Resource information
Land retirement is ceasing irrigation with the goal of reducing load, in general, of dissolved constituents and, in particular, of trace elements, present in subsurface drainage generated from irrigated lands. Retirement is achieved through a process of goal setting, strategy development and determining effects, developing land selection criteria, implementation, and monitoring. In this study, effects of land retirement are evaluated using hydrologic,soil and economic models as well as results from a field demonstration study. From the modeling and field monitoring, a process is developed to meet the goals of a land retirement program in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Potential negative effects listed for land retirement included loss of agricultural productivity, perhaps permanently, and loss of revenue to surrounding communities. Uncertainties included those associated with reuse of retired lands as wildlife habitat, with retired-land maintenance including dust control, with potential preservation of retired lands in reserve for future re-introduction to irrigated or dry-land agriculture, and with institutional changes concerning repayment of federal and state water contracts. Benefits would accrue from economic return to the landowner from the sale of property, the sale or lease of irrigation water supply, the reduced cost of handling drainage, and allocation of freed-up water to beneficial uses, and the reduced risk of selenium exposure to fish and wildlife. A recommended sequential approach to select and manage retired land is to identify primary objectives; formulate and implement area-specific land retirement scenarios; measure biologic, hydrologic, soils and economic consequences in the short term and the long term and manage and monitor retired lands based on dynamic biologic, hydrologic and soil conditions.
