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San Luis Obispo supervisors adopt voluntary Fallowed Land Registry to curb Paso Basin pumpage
Summary
The Board of Supervisors on Feb. 3 approved a voluntary Fallowed Land Registry (the Miller program first phase) to encourage growers to reduce irrigated acreage and track results with satellite ET data, amend the county Ag Offset Ordinance and adjust Williamson Act rules to protect participants' tax and planting rights.
The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors voted Feb. 3 to establish a voluntary Fallowed Land Registry as the initial phase of a Multi‑benefit Irrigated Land Repurposing Program (MILLER) designed to reduce groundwater extraction in the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin.
County groundwater director Blaine Raley presented the registry as a primarily voluntary tool that lets landowners register a “farming unit” (a contiguous or semi‑contiguous set of parcels managed as one operation) and designate at least two acres to be fallowed. Raley said the program will use satellite‑based evapotranspiration (ET) data for annual verification and asked the board to amend the county’s agricultural offset ordinance and Williamson Act rules so enrolled properties are not penalized for temporary fallowing. “We wanted to give the grower all the flexibility possible to make those decisions … and still result in a reduction in groundwater extraction,” Raley…
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