County gov't

Lone Pine Ranch acreage awarded Williamson Act status

Oct 06, 2023

October | 1 of 10

Thursday, October 5, 2023

County gov’t

Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, September 26, 2023

Supporting information: MCRCD pamphlet, Wildlands Conservancy map, BOS materials

Good afternoon. Today you will read about two recent requests for land to be preserved with a tax break under the Williamson Act.

One of the requests was large, 3,864 acres owned by the Wildlands Conservancy, and 156 acres held by Island Mountain LP, both near Trinity County in far north Mendocino County.

The Island Mountain property had an expired Williamson Act contract and Wildlands Conservancy’s acreage was part of a 2021 purchase of the Lone Pine Ranch.

Both properties won Williamson Act status on a unanimous vote from county supervisors last week.

Board Chairman Glenn McGourty confirms that proper legal notice was given for the hearing. (*Source: County of Mendocino YouTube*)

Lone Pine Ranch was a 30,000 acre ranch obtained by the Conservancy and paid for by different organizations.

A map published by Wildlands Conservancy shows that most of Lone Pine Ranch is in Trinity County.

The item that went before county supervisors was a southernmost portion of the ranch that crossed into Mendocino County.

The Island Mountain property was already in an agricultural preserve and had existed several years on an expired Williamson Act contract, a written report from the county stated.

For what it’s worth, the land is not too far from John Pinches on the west and the Mina Road parallels the eastern side.

You can trust that these properties are truly in the middle of nowhere.

The county’s report stated that the Island Mountain property is 17 miles northeast of Covelo, and described Wildland Conservancy’s holdings as being 13 miles northwest of Covelo.

Wildlands Conservancy two years ago paid $25 million for Lone Pine Ranch. The portion now under protection of the Williamson Act in Mendocino County was financed by the California Coastal Conservancy, according to information from the organization.

The Coastal Conservancy contributed $7.1 million for that portion of Lone Pine Ranch spanning both Mendocino and Trinity counties, info from Wildlands Conservation stated.

Both parties up for consideration claimed their lands qualified for Williamson Act protection by citing the presence of cattle ranching.

We know from a somewhat dated pamphlet published by the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District that Mendocino harbors more than 33,000 acres of prime agricultural land and more than 430,000 acres of rangeland and non-prime land preserved under the Williamson Act.

To hold ag land in a state of conservation, and to receive a tax break, landowners and the county must enter into a contract.

Supervisor Dan Gjerde finishes with a question and reaches to turn off his microphone. (*Source: County of Mendocino YouTube)*

Farmers and ranchers save, according to information from the Department of Conservation, an estimated 20 to 75 percent on what they would pay without Williamson Act status.

DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION: The vehicle for these agreements is a rolling term 10-year contract (i.e., unless either party files a "notice of nonrenewal," the contract is automatically renewed for an additional year.). In return, restricted parcels are assessed for property tax purposes at a rate consistent with their actual use, rather than potential market value.

The process is made possible by a 58-year-old piece of California legislation called the Land Conservation Act.

There are eligibility requirements for enrollment under the Williamson Act.

For example, county code has criteria for prime ag land that includes soil properties from basic soil depth to calculations for (plant) available water holding capacity.

COUNTY CODE:
Soil depth of twelve (12) inches or more.
Soil texture of fine sandy loam to clay.
Soil permeability of rapid to slow.
Soil with at least two and one half (2-½) inches of available water holding capacity in profile.
A slope of less than thirty percent (30%).
A climate with eighty (80) or more frost-free days per year.
Ten (10) inches or more average annual precipitation.
When managed at potential, the land generally requires less than seventeen (17) acres to support one animal unit per year.

NEWSBOY

Discussion about this post