Conservancy construction work this summer has been pretty minimal. But in cooperation with the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency (SAFCA), the Conservancy is facilitating the installation of a bypass pipeline on the Conservancy’s Natomas Farms tract. This is truly one of those “win-win” projects.
SAFCA gets to complete its mitigation obligation for the Natomas Levee Improvement Project (NLIP), and the Conservancy gets a new facility that allows it to manage water more efficiently for the benefit of the aquatic snake it is responsible for tending to (the Giant garter snake). This is important for the Giant garter snake (their numbers are dangerously low in the Fisherman’s Lake Reserve Area), and it also comes at a time when water efficiency is a very important goal.
There is also an important additional feature, and that is for water quality improvement in Fisherman’s Lake. Long noted as a sort of “sump” for the area’s drainage, the bypass facility being constructed will introduce marsh tail water into the far northern portion of Fisherman’s Lake, and that water will then course through the lower sections of the Lake by gravity. All in all, a good piece of work this summer.