It’s up to volunteers if they want to work one or both days, said Susan Long, executive director of the trust. But having between 20-40 people each day “will make the volume of work to be completed in the two-day period feasible.”

The event is sponsored by The Nature Conservancy and River Partners, two organizations that the trust has partnered with on similar projects.

“Volunteers can expect a lot of walking. It’s a great way to get your steps in,” Long said. “This event will allow us to capture baseline data that will be used over the term of the project to determine its success. At some point we will need to collect the same data again so that we can see how much growth we have gotten over that period of time.”

The marginal soil and reliance on groundwater made the property a good candidate for conversion from farmland to a restoration project, funded by a grant from the Bureau of Reclamation. The parcel is adjacent to Pixley National Wildlife Refuge.

Related Story: Costa’s Bipartisan Bills Boost Funding for Recharge Projects

SGMA Land Repurposing

The project is an example of land repurposing shepherded by the trust that will become more common throughout the San Joaquin Valley as the region adapts to groundwater restrictions under the  Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), which mandates aquifers be brought into balance by 2040.

The trust’s goal is to fallow less productive land and save its associated groundwater for both farming and the ecosystem.

“It is a great opportunity to learn why agriculture and conservation go hand in hand,” Long said.

Wildlife Seen at Capinero Creek

The native grasses will establish an alkali scrub habitat for threatened and endangered species such as the blunt-nosed leopard lizard and kangaroo rats.

Long said staff have already seen lots of wildlife at Capinero Creek, including another endangered species, the San Joaquin kit fox.

“We encounter insects, birds and other animal life,” she said. “We have seen a bald eagle, kit fox, coyotes and squirrels. It is rewarding to me to know that my work is contributing to a larger purpose and conserving our natural environment.

The Tule Basin Land & Water Conservation Trust was formed in 2020 by area farmers and water managers intent on finding solutions to the region’s groundwater woes that didn’t involve massive and random shuttering of productive farmland.

The project site is located within the Pixley Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA), one of several GSAs the trust is working with in the Tule subbasin, which is critically overdrafted. The subbasin was placed on probation in September by the state Water Resources Control Board for lacking an adequate groundwater management plan.

To volunteer: Susan Long, executive director of the Tule Basin Land & Water Conservation Trust, (559) 362-059, or email susanlong@tuletrust.org.

About the Author

SJV Water Reporter Lisa McEwen grew up in Tulare County. She has reported on agriculture and other issues for a wide variety of publications, including, Ag Alert, Visalia Times-Delta, the Fresno Bee and the Tulare and Kings counties farm bureau publications.

About SJV Water

SJV Water is an independent, nonprofit news site covering water in the San Joaquin Valley, www.sjvwater.org. Email us at sjvwater@sjvwater.org.