Land Trust Expands Farmland Protection
Protects 450 acres at End of the 2009
At the end of the year, the Land Trust protected 450 acres of farmland in the Pajaro Valley – bringing the total amount of land we have protected there to almost 1,400 acres. Earlier in 2009 we protected another 350 acres and at the end of 2008 an additional 560 acres.
100 Acres Outside Watsonville Protected
Almost 100 acres just outside Watsonville will remain farmland forever thanks to a donation of development rights by its owners, West Marine founder Randy Repass and his wife, Sally-Christine Rodgers. The 92 acre property lies east of Watsonville and is adjacent to existing development. The protected property will form a permanent buffer between the developed areas and the farmland to the east.
Land Trust Executive Director Terry Corwin hailed the donation of development rights. "This is a win-win transaction for everybody, including the people of Santa Cruz County. We get to permanently protect farmland from development and the land stays in private hands, on the tax rolls, and in production."
Fifth-Generation Landowner Protects Farmland
Fifth-generation landowner Diane Porter Cooley’s has ensured her family’s ties to the Valley's farming future by placing conservation easements on 364 acres of prime farmland. "My family has been farming here since 1851 and I'd like to see people continue to farm here," she said.
Funding for the sale of the development rights to the Land Trust came from the California Department of Conservation (DOC) and the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. The Cooley's donated 15% of the appraised value of the development rights and donated $500,000 to provide an endowment to support the work of the Land Trust.
Previously Protected
These two recent protections come on top of two other major acquisitions since the end of 2008.
In September 2009 the Land Trust protected the heart of Santa Cruz County's largest freshwater wetlands by acquiring 440 acres west of Watsonville at the center of the Watsonville Sloughs system. The land lies between 350 acres of wetlands and upland habitat already protected by state and federal agencies, creating an 800 acre block of protected land at the heart of the Watsonville Sloughs system.
In December 2008 the Land Trust initiated its Pajaro Valley Farmland Protection program with the acquisition of a conservation easement on 534 acres. The land is owned by the Borina Foundation, which was created in 2003 to continue the Borina family’s farming tradition and use the farming revenue to benefit the Pajaro Valley.
