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).
The recently-completed exchange of the 317-acre Ayala tract yielded the Conservancy three tracts totaling approximately 378 acres with additional acres available in the future under certain circumstances. The result raises the Conservancy’s land holdings to 4,172acres.
David Christophel, Board President of the Conservancy, noted, “Since its inception, the Conservancy realized it needed to be strategic with its land acquisitions. Acquiring strategically located properties has allowed the Conservancy to assemble its land holdings in three consolidated reserve areas. This benefits the species covered under the NBHCP.
The Conservancy’s three reserve areas are the Fisherman’s Lake Reserve Area, the Central Basin Reserve Area and the North Basin Reserve Area. In the Central Basin Reserve Area, the Conservancy’s land assemblage runs along the Sacramento-Sutter county line. “The City of Sacramento has noted its desire for an “urban separator” along the county line,” noted John Roberts, Executive Director of the Conservancy. “With this successful land exchange, the Conservancy very nearly delivers this urban separator to the City. There are only a few gaps remaining, but the net effect is that the vast majority of the separator has been secured and will be protected.