{"id":665,"date":"2024-04-02T16:32:16","date_gmt":"2024-04-02T16:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/?p=665"},"modified":"2025-12-02T19:50:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T19:50:29","slug":"heres-how-land-repurposing-is-beginning-to-transform-strained-communities-and-ecosystems-in-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/2024\/04\/02\/heres-how-land-repurposing-is-beginning-to-transform-strained-communities-and-ecosystems-in-california\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s how land repurposing is beginning to transform strained communities and ecosystems in California"},"content":{"rendered":"

Next time you find yourself looking up driving directions on your phone, scroll over to central California and zoom out a bit. Turn on the satellite layer. What you\u2019ll see is a mindboggling patchwork. A massive brown and green checkerboard, cut up in rectangles, sliced by highways, besieged by a ring of arid foothills. This is California\u2019s famed and troubled Central Valley \u2014 an agricultural powerhouse that\u2019s increasingly associated with headlines about disappearing groundwater and growing waves of flood and drought. Filled with sharp lines, it\u2019s not a landscape one would immediately associate with collaboration and transformation.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"MLRP<\/a>
Download a copy of the first-ever MLRP Annual Report<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yet genuine cross-sector collaboration driving tangible ground transformations is exactly what jumps off the page of a new report<\/a> \u2014 the first-ever annual stock take of California\u2019s Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program. Launched in 2022, the program is a bold attempt to help communities repurpose irrigated agricultural land to uses that reduce reliance on groundwater while providing a plethora of new benefits including community health, economic well-being, water supply, habitat, renewable energy, and climate resilience. It\u2019s a crucial initiative many western states \u2014 faced with similar baseline realities of finite, declining groundwater \u2014 are keeping a close eye on.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The new report<\/a> is the<\/span> first big-picture snapshot of progress on the ground so far. It reveals a set of ambitious and diverse regional objectives fueled by broad new partnerships built on the desire to find common ground and shared solutions to California\u2019s uncertain groundwater future.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are some key takeaways from the report:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The program is transforming more than land \u2014 it is building broad, often surprising, coalitions. Each have potential for catalyzing long-term climate resilience.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Over 56 different organizations \u2014 ranging from community, environmental, agricultural, and <\/span>conservation \u2014 signed up to partner and collaborate with the four main applicant teams in the first round of MLRP funding awarded in spring 2022. A second round of funding in spring 2023 saw 36 more organizations join as partners and collaborators. In short, in just over two years of activity, the program has brought nearly 100 organizations together to work collectively on land transformation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Applicants listen in at an MLRP introduction session.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This collaboration is not merely an exercise on paper. The new report details how each of the awarded applicants have spent significant time and resources on community engagement \u2014 with many building project selection committees formed of interested and affected parties.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, Self-Help Enterprises and Environmental Defense Fund lead a Statewide Support Entity which has facilitated virtual and in-person collaboration amongst partners<\/span>,<\/span> including hosting monthly meetings with grantees, organizing learning events, creating guidance materials and resources to support grant implementation, and offering guidance to support block grantee engagement activities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The rhythm of in-person collaboration and learning is creating a community of practice that will have important echoes beyond MLRP-specific projects. It is exactly this kind of partnership building that will serve the state well as it faces up to intensifying waves of climate challenges.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Emerging projects show a diverse range of strategies, benefits, and partners involved.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

As grantees transition from community engagement to identifying regional priorities, establishing project selection processes and beginning implementation, the diverse range and significant potential impact of<\/span> emerging projects is becoming clear.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Map of funded grant applicants from first round. (Figure B. Multibenefit Land Repurposing Project Annual Report 2023)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There\u2019s an understated but persistent creative energy to the list of potential projects described in the report. A proposed pilot program, for example, will support the transition <\/span>of <\/span>farmworkers to high-skilled jobs in a water recycling buildout. Another will<\/span> create a wildlife habitat corridor between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Merced National Wildlife Refuge. Other proposals focus on repurposing marginal farmland to improve groundwater recharge in areas where domestic wells are going dry. A coastal proposal<\/span> focuses on restoring a floodplain along a canal while building out a new park connecting a beach to a historically disadvantaged community.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The total impact of these projects will likely far outweigh the relatively light investment involved ($84m in funding so far). The regions receiving funding cover 3.3 million acres, the equivalent of 4.5 Yosemite National Parks and 5,258 Lake Tahoes! These areas face some of the most severe environmental justice challenges in the state \u2013 the program\u2019s eight block regions together cover over 120 state designated disadvantaged communities.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are potential positive impacts on Tribal lands as well. The Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians in Sonoma County, for example, has been awarded a grant to enhance groundwater recharge in the Alexander Valley Subbasin to provide groundwater sustainability benefits there and in the Santa Rosa Plain Subbasin.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is strong interest in and need for further funding.<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n

As the report makes clear, the land repurposing program is increasingly in-demand across California. In the first round of funding, 8 of the 12 regions that applied were unsuccessful due to limited funding availability (representing over $100M in funding requested and only $40M available for block grants). The numbers were similar in the second round: 6 of the 10 regions that applied were unsuccessful with a total of $85M in funding requested and only $35M available for block grants. Continued program funding would help meet the extremely high demand for land repurposing, contributing to the achievement of important SGMA benchmarks and strengthening efforts to transition California to more resilient land and water systems.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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MLRP engagment by numbers. (Figure A. Multibenefit Land Repurposing Project Annual Report 2023)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/span>As California faces a groundwater crisis that threatens to leave farmland barren, programs like MLRP are increasingly vital to support a more collective and thoughtful transition that supports healthy ecosystems and communities. This new snapshot of MLRP at work offers a picture of collaboration, creativity, and progress that can guide us as we work towards a more resilient water and land future for all.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Curious about exactly how locally-led land repurposing might ensure reliable water supply, boost local communities, and revive ecosystems? EDF\u2019s Ann Hayden <\/strong>spoke with Waterloop for a special episode on land repurposing. This is the interactive primer you need! The episode showcases the full potential of this approach via visits to Pixley National Wildlife Refuge, Kaweah Oaks Preserve, Joseph Gallo Farms, and Castroville Slough Treatment Wetlands:<\/em><\/p>\n