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SACRAMENTO – More
than 1,800 acres of land was urbanized
in neighboring Merced and Madera
Counties from 1998-2000, according to
maps released today by the California
Department of Conservation.
An additional 6,130 acres of farmland in
the counties were removed from
cultivated farmland classes because they
have not shown evidence of use in six or
more years.
The maps are designed to help local
governments evaluate land-use planning
decisions.
The Farmland Mapping and Monitoring
Program, 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.
In Merced County, 1,040 acres of land
were urbanized during the current
mapping cycle. Between 1998-2000, net
totals of 900 acres of farmland, 44
acres of grazing land and 96 acres of
land classified as "other" -- a category
that includes wetlands, low-density "ranchettes"
and brush or timberlands unsuitable for
grazing -- were reclassified as urban
land.
In addition, 2,225 acres of Merced
County farmland were reclassified as
being either grazing land or "other"
land in the two-year span, meaning they
are no longer in cultivation.
Since the 1992 FMMP survey, 8,337 acres
of farmland have been reclassified to
other uses and 3,261 acres have been
urbanized in Merced County.
Madera County has 830 newly urbanized
acres – 354 from farmland, 281 from
grazing land and 195 acres from "other"
land. Additionally, 3,905 acres of
farmland were reclassified to the
non-cultivated categories of grazing
land and "other" land.
Since 1992, 9,420 acres of farmland have
been reclassified to other uses in
Madera County, which gained 2,221 acres
of urbanized land.
The profiles of Merced and Madera
Counties are very similar—each has more
than 40 percent of their land in
farmland, more than 40 percent grazing
land, and approximately 3 percent in
urban uses. The California Department of
Food and Agriculture assesses the gross
value of agricultural production at $1.5
billion in Merced County and $748
million in Madera County in 2000,
ranking them fifth and 13th among the
state’s 58 counties, respectively.
National Forest areas of Madera County
are not part of the farmland mapping
project.
The new maps have been sent to local
planning officials. Interested parties
such as the counties’ Farm Bureau, Local
Agency Formation Commission, planning
consultants and area 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 Merced and Madera
counties and other local governments
balance the needs of a growing
population with those of the
agricultural economy."
The agricultural land in both counties
will continue to face development
pressure in the foreseeable future. The
California Department of Finance
projects that Madera County's population
will grow from its current 124,300 to
203,200 by 2020, while Merced County’s
is expected to grow from 210,000 to
380,000 in that span.
Examples of agricultural land being
urbanized in Madera County during the
last survey included the 285-acre
Riverbend Golf Club east of Madera, a
100-acre addition to the Green Hills
Golf Course and housing development
north of Madera, and an 80-acre housing
project called Oak Creek in the foothill
community of Coarsegold.
Several large developments on
agricultural land were noted in Merced
County, including the 70-acre Delhi
Educational Park, a 100-acre development
of new homes just south of Atwater along
Highway 140, more than 100 acres of new
homes around Merced, and 80 acres of new
housing on the northern urban fringe of
Los Banos.
The latest statewide study by the FMMP,
Farmland Conversion Report 1996-98, was
released last fall. 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 the city
of Modesto, were developed on
agricultural land.
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
monies 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 breaks
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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