California Rangeland Trust

California Rangeland Trust

Tim Hammerich
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
With California Ag Today, I’m Tim Hammerich.

62% of California’s open space is private rangeland. Since 1998, the California Rangeland Trust has grown into the largest California land trust with 341,000 acres permanently conserved from the threat of development.

Michael Delbar is the COO of the CA Rangeland Trust. He says they enlisted the help of scientists at UC Berkeley to evaluate the environmental, economic, and social benefits of conserving this rangeland.

Delbar… “So this study evaluated 56 rangeland trust conservation easements, which account for just over 300,000 acres. To understand, the economic value of the ecosystem services derived from these easements and evaluate the return on investment. The study is still in a peer review process, so I don't have the final results. But I can share with you that the initial findings indicate that for 56 properties evaluated, the rangelands with our easements provide between $900 million and one point $2 billion in ecosystem services annually. The big takeaway is that California's private working rangelands and the benefits they provide all are significant to not only the ranchers, but to all Californians.”

Delbar says some of those ecosystem services include wildlife habitat protection, carbon sequestration, food, open space views, and healthy watersheds.

Learn more about supporting California Rangeland Trust financially or by donating or selling your rangeland development rights at rangelandtrust.org.

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