ENVIRONMENT
Most of the Yolo Land & Cattle Co .’ s 7,500 acres is under a conservation easement with California Rangeland Trust .
PHOTO COURTESY OF CALIFORNIA RANGELAND TRUST
“ We all need a place to live , and we ’ re not opposed to residential or commercial or industrial development … because we all need that . What we ’ re looking at is what ’ s a responsible way to do that .”
“ We all need a place to live , and we ’ re not opposed to residential or commercial or industrial development … because we all need that ,” Delbar says . “ What we ’ re looking at is what ’ s a responsible way to do that .”
California Rangeland Trust ranks and evaluates ranches under consideration for conservation easements
MICHAEL DELBAR CEO , California Rangeland Trust
according to factors such as location , development pressure and attributes that are attractive to available funding sources , Delbar says . For example , protecting a ranch with endangered species would be attractive to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife , whereas protecting a ranch with timber resources would appeal to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection .
The majority of funding is secured through a competitive grant process for state and federal dollars on an easement-by-easement basis from agencies such as the Wildlife Conservation Board , Bureau of Reclamation and National Resources Conservation Service . While federal funding provided through the Farm Bill remains consistent , it ’ s a much smaller percentage of funding and must be matched by state funds , which means a decrease in state funds affects available federal dollars as well . In 2019 , California Rangeland Trust received nearly $ 12.5 million in state funds and more than $ 3.1 million in federal funds .
But the team of UC Berkeley scientists wanted to do more than calculate the value of the environmental benefits to society from working lands . They wanted to evaluate whether those investments in conservation easements were the right ones . In other words , they wanted to calculate the return on investment .
52 comstocksmag . com | November 2020