California - NAPA COUNTY LAND
TRUST
Countywide program - Formed in 1976 - researched by Al Sokolow
OVERVIEW - The Napa County Land Trust (NCLT) has multiple preservation objectives. Initially focused on natural resources, wildlife and historic sites, in the 1990s the trust turned its attention to agricultural lands as a result of a program review by the board of directors. Most of the land trust's easements, whether on agricultural or natural resource lands, are located on hillsides overlooking the famed Napa Valley, the most renowned wine growing region of the United States. Easements are acquired only through landowner donations-limiting the program's appeal to farmland owners-although NCLT taps several revenue sources for its operating budget. Battles between pro-growth and preservationist forces over urban growth and landscape preservation have dominated Napa County politics for more than 30 years. Preservationists generally have won these battles, producing policies through voter initiatives and county legislation that limit building permits and changes to agricultural zoning. Development pressures on the county's farmland currently arise from the attractiveness of vineyard areas as estate homesites for wealthy persons.
EASEMENT ACTIVITY - 5,900 agricultural acres
in 19 properties, mostly large cattle ranches. Only 968 cropland acres-including
vineyards-are under easement. 6,500 acres are in non-agricultural, natural resource
easements. Total of 12,400 easement acres. The land trust also has 2,500 acres
in fee ownership, including a botanical preserve, wildlife sanctuary and redwood
forest preserve.
Goals: 30,000 acres of protected lands by 2004, including easements
and fee purchase acres and both agricultural and natural resource lands. Expected
to be revised to 50,000 acres by 2010.
Other Easement Programs: No other local programs, although some
easements originally acquired by NCLT were later transferred to state government
agencies.
FUNDING
Acquisition Spending to Date: $0-all easements are acquired through
landowner donation.
Revenues: Member dues, donations and foundation grants support
the operational budget.
GOVERNANCE - The land trust board has 15 members serving up to two consecutive three-year terms. Board members are generally recruited from the ranks of volunteer workers. NCLT has about 1,300 dues-paying members.
STAFF AND OPERATING BUDGET - Seven primarily full-time staff have administrative, transactions and monitoring tasks, and several others manage the fee purchased preserves. Volunteers assist in monitoring. The annual operating budget is about $700,000.
ORIGINS - The NCLT was one of several local conservation groups in the San Francisco Bay Area formed in the late 1970s with assistance from the Trust for Public Lands (TPL). In part the formation was a reaction by local environmentalists to the then pro-growth policies of the Napa Board of Supervisors.
ACQUISITION PROCESS AND STRATEGY - The NCLT board
makes final decisions after staff recommendations. Acquisition criteria are
broad and multiple, extending to wildlife, agricultural, visual, watershed,
etc. values. Since about 1998, the trust has sought easements in the flat part
of the Napa Valley dominated by vineyards.
Rating of Parcels: Not quantitative, see below.
Other Criteria: The Policy Manual lists 11 factors, one referring to
active viticulture or ranching use and the others dealing with such open space
features as rare species, visibility, riparian or marsh area, etc. Also included
are factors that would disqualify a parcel-small size, absence of adjacent protected
parcels, difficulty of easement enforcement, etc.
CONNECTIONS TO LOCAL PLANNING AND LAND USE POLICIES
- Although county land use policies generally complement the easement program,
the connections are not formal and the land trust is careful to maintain its
independent status by distancing itself from county policymaking. This includes
remaining neutral on specific land use proposals. Beyond agricultural zoning,
Napa County has some of California's strongest policies for preserving farmland-the
result of both voter initiatives and legislative actions by local governments.
These policies include: (1) The designation in 1968 of virtually all of the
unincorporated part of the Napa Valley floor as an Agricultural Preserve; (2)
Voter passage in 1990 of a measure preventing the rezoning of agricultural properties
for development without further voter approval; (3) Voter approval in 1980 of
a cap on building permits in unincorporated areas to allow only a 1 percent
annual population increase; and (4) Adoption of a Rural Urban Limit Line by
the city of Napa in 1975.
Zoning: Agricultural zoning provides for one unit to 40 acres residential
density in the county's agricultural reserve zone on the Valley floor, and 40
to 160 acre minimums in the agricultural watershed and open space zone covering
the hillsides.
DEMOGRAPHICS
2000 Population: 124,100
1990-2000 Population Change: +13,500 residents; +12 percent
AGRICULTURAL LAND
212,000 acres: one-third cropland-mostly vineyards.
Conversion to Urban Use: : 1,473 total agricultural acres in 1990-2000
(.5 percent of 1990 base), including 1,183 cropland or important farmland acres
(1.6 percent of base). (State conversion data)
OTHER AGRICULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS
1997 Market Value: $238 million Number of Farms: 1,318
Principal Commodities: Wine grapes (98 percent of total farm value)
MAP NARRATIVE - EASEMENT GEOGRAPHY
(PROGRAM MAP)
Easements are located on the eastern and western hillsides overlooking
the Napa Valley, with few on the vineyard land or near the cities on the Valley
floor. Easements are dispersed along a 30-mile, north-south stretch of the county
on both sides of the Valley. There are few clusters.