About the Yolo Land Trust
From the Blue Ridge to Clarksburg and from Davis to Dunnigan, Yolo Land Trust has a long history of helping landowners preserve the landscape. Our local networks of farmland, rangeland, stream corridors, wetlands and oak woodlands weave together to drive the economy, support wildlife and help make Yolo County a wonderful place to live and work.
With our focus on protecting the farm, open space and habitat lands in Yolo County, Yolo Land Trust offers long-term solutions to difficult land preservation issues. Yolo County lands are wedged between the ever expanding Bay Area and Sacramento. At risk are prime agricultural soils, pure water, quiet country roads, and our rural atmosphere.
To date, Yolo Land Trust has helped landowners place conservation easements almost 9000 acres, permanently protecting their land for future generations. Still, there is so much more we can do. Yolo Land Trust understands that the landscapes we love - that give us a sense of place, nurturing and sustaining our bodies and spirits with fertile soils and open vistas – depend on the success of local farming. Just an example of what we do:
Clark Easement
Davis area farmer Bruce Clark, center, describes his vision for his land to Michele Clark, Executive Director of the nonprofit Yolo Land Trust, while Michael Bilancione, a realty specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, listens in.
FARM COUPLE CREATES LEGACY . . . .Conservation easement keeps land in agriculture By Cory Golden ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER.. When Bruce Clark looks out from the front porch of his farmhouse four miles west of Davis, he sees a landscape as he thinks it should be. “It’s beautiful, and I want it to stay like that.” And now, it will. Bruce and his wife, Judy, have placed 140 acres of their organic farm under conservation easement in a deal announced earlier this week.
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service provided $550,000 and the California Department of Conservation $275,000 toward the purchase. Yolo County contributed $42,000 from its ag land mitigation fund toward the transaction costs and long-term monitoring obligations. For their part, the Clarks agreed to accept a price equal to about 75 percent of the estimated market rate for their development rights. Such easements are both increasingly popular —and increasingly difficult to fund in tough budgetary times. They provide a way to permanently protect agriculture or habitat uses by compensating landowners who give up their development rights. Such property remains on county tax rolls, and the easements stay in effect even if the land is sold. Michele Clark (no relation), the executive director of the nonprofit Yolo County Land Trust, which will hold the easement, said about 75 landowners in the county, with 22,000 acres among them, have expressed interest in similar deals. “My challenge,” she said, “is where to find public funding.” Bruce Clark said his came through at the state level only because another deal elsewhere fell apart. “Honestly, I didn’t think it was going to work out,” he said. “We came within a whisker of not getting it." The couple grow tomatoes and alfalfa, mostly, and will continue to do so under the easement. They’ve owned much of the preserved land along Russell Boulevard for almost 27 years. Two sloughs cross the farm, which is home to Swainson’s hawks, owls, pheasants and quail. There’s a coyote den, too, and a beaver has set up shop near a 3-acre spot where the Clarks intend to plant native grasses. Bruce has spotted a bobcat on his land and, now and then, he’s seen golden eagles.
The Clarks originally planned to used the proceeds from the sale to buy 98 acres from a neighbor. As the process wore on, Bruce managed to raise the money for that purchase by selling other land instead. The two parcels were once part of a century-old, 300-acre farm owned by the Hamel family. Bruce and Judy hope to see the farm pieced back together. They would like to place the second parcel under an easement, too. “I want to protect it after I’m gone,” said Bruce, who is 67. “I can protect it as long as I’m alive but after that, who knows? “We don’t have any kids, so this may be the only thing we leave behind.” Reprinted with permission by the Davis Enterprise