Tule Subbasin
Multi-Benefit Land Repurposing Program
Why Multi-Benefit Land Repurposing?
Increasingly frequent and intense droughts are adding to a long-term imbalance between water supply and demand in the San Joaquin Valley. Bringing groundwater basins into balance and agricultural production in line with water supplies will require significant acreage of irrigated farmland to be taken out of production in the coming decades. Local water agencies are wrestling with this challenge as they work to develop and implement the Groundwater Sustainability Plans that also support sustainable farming in the Subbasin.
In 2021, the California Department of Conservation (DOC) created the multi-benefit land repurposing program (MLRP) to fund groundwater sustainability plans and projects that repurpose irrigated agricultural land. The Tule Subbasin MLRP was submitted to the DOC by Pixley Irrigation District Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA), Eastern Tule GSA, and Tri-County Water Authority GSA, along with other local partners was awarded a $10 million grant!
The Tule Subbasin MLRP is a locally-led collaborative effort that aims to support landowners, farmers, and communities with achieving groundwater sustainability by transitioning irrigated agriculture to alternative land uses, a practice known as land repurposing, that provides multiple benefits such as community, economic, and environmental wellbeing.
What is Multi-benefit Land Repurposing
Multi-benefit land repurposing is the practice of transitioning irrigated land to new uses that conserve water and deliver benefits to communities and ecosystems. With public funding, growers can be compensated for voluntarily transitioning formerly irrigated farmland to new uses, such as habitat corridors, parks, groundwater recharge basins, and well-managed rangeland.
How does the Tule Subbasin MLRP work
This project, intended to operate from 2023 to early 2026, is engaging with our farmers, landowners, community members, conservation groups, academia and others to better understand what the Subbasin needs, to find common ground on alternative land-use solutions, and identify and develop projects to reduce water demand that generate multiple benefits.
Three projects have already been identified, yet approximately half the funding remains for new projects and pilots yet to be determined. The projects selected, via an application process still being developed, will be designed and proposed by willing landowners, growers, communities and more. These could receive support from the project partners and other trusted experts. While only a few projects will likely be funded with this program, other project concepts will be integrated into Local and Subbasin-wide plans that will seek other funding sources.
Our Engagement Timeline
Contact Us
- For general questions, input, ways to get involved or to get more information contact: Allison Tristao at [email protected] and/or Guadalupe Garcia at [email protected]
- If you are a farmer or landowner that is interested in learning more about your options please reach out to Tule Basin Land & Water Conservation Trust at [email protected] or call at (559)358-4414 or Sequoia Riverlands Trust at [email protected] or call at (559)738-0211
- If you are a community member or representative of a disadvantaged community that is interested in learning more please reach out to Armando Ortiz [email protected] or call at (559) 802-1256
The MLRP is an effort that supports landowners, farmers, and communities. Please join us to learn more about Tule Subbasin MLRP and share your ideas for projects that repurpose land to benefit everyone.