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The Conservancy announces the completion of a series of three land exchanges designed to consolidate preserves and reduce fragmented habitat lands. The effort was completed over a period of three and one-half years, and was done to secure land with superior biological resources and to enhance the value of existing habitat land for the species covered under the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan (NBHCP).

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Recently, Sacramento Congresswoman Doris Matsui toured the Conservancy’s Fisherman’s Lake Preserve Area with fellow Members of Congress Mike Thompson of California and Collin Peterson of Minnesota. Peterson chairs the House Agriculture Committee, which is heavily engaged in the 2007 Farm Bill, legislation which will impact the Conservancy and many others in the habitat lands and rice farming community. Congresswoman Matsui wanted to show Peterson and Thompson the interface between rapidly-advancing urbanization in her District of South Natomas and Natomas’ open agricultural fields, with the Conservancy’s habitat lands serving as a buffer between the two. She also facilitated an on-site discussion between the Members of Congress and Conservancy managers regarding a number of key agricultural and habitat land issues.

At its Annual Open House earlier this summer, the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District (SYMVCD) awarded the Conservancy its “Ecology Award.” In a resolution by the Mosquito District’s Board of Directors, the Conservancy was given the award for “outstanding commitment and implementation of ecological mosquito reduction measures through BMPs [best management practices] that resulted in a significant reduction or elimination of mosquito production...”