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BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
COUNTY OF BU~'I'E, STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Reso~ufion No. 0~-1~4
A RESOLUTION OF THE BUTTE COl1NTY B(}ARD OF SUPERVISORS REQUESTINf~
THAT THE SACRAMENTO RIVER CONSERVATION AREA BOARD RF,MOVE FROM
THE CONSERVATION AREA BOUNDARIES ALL LANDS OUTSIDE THE
SACRAMENTO RIVER LEVEES, OR OUTSIDE THE INNER RIVER ZONE
WHEREAS, a fisheries and riparian habitat management plan for the upper Sacramento
River was prepared in 1989 as the result of passage of Senate Bill 1086; and
WHEREAS, that plan called for the creation of a riparian conservation area of
approximately 30,000 acres, to consist primarily of 27,000 acres of existing riparian habitat, plus
another 3,000 acres of land, including fallow areas and levees, all within close proximity to the
river; and
WHEREAS, the 1989 plan has since been expanded to encompass the Sacramento River
Conservation Area, embracing an area of ? 13,000 acres seven times the original size; and
WHEREAS, the additional acreage extends one mile on each side of the river and includes
some of the most fertile farm land within Butte County; and
WHEREAS, the Sacramento River Conservation Area Handbook advocates new setback
levees to widen the area of restored riparian habitat, and proposes the creation of oak land,
elderberry, and other habitats outside the levees and within the one mile belt on each side of the
rig er: and
WHEREAS, habitat restoration outside the levees would encroach on highly productive
agricultural land, reducing the tax base of Butte County and special districts which rely an land-
based revenue: and
WHEREAS, the removal of crop land from production would be harmful to the economy
of Butte County. reducing the annual value of farm production and causing a loss of employment;
and
WHEREAS, the establishment of habitat areas outside the levees would subject adjacent
landowners to prosecution and fines for the inadvertent destruction of endangered species; and
WHEREAS, adjacent landowners would be likely to suffer numerous adverse impacts as
the result of new habitat creation, including crop depredation, restriction on usual farming
operations, flooding, seepage, and damage to structures such as diversion pumps and fish screens;
and
WHEREAS, the creation of such new habit as would be in contradiction to the State of
California's "right to farm" policy, which is intended to protect farming operations from new,
adjacent, potentially incompatible land uses.
NOW, THEREFORE, I3E IT RESOLVED that the Butte County Board of Supervisors
does hereby urge the Sacramento River Conservation Area Board of Directors to amend its
handbook so that all lands within the Sacramento River Conservation Area boundaries that are
outside the levees. or that are not immediately adjacent to the river, be removed from the
Conservation Area so that its total acreage will not exceed the original 30,000 acres of the 1989
plan; and
BE [T FURTHER RESOLVED that the member of this Board who serves on the
Sacramento Diver Conservation Area Board be instructed to vote for exclusion of such lands as
described above when a formal request is made to the Sacramento River Conservation Area Board
of Directors.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Butte County Board of Supervisors this I1`~' day of
December 2001 by the following vote:
AYES: Supervisors
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
NOT VOTING: None
Beeler, Dolan, Fioux, Yamaguchi and Chair Josiassen
1'
~ _.____.
"CU T JOSIASSEN, Chair
rd of Supervisors
ATTEST:
LAWRENCE D. ODLE, Interim Chief Administrative Officer
and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors
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