Rewilding California farms: grants awarded to repurpose drought-parched Central Valley land

LINDSAY, Tulare County -- A withered cornstalk may become the near-future snapshot of some farms in the drought-stricken Central Valley, while also allowing the return of a native landscape that will help conserve the state's water. 

The Federal Central Valley Project is not expected to send any water to most farmers who work the fields as California enters a third year of drought.

"I always say we're a poster child for this issue, because we're not doing it right," said Mike Hagman, executive director of the Lindmore Irrigation District, located in the Tulare County city of Lindsay. 

"We're taking too much water out of the ground," he added. 

Hagman would know. He is also a farmer and is well aware of the water crisis facing the state and Central Valley farms.   

Hagman owns 160 acres of now-fallowed agricultural land. But now there is some hope. His land and others may find a new life under an innovative $50 million California project.

The goal is to pay farmers to convert agricultural lands to other purposes, including wildlife habitat and open space for communities. The project is known as the Multi-Benefit Land Repurposing Program. The first $10 million grants are about to be awarded to farmers who wish to participate.

 "With those $10 million grants, regions can begin to collaboratively plan for how they want to repurpose land and begin to provide payments to farmers to voluntarily implement those repurposing projects on their properties," explained environmentalist Anna Schiller, who manages the Climate Resilient Water Systems program of the Environmental Defense Fund.

Among the types of repurposing projects is what some experts refer to as "rewilding" or restoring land to its native habitat. It's a bold approach that could make a big dent in reducing water demands in a hotter, drier California.

"Studies estimate that upwards of a million acres of farmland are going to come out of production in the next 20 years or so, in order to balance our groundwater supplies and adapt to climate change," noted Schiller.

While the idea of repurposing ag land is still taking shape here in Tulare County, it's already showing promise 150 miles north, with the largest floodplain restoration project in California-- at Dos Rios Ranch.

'We've saved hundreds of thousands of gallons of water every single year, simply through the actions of this project," said Julie Rentner, president of conservation group River Partners.

The organization bought a 2,100-acre former dairy outside of Modesto where alfalfa and winter wheat were also grown. Today, it's rewilded with thousands of native grasses, shrubs, and trees.

"It conserves water by reducing how much evaporation actually happens here, right when you transfer lands from these thirsty crops into more drought tolerant native plants," said Rentner. "They just use less water, which is exciting.

But this living lab which sits at the confluence of the San Joaquin and Tuolumne Rivers goes beyond water conservation. The floodplains here act as a shock absorber for flooding.

"So when snow melts and water is gushing off the mountains down here to the bottom of the valley, floodplains like this one act as a sponge and they just take all that flood water and they let it soak into the ground so it can be used later in the dry times," explained Rentner.

After more than a decade of work and millions of dollars in funding, Dos Rios has restored a booming ecosystem for salmon, rabbits, and migratory birds.

Stanford University global water expert Buzz Thompson said that provides a benefit for all.

"Increased biodiversity provides a variety of ecosystem services, that to the degree that we restore habitat, that that restored habitat can do everything from reducing flood risks, to sequestering carbon," said Thompson. 

Hagman has embraced the shift, knowing it will restore land viability for future generations.