Description: Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) has established a 1,132-acre Nature Preserve on its Rancho Seco property in southeastern Sacramento County, CA. The preserve provides long-term protection of the wetlands for protected animals such as fairy and tadpole shrimp and the California tiger salamander. The preserve offsets the biological impacts of SMUD’s power generation operations. The Howard Ranch Trail in the Nature Preserve is open to the public.

With the Rancho Seco Recreational Area and the Amanda Blake Memorial Wildlife Refuge, SMUD has conserved more than 1,800 acres of land.

Goal: Sequester carbon in natural lands: Preserve natural habitat to continue carbon sequestration and protect natural carbon sinks