By: Barbara Archer, City of Davis
The City of Davis is proud to announce that the California Strategic Growth Council awarded a $420,000 grant this week to help the City purchase a 79-acre agricultural conservation easement on farmland northwest of the City limits.
The farmland is located in Yolo County near the intersection of County Roads 31 and 96, along Dry Slough. It is owned by the Beoshanz family, a longtime farming family, who grow tomatoes, corn, wheat, alfalfa, sunflowers and vine seed crops. Dry Slough, a perennial drainage channel bordered by a narrow band of valley foothill riparian vegetation, also runs through their property.
The purchase of the conservation easement will cost approximately $510,000, including closing costs and a monitoring endowment. The City will co-own the conservation easement with the Yolo Land Trust, which will monitor the easement in perpetuity on behalf of the City. The City and the Yolo Land Trust are interested in protecting this land because of its proximity to the City limits, its location near other protected farmland, its riparian corridor and its prime agricultural soils. The remaining $90,000 to purchase and monitor this easement will come from the City’s open space funds.
“This grant reinforces Davis’ long-standing commitment to sustainability and agricultural preservation,” said City Manager Daryel Dunston. “By securing this conservation easement, we’re continuing to protect open space and uphold the spirit of environmental stewardship that defines our community.”
Since 1990, the City has been able to permanently protect more than 6,000 acres of farmland within the Davis Planning Area, which is an amount approximately equal to the footprint of the City of Davis itself. These acres include agricultural lands, riparian corridors, habitat areas and land under threat of conversion to urban uses. The City co-owns 22 conservation easements with the Yolo Land Trust and three conservation easements with the Solano Land Trust. Many are partially funded by the City’s special open space protection parcel tax, known as Measure O.
The California Strategic Growth Council’s Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation (SALC) program is managed by the California Department of Conservation. SALC is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of cap-and-trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy and improving public health and the environment – particularly in disadvantaged communities.
For more information about the City’s Open Space program, including a map of all the other conservation easements around the City, go to: https://www.cityofdavis.org/city-hall/community-development-and-sustainability/open-space-program. For questions, contact Open Space Program Manager Tracie Reynolds at: treynolds@cityofdavis.org.
