Twenty-three years ago, in 2002, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution which said, "The City, rather than the County, is the appropriate agent for planning new growth in Natomas. The County is the appropriate agent for preserving open space, agricultural and rural land uses."

A year later, in 2003, the City of Sacramento finished its Natomas Development Plan. However, the plan needed to pass the Endangered Species Act, because the Natomas basin is home to 22 threatened species. Therefore, the plan shifts wildlife habitats from the Natomas interior to the Natomas edge. Within the Natomas basin, a mile-wide, wildlife corridor now runs along the east bank of the Sacramento River. The corridor is called the (Swainson's) Hawk Zone.

The The Natomas Basin Conservancy is purchasing farms within the Hawk Zone when the owners are ready to sell. The lands will be restored to their natural habitat to attract wildlife. To pay for the purchases, interior Natomas farms sold to developers incur a 50% mitigation tax. (The taxes are technically referred to as wildlife incidental take permits.) A Federal Court ruled the plan is legally binding.

Nonetheless, as well thought out the 2003 plan is, controversial Natomas land development proposals are in the pipeline. Two urgent proposals are:

1. Upper Westside
2. Airport South Industrial