The Environmental Damage
Gold Rush will tell you their development will preserve open space. It is true that approximately 300 acres of the project site is set aside for open space, but much of that is unusable with 30% slopes. The rest of the site, some 600+ acres, will be converted from oak woodland and savannah to urban sprawl.
MAJOR grading is needed to recontour the site. View the grading maps for the project.
This project will irreversibly damage our precious agricultural land, some of which doesn't even lie within the current Sutter Creek limits.
- Extensive grading of open lands for golf course will remove thousands of oak trees to make way for housing & golf course.
- Wildlife habitat will be severely impacted as Gold Rush creates narrow corridors for migration which are too dificult to navigate.
- No large scale open space corridors have been retained. Even though they are available and were requested by the public.
- Parkland dedication and construction area has 30% slopes, making it all but unuseable.
Read comment letters about Gold Rush's environmental destruction from Master Gardener Jill North, The California Oak Foundation and The Amador Oak Woodland Conservation Group.