What is land repurposing?
As one of several demand management actions, the County is implementing a suite of Land Repurposing programs. Land repurposing is purely voluntary and provides an incentive payment in exchange for the Sustainable Yield and Transitional Water allocations.
Three Land Repurposing programs are being developed in Madera County GSA:
- Voluntary Land Repurposing Program (VLRP). Initial development of the program was funded under a Sustainable Agricultural Land Conservation (SALC) grant. The land repurposing program has been referred to as the “SALC” program in other GSA planning documents. The program is now transitioning into implementation based on the foundational development work and stakeholder input received over the previous years. VLRP is funded by the GSP Fee.
- LandFlex / Targeted Land Repurposing Program* (TLRP). The Madera Subbasin portion of the Madera County GSA received $9.3 million in block grant funding from the California Department of Water Resources’ LandFlex program. These funds will be used to target one-year fallowing (Sustainable Yield and Transitional Water for 2023 water year) and permanent retirement of overdraft (Transitional Water) to prevent the drying of domestic wells. This program is funded for the 2023 water year only.
- Multi-Benefit Land Repurposing Program* (MLRP). The Madera County GSA received $10 million in funding from the Department of Conservation. The MLRP builds on the VLRP by repurposing lands in a way that maximizes co-benefits, including reducing flood risk or improving habitat. This program would pay for landowners to fallow land and undertake habitat or other restoration activities to provide other benefits, in addition to groundwater savings in the county. The other two programs, VLRP and TLRP, only require landowners to fallow land and reduce pumping.
*These programs are still undergoing development; stay engaged and share your feedback by participating in our public workshops.
Interested in Land Repurposing? Join the Interested Parties List and we will send you relevant updates on Land Repurposing programs.