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SACRAMENTO -- The irrigated land west of
the San Joaquin River in Stanislaus
County is an almost unbroken stretch of
prime farmland more than 100,000 acres
in size, although the towns of Newman
and Patterson are growing rapidly,
according to a new map from the
California Department of Conservation.
The Farmland Mapping
and Monitoring Program (FMMP), part of
DOC's Division of Land Resource
Protection, maps 44.5 million acres of
California's public and private land to
produce a major study every two years.
Designed to help
local governments evaluate land-use
planning decisions, the enhanced map
covers 90 percent of the land in
Stanislaus County, including 391,096
acres in the western county not
previously categorized. The map area was
increased in 2000 using a recently
completed National Resource Conservation
Service soil survey, while the existing
478,242-acre eastern area was updated.
In the eastern
county, the pace of urbanization from
1998-2000 slowed to 898 acres, compared
to 1,310 acres in 1996-98. Most of the
changes from farmland to urban were due
to new housing in Modesto, Ceres,
Turlock and Riverbank. There were also
new industrial areas noted in Modesto,
as well as a small Amtrak station.
While 1,194 net acres
of prime farmland were lost on the east
side, more than 4,000 acres of pastures
and lesser-quality soils were converted
to orchards (primarily almonds) or
annual crops. Prime farmland losses were
due to land idling and low-density
development, as well as urbanization.
Looking ahead,
Stanislaus County reports that 3,007
acres – including 1,398 acres of prime
farmland -- have been committed to
non-agricultural use in the future.
Often, this is land earmarked for
development. In some cases
infrastructure development, such as
sewer installation, may be underway.
The map has been sent
to Stanislaus County planning officials.
Interested parties such as the county
Farm Bureau, Local Agency Formation
Commission, city planners, irrigation
districts and the county resource
conservation districts have received
copies.
"We do this mapping
to help counties plan and prepare for
their expected growth in the coming
years," explained Department of
Conservation Director Darryl Young.
“This information is a tool that can
help Stanislaus County and other local
governments balance the needs of a
growing population with those of the
agricultural economy."
Of the 869,338 acres
now mapped in Stanislaus County, 44.5
percent was categorized as farmland, 43
percent as grazing land, 6 percent as
urbanized land and 5.4 percent as
“other” land: wetlands, low-density "ranchettes"
and brush or timberlands unsuitable for
grazing.
Stanislaus County's
agricultural land will continue to face
development pressure in the foreseeable
future. The California Department of
Finance projects the county's population
will grow from its current 454,600 to
712,100 in 2020. Patterson and Newman
are two of the fastest-growing
communities in the county, with 27 and
53 percent population growth,
respectively, in the last decade. The
availability of the new soil survey
assures that future FMMP maps will
reflect land-use conversion in the
western Stanislaus area.
According to the
California Department of Food and
Agriculture, the gross value of
Stanislaus County's agricultural
production was just under $1.2 billion
in 2000, ranking it eighth among the
state's 58 counties.
The latest statewide
study by the FMMP, Farmland Conversion
Report 1996-98, was released in the fall
of 2000. About 70,000 acres were
urbanized throughout the state. More
than 43,000 acres of the new urban land,
an area about the size of Modesto, were
developed on agricultural land. A new
statewide report will be released this
fall.
Through the
Department of Conservation, the state
offers programs that provide financial
incentives to keep land in agricultural
use. The California Farmland Conservancy
Program makes grants available to local
governments, land trusts or resource
conservation districts to purchase
permanent agricultural conservation
easements from willing landowners. These
easements prohibit future development.
Farmland Security Zone and Williamson
Act contracts provide potential tax
benefits to landowners who commit to
keeping their land in agricultural use
for periods of 20 or 10 years,
respectively.
In addition to
administering agricultural and
open-space land conservation programs,
the Department of Conservation ensures
the reclamation of land used for mining;
promotes beverage container recycling;
regulates oil, gas and geothermal wells;
and studies and maps earthquakes and
other geologic phenomena.
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