East Sacramento Preservation

Sacramento/by Kristina Rogers/March 3, 2021

The ponds are a main attraction for families visiting McKinley and Land Parks. Children and adults enjoy watching the ducks and geese freely swim or lounge on the grass. Unfortunately, people don’t realize how a thoughtless act can threaten the animals lives on a daily basis. Although the City Parks Department is tasked with managing the care of park wildlife, budget cuts and minimal staff leave many waterfowl alone to suffer from a man-made injury. 

The parks are lucky to have one person helping the birds, “The Lady of the Lake,” Judy McClaver.  Each week Judy monitors the condition of Sacramento City park ponds and rescues injured water fowl. Over time, she’s found the main culprit of duck and goose injuries to be fishing lures, lead weights, and hooks. Fishing line frequently binds a ducks wings and feet. A hook can embed itself into a goose and cause a slow, painful death. Lead weights and other metal objects cause lethal lead poisoning. Fishing line frequently causes loss of a foot, which means slower movement and an easy meal for predators. It can be too much for even one person as dedicated as Judy, to manage.  

City ponds aren’t stocked with fish and they are highly contaminated from waterfowl, turtles and trash. Even those who just want to take their families out for a “fishing lesson” don’t realize how losing equipment around or into the pond is dangerous. It’s very easy for our waterfowl to become entangled by discarded fishing line in the water, or along the shore. Lures and hooks sink to the bottom of the pond and waterfowl become entangled when feeding on pond bottom weeds.  

To raise awareness about the impact of abandoned hooks and fishing wire, Judy is advocating for new signage. She is working with park and city leaders to get the signs approved. The goal is to post two signs at each pond location in McKinley Park, Southside Park, North Natomas Regional and Land Park. Colorful, large signs placed at every pond can help raise awareness and curb the “I didn’t know” excuse. The signs are paid for by private funds, donated by the community. To help get Judy started, the Land Park Community Association is donating funds to pay for new Land Park signs.  

It’s important to note there used to be signs of this type around our park ponds, but they were removed without a reason why. The removal has allowed injuries & illness to the waterfowl to increase.  

How can you help? Judy is asking for donations to help cover costs for the signage in the North Natomas Regional and Southside Park ponds. She could also use neighbors with any connections with the City to help move along the approval process. And, if you are passionate about caring for our local wildlife, you can reach out and offer to volunteer with her.

How to donate

East Sacramento Preservation (ESP) will direct donations to Judy. Donate to ESP via PayPal by clicking here. Indicate the donation is for the pond in the note section.

You can also mail a donation to :

East Sacramento Preservation

PO Box 191763
Sacramento, CA 95819

How to volunteer

Contact Judy McClaver at: 916-457-2725

Below is information about objection to the proposed cutting of 10 redwoods at the Newman Center from the River Park Tree Canopy Project. Here’s the latest news about efforts to save the 10 Coastal Redwoods located on Carlson Drive and J Street across from CSU Sacramento Please email City and Diocese officials — tell them why you want the Coast Redwoods saved! Also ask your friends and family to do the same! Email Vice Mayor Jeff Harris: JSHarris@cityofsacramento.orgIf you don’t live in VM Harris’ district, be sure you also send email to your own council member Email Robby Thacker – City Community Development staff: rthacker@cityofsacramento.org Email the Diocese of Sacramento –Chief finance officer Thomas J. McNamara tmcnamara@scd.org Construction and Properties Manager John Gonsalves jgonsalves@scd.org Director of Newman Catholic Center Sacramento Weston Ruiz wruiz@scd.org   Why contact the Diocese? The Theory student housing project is to be built on land owned by the Diocese of Sacramento. The Diocese proposes demolishing the existing Newman Center and building a new Center next door.  One challenge in preserving the trees is that the proposed apartment building will be close to the tree roots. That can be avoided if the building is moved further from the trees. The developer is only considering the subdivided lot as submitted to the City. The diocese can help save the trees by re-positioning the new Newman Center and revising the lot subdivision. Even though the housing project and the new Newman Center project are “separate” there is no reason they cannot be studied in concert and addressed as a whole. The Diocese says this project is being done to better serve the needs of the College community.  We believe that stewardship of these irreplaceable redwoods is a key part of serving the college community and stewardship for our Earth.  Pressure from the Community can help to get the Diocese to rethink the total project and make preserving the trees a priority. Paula Peper, renowned local arborist and ecologist, analyzed the environmental benefits associated with the redwoods.  Paula’s i-Tree analysis show that the trees provide an enormous environmental benefit. For an updated fact sheet about the trees and why they should be saved, email kbriley@surewest.net Meetings with Developer and City Advocates met developers on December 21.  Developers said limited space and plans to cover the drainage ditch on the City right-of-way along Carlson and J Street make it difficult to preserve the trees.   Developers said they are working on project revisions and committed to coming back with revised plans. Advocates asked the City to stake the property line along Carlson and J Streets to make sure that all the City trees are identified (City Code has different level of protection for City Trees and Private Protected Trees).  The city met with advocates on January 28 to say they are asking that of the developer. We learned the City doesn’t yet have a recommendation on the tree removal permit. City gave very rough estimate of in lieu fees required from the developer – over $190,000 before any credit for replanting or reduction for unhealthy or unsafe trees.