a rather short-sighted notion

in some places, if a rare plant is found to contain a cancer drug; the land owner who preserves the plant gets a nice royalty

Hugh,

I had a client sign up for the WHIP program...it was nothing but a pain in the ass for him. Nothing they had him do ever worked and he had to keep re-planting, etc...just not worth it IMHO.
Have you looked in to some form of Scenic Easement. I know Cali is not as good as VA when it comes to state tax credits etc...but you would get the Fed deduction... it might have some benefit...
Here is another program that might work:

Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program | NRCS

Jim

Double Post...

If you do do a scenic easement...PM me. I do this as part of my job/business in VA and have some slick (and Legal) ways to get the diminished amount on the appraisal doubled, etc...all with benign stuff...I would be glad to share...

Jim

Hugh, does putting down concrete or asphalt count as development?

I'm seeing private kart track land...

If I do anything, it will only be for ten years, that is about when I'll move. I don't want to permanently tie up the land. A developer once told me the housing tract that I'm in (25 Houses) would be worth much, much more if we tore up the CC&Rs and sold all the houses to a developer. There are 25 houses on around 100 acres in the middle of a very developed area with tract houses.

Jim, thanks for the tip. I plan on doing as little as possible for as much money as possible. I don't want to spend money so I can get money. But if they'll kick in 75% of something I need to do anyway, like trimming riparian oak trees, or brush control, I'm interested.

This is getting better by the page...