The Conservancy, acting as Plan Operator for the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan and the Metro Air Park Habitat Conservation Plan, must care for the 22 species "covered" by the HCPs and the Incidental Take Permits. These "Covered Species" are cataloged in a new publication produced by the Conservancy. It available at no cost as a free download on the Conservancy's web site. It is useful as an educational tool for field personnel, consultants, visitors, researchers and others with a general interest in the HCPs.

Click here to view Covered Species Book

Phase I of the planned three-phase channel clearing effort on the Conservancy's BKS tract is nearing completion. On Tuesday, September 13, 2011, water was turned on to the first of the five water control areas for re-flooding purposes.

The Conservancy is required under the terms of the HCP to make certain that the marsh complexes under its care serve with full, 100-percent functionality for giant garter snake and other species' mitigation efforts. The BKS complex has been a success story for the Conservancy as its leading HCP-covered species sanctuary. Since the acquisition, renovation and enhancement work on the site, such HCP-covered species as giant garter snakes, Swainson's hawk, tricolored blackbirds and white-faced ibis have all produced young on the site. The primary emphasis for the site, however, is to serve as a giant garter snake sanctuary and refuge.

Ponds on the preserve have filled in over the 10 years since original construction. The filling in action comes from the created nature of the complex, and siltation from suspended sediments falling out of suspension, eutrophication and fossorial animals working the bankside, as well as aquatic life such as beavers, muskrat and carp causing erosion, bank collapse and re-suspension of particulates. These all eventually fill in water courses originally built to provide refuge for the giant garter snake, a mostly aquatic organism.

Now that the first of the five ponds on the Phase I Channel Renovation Project has been re-flooded and filled, the remaining five will be filled sequentially as workers complete final work on them. The project began actual channel-clearing on August 18, 2011. The 17 work days since then until initial re-flood causes this project to be well ahead of schedule. The Conservancy's intent is to do its best to minimize the number of days the marsh is out-of-service so that the HCP's covered species of wildlife can utilize it.

Contractors working for the Conservancy recently initiated work on the Conservancy's BKS North Course, Phase I Channel Clearing Project. The effort is intended to restore 100 percent functionality to the marsh complex so that it fully serves its role in mitigating for habitat loss in the Natomas Basin. While plans called for channel clearing to be conducted in five to eight years after initial construction, the BKS tract marshes are now 10-years old. Over the years, due to sedimentation, eutrophication and animal burrowing and bottom disturbance, the original channels have filled in. When that happens, aquatic vegetation quickly establishes itself and soon after, the marsh becomes compromised and is no longer fully functional.

The Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan (NBHCP) requires that the marsh complexes be maintained and their functionality made certain. The Phase I North Course Channel Clearing Project is being done in such a manner so as to reduce the frequency of maintenance activities and reduce disturbance to giant garter snakes and other HCP-covered species. Conservancy staff believes the work should last a minimum of 10 years and more likely, 15 years.

This first phase of the BKS tract North Course Channel Clearing Project marks the beginning of the Conservancy's channel clearing efforts. It is planned in three phases over a period of three years. Once Phase 3 of the Channel Clearing Project is completed, the Conservancy will have conducted channel clearing activities on all of its marsh complexes.