California - MARIN AGRICULTURAL
LAND TRUST
Countywide program - Formed in 1980 - researched by Al Sokolow
OVERVIEW - The Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) was the first nonprofit land trust in the nation organized for the express purpose of protecting farmland. In 2003 it ranked in the top 12 local agricultural easement programs nationwide in number of acres protected and first in California, just ahead of the Sonoma County Agricultural and Open Space District. Unlike the cropland emphasis of other leading programs, MALT's easement holdings are primarily dairy and pastureland. The land trust concentrates its acquisitions in the inland rural area where most of the county's dairy farms and ranches are located. Lacking a steady revenue stream from local taxes, MALT has relied on state funds, private foundation support and local fundraising to support its acquisitions. As an affluent county immediately north of the Golden Gate and San Francisco, with a Pacific coastline largely in federal ownership including the Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin ordinarily would experience high rates of urbanization. However, strong county land use policies that confine new development to the cities in the eastern urbanized area, and a limited domestic water supply, have kept population increases low in recent decades.
EASEMENT ACTIVITY - 32,000 agricultural acres
in 47 properties: grazing, pasture, dairies, no cropland.
Goals: $20 million to $40 million in capital needs for the next
10 years. Easements acquired so far are more than a quarter of the total of
120,000 agricultural acres in the target area.
Other Easement Programs: The Marin County Open Space District
is a public agency governed by the Board of Supervisors that provides greenbelts
and recreational land between cities. It holds 2,500 easement acres of generally
nonagricultural land and owns 14,000 acres in fee.
FUNDING
Acquisition Spending to Date: $25 million on agricultural easements.
Revenues: State funds (1988 state bond act, Coastal Conservancy,
Farmland Conservancy Program), local fundraising, foundation support.
GOVERNANCE - MALT is governed by a board of 17 members who serve three-year terms. Two members are appointed by the Marin County Board of Supervisors; one board member is the incumbent supervisor from the western part of the county where most agriculture is located. Many board members are ranchers.
STAFF AND OPERATING BUDGET - The executive director heads a staff of six full-time and four part-time persons. Individual staff assignments include easement acquisitions, stewardship-monitoring, education, fundraising, membership and communication. The annual operating budget is about $780,000.
ORIGINS - The nation's first land trust devoted
specifically to farmland protection, MALT was organized in 1980 by a coalition
of local ranchers and environmentalists. They were assisted by the Trust for
Public Lands (TPL) in the technical details of forming a land trust. The formation
coincided with countywide concerns about the impact of rapid growth on a diminishing
farm sector and the shift to stronger growth management policies by county government.
The county initially supported the new land trust with an allocation of one-tenth
of the property taxes collected by the Marin County Open Space District.
ACQUISITION PROCESS AND STRATEGY - The MALT board makes final decisions
after staff recommendations. Geographical targeting is employed-easements are
mostly confined to the region that county planning designates for agricultural
protection, the inland rural corridor of about 120,000 acres where most dairies
and other farms are located.
Rating of Parcels: Quantitative, but used only in the initial
evaluation of properties, not in determining the final selection of acquisitions.
Top quantitative measures are agricultural quality, farm management, strategic
location and urgency.
Other Criteria: Conversion threat and potential influence in obtaining
other easements.
CONNECTIONS TO LOCAL PLANNING AND LAND USE POLICIES
- MALT's acquisition patterns closely relate to the county's general plan which
since the late 1970s has (1) specified the concentration of urban growth along
the transportation corridor in the eastern area where the cities are located;
and (2) identified the agricultural inland rural corridor as an area closed
to urban development. Public infrastructure is not available to areas outside
of the transportation corridor. In addition, the county now requires proposals
to construct individual residencies on farm parcels to include management plans
for continued farming. Although an independent nonprofit, MALT is seen almost
as an arm of county government in doing the work of farmland preservation.
Zoning: Agricultural zoning, which applies to most of the inland
rural corridor, is one unit to 60 acres.
DEMOGRAPHICS
2000 Population: 250,100
1990-2000 Population Change: +20,200 residents; + 8 percent
AGRICULTURAL LAND
150,000 acres: 82 percent pasture-dairies and grazing
Conversion to Urban Use: 629 total agricultural acres in 1990-2000
(0.3 percent of 1990 base), including 447 cropland or important farmland acres
(0.6 percent of base). (State conversion data)
OTHER AGRICULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS
1997 Market Value: $53 million Number of Farms: 680
Principal Commodities: Dairy products, cattle, poultry
MAP NARRATIVE - EASEMENT GEOGRAPHY
(PROGRAM MAP)
Easements are located primarily in the inland rural corridor of the
county-the major agricultural area. The 32,000 easement acres acquired so far
by MALT in this limited area of 120,000 acres form several contiguous blocks
of protected land. Urban development is confined to the cities located in the
eastern third of the county. The cities are along Highway 101, the freeway that
links Marin with San Francisco and is California's principal coastal highway.
The Point Reyes National Seashore and other federal land dominate the western,
coastal third of the county.