American River Parkway Plan

Planning

Development Planning

For projects around the home and larger projects, County Regional Parks` Landscape Architects reviews projects that are submitted to the Planning Department.

Home Projects

Parkway Combining Zone – parcels along the American River Parkway are subject to special zoning requirements. If you live near the Parkway and are planning any kind of improvement project including painting or landscaping,  please contact the Planning and Environmental Review Division of the ​Community Development Department at 916-874-6141.

Commercial or New Construction

  • Large development projects –projects with parklands that are on a regional park scale are reviewed
  • Projects that include park trails that could link to a County Regional Park Trail
  • Projects that are adjacent to a County Regional Park
  • Projects in the Parkway Combining Zone​ – parcels along the American River Parkway are subject to special zoning requirements. If you have any kind of home project in this area, please contact the Planning and Community Development Department at 916-874-6141.

 

American River Parkway Natural Resources Management Plan (NRMP)

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors approved the American River Parkway Natural Resources Management Plan on February 28, 2023.​

Purpose

The NRMP was prepared as a guidance document for management of the natural resources of the American River Parkway.  The NRMP is framed by and supplements the American River Parkway Plan (ARPP), which is the state and federal Wild and Scenic River management plan, to ensure that the American River Parkway's (Parkway) resources, its environmental quality and natural values are protected. The NRMP management activities represent a coordinated and cooperative effort that incorporates feedback from local stakeholders and agencies with jurisdiction within the Parkway. 

History and Background

​In 2008, the Sacramento County Department of Regional Parks began a process to develop an NRMP for the Parkway. The original NRMP Stakeholder Committee (Committee) worked with Regional Parks from 2008 to 2010. The Committee was charged with gathering and evaluating natural resource data in order to provide recommendations to both protect and to improve the health of the Parkway's ecosystems and natural values. Although a final document was never completed, this Committee accomplished many important goals including baseline ecosystem mapping of the Parkway. The baseline mapping delineated the Parkway by ecosystem types, with an evaluation of current health, trends and threats in each area.

The Committee also identified high-value resources as well as degraded areas that could be improved. The Committee made preliminary recommendations for Parkway management, including identifying opportunities for protecting identified high-value resources and opportunities for creating desired habitat in degraded areas.

In 2014, the Department reinitiated the NRMP effort with the goal of creating a document that would be aligned with the goals and policies of the 2008 American River Parkway Plan. A new Stakeholder Committee convened in the spring and summer of 2015 to develop a set of recommended draft Plan Specifications to provide the guidelines and parameters of a Scope of Work. The final NRMP Plan Specifications include all of the Stakeholder developed specifications with supplementary specifications added by Sacramento County Regional Parks staff.​

Subsequent Environmental Impact Report 

The SEIR for the final NRMP can be found on the County's Planning Projects Viewer.

 

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