive article in The Nature of Cities calls for a new tree ethic and has great ideas we can follow. Creating rituals – like what if we had a vigil for the Markham Way oak that was mature before the gold rush? Naming the important trees around you and thinking of them as kin – “standing people” as Native peoples called them. Even giving them rights and making our community responsible to steward them as “we have borrowed them from the past and we owe them to the future.” It’s a lot to think about and requires a culture change, but I think it’s worth it to invest the time and effort.

Of course, the Sacramento Tree Foundation is our local champion and it’s planting season right now so a great time to start helping, talking, and learning about trees!