Multibenefit Land Repurposing Project - Tule Subbasin
About the project
This toolkit aims to facilitate strategic land retirement, restore habitat, and protect and enhance water resources throughout the critically overdrafted Kaweah Subbasin in a manner that meets regional economic, environmental, and social needs. The toolkit was developed collaboratively with participants in California’s Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program (MLRP), which aims to repurpose irrigated agricultural land to reduce groundwater extraction while providing multiple benefits.
This toolkit integrates existing spatial data layers using a Web-based, open-source
package (Shiny R) to assess the suitability of land for repurposing. We created
six land repurposing suitability indices for (1) enhancing groundwater recharge,
(2) minimizing negative impacts to the agricultural economy, (3) increasing renewable
energy production, (4) increasing wildlife habitat restoration and conservation,
(5) mitigating local flood risk, and (6) reducing environmental health risks in
disadvantaged communities.These indices (or subsets) can be combined as weighted
averages to create user-specified multibenefit scenarios. The resulting output can
be inspected locally to screen prospective land parcels based on their repurposing
potential, or holistically to prioritize specific areas in the context of regional
land repurposing strategies.
Project Partners
- Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District (KDWCD)
- Valley-Eco (consulting firm)
- East Kaweah GSA
- Greater Kaweah GSA
- Mid-Kaweah GSA
- Self-Help Enterprises
- Sequoia Riverlands Trust
- SocioEnvironmental & Educational Network (SEEN)
- UC Merced
Data Sources
Listing of datasets and methods used in the Toolkit is available at https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2025.1539834
Created by
- Yelenka Nuñez-Bolaño - UC Merced
- Humberto Flores Landeros - UC Merced
- José M. Rodríguez Flores - UC Merced
- Angel Fernandez Bou - Union of Concerned Scientists
- Josué Medellín-Azuara - Sierra Nevada Research Institute | UC Merced
- Thomas Harmon - Sierra Nevada Research Institute | UC Merced
Contact
Yelenka Nuñez-Bolaño (ynunezbolano@ucmerced.edu) Thomas Harmon (tharmon@ucmerced.edu)
