Yolo Land Trust has added a new agricultural conservation easement to its conservation portfolio. Willow Slough Ranch is YLT’s 64th easement property and brings the total acres YLT has permanently conserved to 11,268 acres of farmland.
Willow Slough Ranch is located south of Woodland along County Road 102. One hundred eleven acres of Willow Slough Ranch will now provide permanent conservation of Swainson’s hawk foraging habitat, open space and prime soils that comprise nearly 100% of the farm.
Two branches of Willow Slough run through Willow Slough Ranch with Valley Oaks and other riparian vegetation lining the slough. As mitigation for Swainson’s hawk, the farm can never be planted in orchards, vineyards, cotton or rice, thereby preserving the ground for foraging by Swainson’s hawks and other raptors. The land will be farmed by a local grower in standard Yolo rotation of row and field crops, thus continuing the traditional use of this farmland. Trees along Willow Slough provide high-value Swainson’s hawk nesting habitat.
“Willow Slough Ranch conservation easement is an important acquisition for the Yolo Land Trust,” said Lynnel Pollock, President of the Yolo Land Trust. “It is strategically located along Willow Slough to the east, and on a busy traffic corridor on the west. Now all future generations will view the magnificent hawks soaring over the farm and perching in the trees along the slough.”
The southwest corner of the parcel (approximately 45 acres) is not restricted by the conservation easement, and is currently being planted in trees. Willow Slough Ranch is still privately owned and on the Yolo County tax rolls.
The City of Woodland will co-hold this conservation easement with the Yolo Land Trust. The Yolo Land Trust will annually visit the farm and conduct it’s monitoring to confirm the use of the farm conforms to the terms of the conservation easement. The Yolo Land Trust holds other agricultural conservation easements in the vicinity of Willow Slough Ranch.
