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SACRAMENTO – The pace
of urbanization in Tulare County slowed
from 1998-2000 compared to 1996-1998,
according to a new map from the
California Department of Conservation.
But new information about the soils in
the state’s No. 1 agricultural county is
providing a more accurate picture than
ever before of how land use is changing.
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 1.6 million-acre
Important Farmland Map shows more than
393,000 prime farmland acres thanks to a
recently complete National Resource
Conservation Service soil survey in
western Tulare County. Previously,
farmland on about half the map was
classified simply as irrigated or
non-irrigated due to the lack of soil
information.
The FMMP noted 878
newly urbanized acres in Tulare County
compared to 1,849 acres in the 1996-98
mapping cycle. In the Visalia area,
there were 22 changes of irrigated
farmland to urban land, mainly new homes
and office buildings. There were also
five urban additions in the Tulare area.
A large amount of
irrigated farmland was reclassified as
now being used for grazing land and dry
grains. There were numerous instances of
lesser-quality land being used for
confined livestock, irrigated pasture
and nurseries. There were also 63
instances of new irrigated farmland
noted, most notably citrus and olive
trees, particularly in foothill regions.
Looking ahead, Tulare
County reports that 2,745 acres –
including 1,354 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 Tulare 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 Tulare County and other local
governments balance the needs of a
growing population with those of the
agricultural economy."
Of the 1,585,871
acres mapped in Tulare County, 55
percent was categorized as farmland, 28
percent as grazing land, 3 percent as
urbanized land and 14 percent as “other”
land: wetlands, low-density "ranchettes"
and brush or timberlands unsuitable for
grazing.
Tulare 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 375,100 to
570,900 in 2020.
According to the
California Department of Food and
Agriculture, the gross value of Tulare
County's agricultural production was
nearly $3.5 billion in 2001, ranking it
first 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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