Land Trust of Santa Cruz County (Santa Cruz, San Mateo, and Monterey counties).
Jodi McGraw Consulting developed a plan to guide the Land Trust’s work to safeguard farmland within Santa Cruz County and adjacent portions of adjoining counties. This project entailed:
- Working with Land Trust staff, board members, and partners, including funders, to develop goals for farmland protection and criteria to prioritize cultivated land for protection;
- Synthesizing a multidisciplinary GIS database including comprehensive land ownership information, and using it to characterize parcels according to the quality, size, and vulnerability of the farmland as well as factors that can inform strategic conservation projects;
- Developing a model to score parcels based on the criteria and assign them into tiers reflecting their priority for protection;
- Preparing a detailed report outlining the planning methods and results as well as communications pieces to share with partners;
- Developing a GIS database to facilitate implementation of the plan, including preparation of grant applications during implementation; and
- Training Land Trust staff as well as providing ongoing support to facilitate their successful implementation of the plan.
Since the plan was completed in 2013, the Land Trust has used it to inform and help fund numerous successful farmland protection.