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Watershed protection & enhancement
Healthy functioning watersheds are vital for a healthy environment and healthy economy. Everyone relies on water and other natural resources to exist. Everything we do on the land affects our watersheds. Watersheds are complex, dynamic systems, containing various parts that continually adapt to changes in other parts. Small changes occurring in one part of the system can result in large changes in the overall system. Therefore, our everyday activities can greatly affect the health of our watersheds.
Napa County, along with communities across the nation, has recognized that the best way to protect our vital natural resources is to understand and manage them on a watershed level. Working at the watershed level is an effective and efficient way to sustain local economies and environmental health. Landowners, local governments, conservation organizations, and individual citizens all over the county are working together to find ways to maintain and improve the health of our watershed lands.
As the population of Napa County grows and development pressure increases, setting aside areas protected from future development is becoming increasingly important for preserving agricultural land, wildlife habitats, recreational sites, and scenic open space.
Protected lands account for 118,917 acres or just over 20% of the County. This includes federal, state and other public lands, and lands protected by The Land Trust of Napa County and other land conservation organizations.
Federally protected lands in Napa County include the 36,900 acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management (the majority of which lies within the Putah Creek Watershed) and 9,000 acres of lands surrounding Lake Berryessa managed by the Bureau of Reclamation. State protected lands include state parks such as Bothe-Napa Valley and Robert Louis Stevenson parks, forestry lands such as Las Posadas State Forest, and lands protected by the California Department of Fish and Game such as the Napa/Sonoma Marsh and Napa River Ecological Preserve. Some areas are protected and managed by city governments such as watershed lands surrounding Milliken and Hennessey reservoirs and some are permanent preserves protected by The Land Trust of Napa County, such as Connolly Ranch and Archer Taylor Preserve.
In addition to the permanent preserves, The Land Trust has worked with over 50 private landowners to preserve over 20,000 acres of land through conservation easements. A conservation easement is a beneficial voluntary tool used by landowners to protect their land while retaining ownership. It provides potential income tax savings and allows landowners to legally restrict future development on their properties.
Source: Napa County Resource Conservation District