Healthy Lands & Healthy Economies NATURAL CAPITAL IN SANTA CLARA, SANTA CRUZ, AND SONOMA COUNTIES The Healthy Lands and Healthy Economies Initiative This report is part of the larger Healthy Lands and Healthy Economies Initiative. A joint project of the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority, the Resource Conserva- tion District of Santa Cruz County, and Sonoma County Ag + Open Space, the Healthy Lands and Healthy Economies Initiative seeks to describe the economic value and community benefts of the natural and working landscapes of these three counties. This report and associated technical reports are available on the websites below. For content permission and reproduction inquiries, please contact one of the agencies below. Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority: www.openspaceauthority.org/HLHE Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County: www.rcdsantacruz.org/healthy-lands-healthy-economies Sonoma County Ag + Open Space: www.sonomaopenspace.org/HLHE SUGGESTED CITATION: Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority, Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County, Sonoma County Ag + Open Space. (2018). Healthy Lands & Healthy Economies: Natural Capital in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Sonoma Counties. Santa Clara Valley Open Space Resource Conservation District of Sonoma County Ag + Open Space Authority Santa Cruz County Sonoma County Ag + Open Space permanently The Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority con- The mission of the Resource Conservation District of protects the diverse agricultural, natural resource, serves the natural environment, supports agriculture, Santa Cruz County is to help people protect, conserve, and scenic open space lands of Sonoma County and connects people to nature, by protecting open and restore natural resources through information, for future generations. spaces, natural areas, and working farms and ranches education, and technical assistance programs. for future generations. This Initiative is funded in part by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, and the California State Coastal Conservancy. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS • Tony Linegar (Sonoma County Agricultural (Sonoma County Ag + Open Space) Advisors: Commissioner) • Andrea Mackenzie and Jake Smith • Kelley Bell (Driscoll’s Berries) • Daniel Mountjoy (Sustainable Conservation) (Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority) • Tom Birdsall (Basin Street Properties) • Melanie Parker, Steve Ehret, and Scott Wilkinson • Karen Christensen, Chris Coburn, and Sacha • Dick Cameron (The Nature Conservancy) (Sonoma County Regional Parks) Lozano (Resource Conservation • Sue Conley (Cowgirl Creamery) • Kate Reza (Reza Environmental) District of Santa Cruz County) • Caitlin Cornwall (Sonoma Ecology Center) • John Ricker (County of Santa Cruz • Jim Robins (Alnus Ecological) • Grant Davis, Jay Jasperse, Susan Haydon, Environmental Health Services) and Don Seymour (Sonoma Water) • Ellie Rilla (UC Cooperative Extension) Contributors: • Ken Fischang and Tim Zahner • Rose Roberts (Farm Stewards) • David Batker and Rowan Schmidt (Sonoma County Tourism) • Tom Robinson (Bay Area Open Space Council) (Earth Economics) • Andy Fisher (UC Santa Cruz) • Chris Spohrer (California Department of Parks • Barbara Wyse and Travis Greenwalt • Joan Florsheim (UC Santa Barbara) and Recreation) (Highland Economics) • Tom Gandesbery, Trish Chapman and Kate • Jef Stump (Marin Agricultural Land Trust) • Elena Besedin (Abt Associates) Goodnight (CA State Coastal Conservancy) • Dan Winterson (Gordon and Betty Moore • John Reid and Aja Heisler • Mike Hopper (Santa Cruz Port District) Foundation) (Conservation Strategy Fund) • Gary Knoblock (S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation) • Samantha Young (Technical Writer) • Dave Koehler, Wendy Eliot, Amy Chesnut, Project Team: • Jim Downing (Jim Downing Consulting) Bob Neale, Sheri Cardo, and Ralph Benson • Bill Keene, Karen Gafney, Misti Arias, Sheri • Tom Kavanaugh, Tyler Young, and Tim (Sonoma Land Trust) Emerson, Indigo Bannister, Jen Kuszmar, Jacob McSweeney (The Idea Cooperative) • Bryan Largay (Land Trust of Santa Cruz County) Newell, Sara Press, Amy Ricard, and Alex Roa Overview In the San Francisco Bay Area, we have a deep appreciation for our natural open sequestration, recreation, public health benefts, and many others. The natural spaces and working lands, in other words, our natural capital. We value the capital of these lands can be fnancially quantifed to understand how our natural intrinsic scenic beauty, community character, ecosystem health, and recreational environment contributes services to our overall economic well-being. opportunities that these lands provide. The Healthy Lands and Healthy Economies Initiative is a regional collaboration, led Protecting natural areas has a very real, tangible efect on our local and regional by the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority, the Resource Conservation District economies and the health of our communities. Open space and working landscapes of Santa Cruz County, and Sonoma County Ag + Open Space, that was formed to provide a variety of services and benefts to our communities, including clean address these questions: air, fresh water, storm and flood protection, food and fber materials, carbon • What benefts and economic values are provided to the community, region, and state by natural areas and working lands? • What is the return on investment from conservation investments to date? • What are innovative, economically sound fnancing mechanisms for conservation of natural areas and working landscapes? Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. SONOMA NAPA Foundation, and the California State Coastal Conservancy, the Healthy Lands and Healthy Economies Initiative works with economists to demonstrate how SOLANO community investments in protecting agricultural and natural areas enhance the local economy and provide cost efective ways to achieve community benefts such as clean drinking water, flood control, and local food security. This multi-year project MARIN includes a broad array of local, state, and federal partners to develop a suite of tools CONTRA COSTA and recommendations to help decision-makers better understand and evaluate the multiple benefts and economic value of our natural and working lands. SAN FRANCISCO ALAMEDA Regional SAN Collaborators of MATEO the Healthy Lands & Healthy SANTA CLARA Economies Initiative SANTA CRUZ Table of Contents Introduction What is Natural Capital? 2 Santa Clara County 4 Santa Cruz County 6 Sonoma County 8 Ecosystem Service Valuations 10 Recommendations 30 Closing Statement 32 TABLE OF CONTENTS • 1 INTRODUCTION What is Natural Capital? Nature has immeasurable intrinsic value. As this report shows, it also provides services Increasingly, state and federal agencies are considering natural capital when that have real, quantifable economic values — values that are often ignored by assessing damages from disasters such as major floods and wildfres as well as the markets and can easily be taken for granted. role healthy natural systems can play in reducing the risk of such events. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), for instance, now considers the value of Natural capital includes natural landscapes like forests, oak woodlands, wetlands, the services provided by natural floodplains when conducting cost-beneft analyses rivers and streams; working landscapes like farms, ranches; as well as urban parks of flood control proposals.2 and open spaces.1 It encompasses soil, water, and air, as well as plants, animals, and microbes. Applying economics to natural and working landscapes is challenging. But more studies each year show that protecting open space is a smart investment, and that The list of services provided by natural capital is long. It cleans our water, controls protecting the principal — our working and natural lands — will pay dividends to us floods and erosion, provides habitat for fsh and wildlife, pollinates plants, controls and to our descendants, building an enduring natural legacy for our communities. pests, sequesters carbon, removes pollutants from the air, creates space for outdoor recreation, attracts tourists, and ofers us beautiful views and scenery. With ongoing stewardship, natural capital won’t wear out or need to be upgraded — unlike built infrastructure such as a floodwall or wastewater treatment plant. While built capital is typically designed to serve a single purpose, landscapes provide multiple valuable services. A floodwall delivers only flood protection, whereas wetlands and floodplains provide flood protection, fsh and wildlife habitat, groundwater recharge and fltration, and carbon sequestration. The diversity and resilience of natural systems will be more and more important as the climate changes, with altered precipitation, temperature, and flood patterns likely. If managed well, natural capital has the potential to adapt and change, continuing to deliver substantial returns on investment from natural and working landscapes. Critical decisions about land use and conservation are often made based on calculations — explicit or implicit — of the costs and benefts of protecting landscapes. Accounting for the economic value of natural capital helps to ensure that those decisions are made strategically and wisely. 2 • INTRODUCTION An example of natural capital investments at work: New York City saved residents more than $8 billion in water quality infrastructure by investing in natural capital3 INTRODUCTION • 3 INTRODUCTION Santa Clara County Understanding