With another “clean opinion” from its auditors, the Conservancy’s Board of Directors moved to accept the audited financial statements for the 12-month period ended December 31, 2012. The Conservancy’s auditor for the 2012 audit report was Gilbert Associates, Inc. of Sacramento.

Gilbert met with the Conservancy’s Audit Committee, including independently. The Audit Committee recommended to the Board of Directors that the auditor’s report be accepted. The Board action took place at the Board of Director’s April 3, 2013 meeting. Under California’s Non-Profit Integrity Act of 2004, an audit of annual financial statements is required. An annual audit is also required by the 2003 Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan. Audits of Conservancy financial statements are posted on the Conservancy’s web site (see here) dating back to 1999.

With the required updating of the NBHCP Finance Model, Conservancy Board members made their annual HCP fee recommendation to the City Council of the City of Sacramento. This time as in recent years, the HCP fee recommendation to the City Council was for a lower fee. Now, the Council has acted on the HCP fee recommendation and the fee for the May 1, 2013 season is known.

While last year's (2012) HCP fee was $32,861 per disturbed acre, this year's fee is set at $27,419 per disturbed acre. For mitigation conducted with land dedication, the HCP is reduced from $21,611 per disturbed acre to $18,669 per acre. The HCP fee has trended downward for the last few years due to the expected reduced cost for mitigation land acquisition. Other lesser fee components made up for a small part of the balance of the reduction.

In 2012, there were three fee-paid mitigation actions. These included the Elverta Road and U.S. Highway 99 intersection, the Riego Road and U.S. Highway 99 intersection and a park in the City of Sacramento portion of the NBHCP Permit Area. Other development has been virtually stopped due to the current building moratorium in the Natomas Basin set by federal flood control authorities.

The Conservancy expects little mitigation activity for 2013.

Each year, the Conservancy uses a photographic image of the entire 54,000-acre Natomas Basin. The image is usually drawn from year-end satellite images provided by the LANDSAT. This satellite is a leading tool in providing imagery of the Earth's surface. By doing this each year, changes in land use can be documented. Ducks Unlimited's cartography section has typically helped the Conservancy capture the best LANDSAT image, as there are typically many passes and images to choose from. It's important to secure an image that is free of smoke, haze and clouds. In this year's version, it is easy to see the urbanized area of the City of Sacramento in the lower parts of the image, and also the easy-to-spot Sacramento International Airport in the center left. Conservancy preserves are bordered in red. The LANDSAT images are an integral part of each year's Implementation Annual Report.

Click here to open LANDSAT image