$17 Million Requested in Round 10 Blitz: Department of Conservation in review of 6 Properties, 5,000 acres, across 3 counties
Of the six project pre-proposals, two properties contain mature walnut, pecan, or almond orchards.
On January 31, 2025, NCRLT submitted six new acquisition proposals to the California Department of Conservation (DOC) to protect over 5,000 acres of orchards, irrigated pasturelands, and seasonal rangelands in Butte, Glenn and Tehama Counties permanently with conservation easements. NCRLT requested twenty-three million dollars to develop and acquire conservation easements on six agricultural properties. The proposals are under review to confirm aligned benefits under the Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program (SALCP), one of the most important funding sources for protecting working lands and valuable soils in the state.
These productive lands produce beef, almonds, walnuts, pecans, olives, and include co-benefits to wildlife, plants, water, and riparian corridors.
The Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation (SALC) Program is a component of California’s Strategic Growth Council’s (SGC) Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program (AHSC). Funding for the SALC Program is provided with revenue from the California Climate Investment (CCI) Fund. The Department of Conservation works in cooperation with the Natural Resources Agency and the SGC to implement the program.
A DOC capacity grant funded high priority property analysis and outreach, and financial support to cover grant writing and compiling grant application materials for willing landowners recruited during the targeted outreach. Landowners located outside of the target areas pay a “fee for service” to cover NCRLT staff time to prepare their pre-proposal packet. The application includes answering 10 questions to document preliminary title report review, identifying key property parameters, e.g. the location of every structure, well, water diversion, hunting cabin, and potential future building areas within each property’s boundaries, creating maps supporting each section of the pre-proposal application: Zoning, Land Type (soils), Special Species/Conserved Lands Vicinity, Building Envelopes and Future Building Envelopes (structures), etc., conservation easement values estimated using market analysis tools, and an assessment of disadvantaged community benefits.
The application process continues… Between now and April, NCRLT will hear back from the DOC SALC Project Managers assigned to each prospective project to review project goals and confirm adequate information to pursue a full application for funding under SALC, due July 3, 2025, and include site visits with DOC SALC project managers, a “Brokers Price Opinion” (BPO), and detailing land, resource, and agricultural management goals.
Stay tuned! NCRLT is saving soils and preserving agricultural lifestyles in our tri-county service region one property at a time, and we’ll keep you informed of our outcomes!
