Save Our Sandhill Cranes (SOS Cranes) is a non-profit organization dedicated to maintaining open space habitat and the conservation of the California Central Valley's Sandhill crane populations through education, outreach, and community activism. Of particular concern to SOS Cranes are the threats to the remaining suitable winter habitats in the Central Valley of California. Pending urban development and the shift from corn and rice production to vineyards is likely to dramatically diminish what little remains of the winter migratory habitat of the Lesser and Greater Sandhill Cranes in this region. The Greater Sandhill Crane, which is a state listed threatened species, exhibits a high degree of loyalty to its specific wintering grounds, and any disturbance there will result in them being uprooted. If we lose the present population, it is highly unlikely that Sandhill Cranes from another location and population will come and take their place. The Lesser Sandhill Cranes constitute two smaller subspecies of the  Sandhill Crane and are subject to the same threats of habitat loss as the Greater Sandhill Cranes.

ALERT!  Alert!!

Can you attend the FEBRUARY 22nd  Planning Commission Hearing?  If not you can still write a letter or email or call in your comments.

The Mustang Airport expansion proposal is heating up again.

Here are the highlights. Mustang is a private airport with a single hanger on it adjacent to the Valensin Ranch on the northeast side of  99 and Arno Road.  The entrance is on Arno Road just before it becomes Riley Road.  The airport (which is little more than a blacktop airstrip) shares boundaries with Cosumnes River Preserve property on two sides which is primarily in grasslands and wetlands and is prime foraging habitat for Sandhill cranes, Swainson’s Hawks and a variety of waterfowl.   There are large Great Egret, Great Blue heron, and Double-Crested cormorant rookeries less than a half a mile away.   These rookeries are very active each Spring. 

The Nature Conservancy and Sacramento County own land immediately to the north and west of the airstrip as part of the Cosumnes River Preserve.  The goal of the Conservancy, the county and other partners of the Preserve, when they originally bought this land, was and still is to protect and restore critical habitats for wildlife sanctuary within the Cosumnes River watershed.

The owner, Dick Bjellend, would like to expand the barely used private airstrip into a public airport which, when built, will have 100 hangers, on the 160 acre property, and have 20 flight operations per day.  This is a "build it and they will come" business approach and, in this case, very likely will result in a lot more business. 

The Nature Conservancy and other environmental groups believe, and county counsel agrees, that if the Commission approves the land use as a public airport, the county will lose the ability to limit or otherwise adjust the number of flights.  In other words, once the land use is approved, approval for future expansion will go into the hands of the FAA and/or CALTRANS. 

The project proponents made their case to the Parks Commission on January 28, 2010.  (See http://www.msa2.saccounty.net/parks/Recreation and Parks Commission Docs )      

They did a fine job of blurring the issues and making false statements.  One such statement was made by a biologist, Dianne Moore, who claimed that the nearby egret, heron, and cormorant rookeries no longer exist and have been abandoned for two years.  We all know this is untrue.  In fact, we have pictures of last year’s nesting activity with a couple of hundred birds using the site!

If you would be interested in attending the Planning Commission hearing scheduled for Monday, February 22 at 5:30 PM at 700 H Street you can just show up using the information below.  You can also get in touch with the Planning Commission at http://www.msa2.saccounty.net/parks/Pages/default.aspx or you can get in touch with SOS Cranes at yogoombah@yahoo.com. We will fill you in on the details of the proposed expansion and the potential consequences to the Preserve in the near future.   We just wanted to reach out to you ASAP to hold the date in your calendar.

Parking info.:  Location: County Administration Center, 700 H Street. Room 1450 Sacramento CA 95814 Parking is located between 7 & 8 Street, enter on G Street.  From the parking lot you can walk over the H Street catwalk to the Admin Center.

Having as many people as possible at the hearing will really help us.  If you know anyone that cares about the protection of the Preserve then please ask them to attend.  The airport proposal, if successful, could grant the airport control of land use for a diameter of up to 5 miles around it.  Our present understanding is they may be able to kill birds in this area and remove habitat.