Exploring Land Use in the San Joaquin Valley

Who decides how land in the San Joaquin Valley is used? How do those decisions affect our lives? What can we do about it? Those queries were the overarching theme of an environmental and land-use reality tour sponsored by the San Joaquin Valley Media Alliance and the Community Alliance newspaper on April 26.

A few dozen interested and curious local folks piled into two vans for the daylong excursion to explore four diverse terrains. Its purpose was to understand the ecological deterioration of the Valley through the prism of those distinctive landscapes.

The event harkens back to the legendary Seminar in Reality tours organized by George Ballis and the National Land for People organization from the late 1970s into the early 1980s. They organized busloads of interested people, reporters and political figures to the Valley’s west side where they could see for themselves the large-scale factory farms owned by a handful of growers made profitable through taxpayer-subsidized irrigation conveyances and water deliveries.

Much of the landscape operated in violation of a federal law that placed a limit of 160 acres on the size of farms that could use subsidized water. That paradigm of the Valley’s western flank was contrasted to the countryside of smaller, self-reliant family farms along the eastern side of the Valley.

It was a chilly, rainy spring day as the reality tour headed out to Yokuts Valley, a fitting landscape to begin our educational journey. It is a place where geography itself became a battleground, as activists, politicians and federal courts clashed over what is in a name. When the federal government banned the offensive S-word being used for the name of places across the country, nowhere was the conflict as intense as here.

Right here in what is now Yokuts Valley on every map. It turned out that way because of the tireless effort by Roman Rain Tree, a local Native American man. His work to organize other concerned locals made it happen despite efforts to sideline the name change by the Fresno County Board of Supervisors. The residents withstood the controversy and eventually won in federal court.

Rain Tree greeted us with a song and prayer, saying, “It’s up to us at present to maintain it, to develop and cultivate that relationship, to pass that relationship on to not only our physical relationships but also the spiritual relationships that emanate from the trees, the rocks.”

He explained the inspiration for his quest. “I started off the journey of renaming it from the former pejorative to Yokuts Valley because we are located in what was the most populated place in all of America, where tribes have had their treaties not ratified.”

For Rain Tree, history was a driving force in seeking truth and change. “In essence, America got the land and the housing, the education, the healthcare and everything else that was guaranteed. It was treaties that never made it to those native people. Never made it to their descendants.

“And so, the journey for me has always been very spiritual. I don’t really say I’ve done anything but merely show up for work. The creator made these opportunities and has allowed me to step into these opportunities.

“I always say all praises to the creator, but it’s only possible by being in a relationship, by getting to know people, by sitting down and talking and learning your story, as well as sharing my own story.”

His conception for a possible future goes further than a new name for the community. “We are trying to form a tribal land trust.” Rain Tree talked about a possible county ballot measure to raise funds to purchase land and create a land trust devoted to tribal uses.

“It just needs a majority vote. And a land acknowledgement tax can fund a tribal land trust. So now we can actually build and put native people in power to create a tribal museum where our students and non-natives can go and learn, where we can create an intertribal youth center complete with ceremonial grounds.”

In wrapping up, he welcomed help in bringing such a concept into reality, “You are not just helping native people, but you’re setting a precedent all across America. It would be the first publicly funded tribal land trust anywhere in this country. So hopefully we can reconvene, reconnect, and we can all be a part of history in a positive way.”

From foothills to flatlands, the next destination was the Sweet Girl Farm on the outskirts of Reedley. Liset Garcia grew up locally but did not intend to become a farmer. After graduating from UC Merced with a degree in molecular science she headed south to graduate school at USC with her sights set on medical school and becoming a physician.

After suffering a serious accident, Garcia came back to her parents’ farm in Reedley and began to change her vision. “Once I started to get involved here at the farm, my goal was to introduce different things besides the things my parents already grew.

“The property itself is 20 acres. Throughout the years, we have leased land where either the farmer or property owners have retired or have no clue how to farm.”

It is a busy and complex operation, she indicates. “We grow at least 30 different varieties of fruits. Stone fruits are like a big portion of it. Grapes are another portion.

“And then we’ve also left another space that is for flowers and vegetables. That’s where I’ve come in and kind of persuaded my dad to let me do that on my own.”

Now it is an oasis packed with boxes brimming with seasonal fruit and vegetables, along with a wall display of beautiful floral bouquets.

She used part of her parents’ farm to begin Sweet Girl Farms. “My parents have their own entities so that they can keep doing their business, whether they do wholesale and farmers markets, which is a majority of their business revenue. My revenue comes from the farm stand and different events that I now do.

“One of the things that really piqued my interest once Covid hit was how to either be organic or regenerative ag, with no-till type of farming methods.”

After reading books, watching podcasts and attending workshops on progressive farming tech, Garcia started applying those lessons on her farm. It took a lot of hard work and patience, she says, gesturing around the farmers market she created.

“I transformed this into my experimental patch. This is where I have implemented no-till. So, we’re kind of standing on it too. As you can see, I have a lot of wood chips on the ground. Underneath that, there is a cardboard layer.”

Like many others in the Valley who have farmed or gardened, Garcia encountered a tough nemesis finding that necessity is the mother of invention. “This entire area was covered in weeds and Bermuda grass. So, my first year and a half into farming, half of the time I was just weeding.

“I wasn’t harvesting, I wasn’t enjoying it. I just couldn’t picture myself spending that much time and just taking care of weeds. So that’s why I also dove into learning how to practice regenerative ag methods.”

Like most farmers in the Valley, water is a big issue. And like many others, they were hard hit during the extended droughts of recent years.

“There wasn’t any water,” she recalls. “It was really hard. We lost a lot of our crops, and we witnessed it as it was happening. We couldn’t do a lot of normal things like washing clothes, using the restroom and showering.”

Other water issues remain, she notes, like the need to conserve groundwater use in the coming years, while trying to manage surface water efficiently.

Heading west, we pass through the patchwork of farms, small businesses, the occasional convenience store, past the farmworker town of Parlier to Highway 99, that throbbing artery of the industrialized San Joaquin Valley. Approaching south Fresno, a welcome sign is obscured by the surrounding junkyards, farm equipment dealers, truck lots and all manner of industrial support services.

Our destination is Hyde Park in the southwest corner of the city, tucked in between residential housing, industrial plants and the few remnant patches of farmland. Formerly a landfill, the park now serves as one of the few public open spaces around here.

We were greeted by Ivanka Saunders, policy coordinator for the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability. She knows well the challenges of living in the south Fresno industrial sacrifice zone, and from her professional work addressing the environmental and health consequences that industry has brought.

We gather under a spreading tree for shelter from the falling raindrops. Nearby, Saunders points out the shuttered meat rendering factory run by Darling International. She recalls that after operating for some 50 years, it was finally closed in 2023 after decades of neighborhood complaints about the disgusting odor.

“All of your streets that move into West Fresno, the carcasses of the cattle, horses, anything that was dead was brought into and processed here. We all know how hot Fresno and the Valley gets, and that stench is then just brought through the communities on residential streets. There’s no way this would have been stood for in any other part of Fresno.”

There is still a Foster Farms chicken factory operating close by, but Saunders jokes ruefully that at least the trucks are loaded with live animals and not dead ones.

Judging from what Saunders described, industrial expansion in south Fresno is not likely to slow down. “They call it the industrial triangle because it is that space between the 41 and the 99 that crosses over by Central and North avenues.

“That area originally was farmland. It was citrus and country homes. We have seen that land is an asset, not a crop.

“You have a lot of farmland that is now, because of the drought, out of water. How are we going to keep our assets and our profit? And so, a lot of these farmlands have switched to development.”

It is part of a larger agenda, Saunders emphasized, to industrialize the Highway 99 corridor with warehouses, distribution centers and other enterprises. “In the grand scheme of California, you also have the Governor and everyone wanting to see inland ports and how to move that into the Central Valley.”

That is already evident with the runaway construction of warehouses, bringing increased truck traffic along with air quality and safety problems to surrounding residents. State agencies are contributing to the problem with Caltrans proposing a massive new highway interchange to facilitate even more truck traffic flowing through.

Rosa Depuy lives in the county but adjacent to the city of Fresno and shares the same burdens as her city neighbors. “We were impacted with the traffic, light pollution caused by all the new development. I started going to these meetings that the Leadership Counsel started putting on.

“And in my area, we were running out of water. All the homes are on wells.”

Those meetings became an agent of change, she said. “Because of participating in the meetings, we’re going to be connected to the City water. It is still a process and it’s going to take years, but now we’re all hoping that our wells do not dry in the meantime.”

Saunders added that in Depuy’s community the water wells are saturated with arsenic and TCP. “A lot of these had high concentrations of chemicals because Amazon and the City had the ability to dig deeper into the ground for their wells. And then you have little residential wells that are just drying up or concentrated with chemicals.”

Working with the Leadership Counsel their neighborhood got the City to cough up a community benefits fund, Depuy announced. “Hopefully, all homes should benefit from that fund. And that any new development will then be able to get new funds to help the community with mitigating the issues on their homes with pollution, light, landscaping and to help with all those issues.”

Saunders illustrated why this collaborative process has achieved results. “The great thing about this conversation and this community that we’re building right now is in our specialty.

“Like little honeybees in the background, we are doing the research, doing the legal fights. We will bring some heavy-duty policy stuff to Rosa. And then we break it down and ask her community what they want to see out of this.

“That is really where I think we’ve moved forward together with residents. I think your voice and our expertise in a legal space is a perfect mix.”

The San Joaquin River landscape framed the background for our final land-use discussions. The elegant River Center, a beautifully recrafted 1890s farmhouse, was the venue for wide-ranging discourse about challenges that the overworked and beleaguered river faces right now.

One of those challenges is adequate public access for all. It is a concern for Jose Eduardo Chavez. He is a board member of the San Joaquin River Conservancy, a Madera planning commissioner and an intercultural ambassador who builds bridges between immigrants and civil society.

“When we talk about land use,” Chavez says, “I always go back to my experience as an immigrant. Outdoors are expensive. So, folks in my community, indigenous communities and the recent migrants don’t have access.”

Chavez indicated that issues such as lack of transportation and entry fees could make it less likely some people will come.

Criticism is not new to the San Joaquin River Conservancy. Created by the state legislature in 1992, it is overseen by three counties and 10 different agencies. The goal is to create a public access greenbelt from Friant Dam to Highway 99.

That was, and is, an ambitious objective. Managing and coordinating all that cannot be easy. There have been successes, like the federal and state effort to reinhabit Chinook salmon in the river. Recreational opportunities and trails have opened as well.

However, the Conservancy board has recently been criticized for its silence regarding the controversial expansion of the CEMEX gravel quarry in the river bottom.

Sharon Weaver is executive director of the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust. It is a land trust and nonprofit group. She stresses that while they are not the same as the Conservancy they work together.

“We have a lot more flexibility in what we can do. And to some extent, that is part of what makes us good partners.

“The state agency has been able to receive funding through all the bond acts that we have passed since the year 2000. Which is great. And that has helped us build the parkway. It has helped us do restoration projects. It has helped us build improvements on the parkway.”

But Weaver and her organization are not shy about opposing the CEMEX attempt to continue mining for another century. They have organized communities that generated massive public response against the mining plan.

“The effort by CEMEX to expand their plant and continue their permit for a hundred years with the 600-foot-deep pit right next to the river has all kinds of potential impacts. Including impacts to the flows on the San Joaquin River, impacts to local groundwater wells in addition to air quality impacts that would come from blasting and drilling the additional truck traffic. There are all kinds of challenges with that.

“And since the Fresno County Board of Supervisors is the decision-maker on that project, and they tend to be very friendly to industry, we’re a little bit concerned about how that’s going to work out if it goes forward.”

Gregory Weaver’s detailed and perceptive reporting covers a broad landscape. His writing in Fresnoland has exposed the flaws in the CEMEX expansion plan and the impending disaster that awaits the river should it ever come to pass. As chief environment and development correspondent for the online news magazine, “we face this global problem of climate change. I think that the typical way that land-use matters have been thought about is that Fresno can’t approve more new development.”

He was talking about one of the most expansive and contentious residential developments in recent history, the Southeast Development Area Specific Plan, or SEDA. The project he describes is a 45,000 home mega-development that would extend Fresno’s sprawl nearly to Sanger.

“I’ve been writing about that for a year, and one of the big problems is the City plans to cut 591,000 tons of CO₂ emissions by the year 2030 or 2045 to meet the state’s climate goals. Well, they did not factor in this SEDA project, which will increase the emissions by 559,000 thousand tons.”

That project, in part due to Weaver’s reporting, is likely to be scaled way back after losing important support.

Weaver warned about an unsustainable future, “Fresno County just had the greatest economic run in its history. It will never be repeated.

“Tech money supplying our healthcare and educational sector, which makes up 50% of our employment. An almond boom that was based on unregulated groundwater use, which will be gone in the next 20 years.

“These are the sort of commodity booms that have delivered money to us. And what happened? Well, all these wages were eaten up by landlords. Something like 50% to 70% of Fresno’s renters are rent burdened.”

Huron is a small town amid a vast farming landscape. Rey León was born and raised there. He graduated from UC Berkeley specializing in public health. Coming back to town, he has put that education to work in many ways.

“In 2002, I started my air quality policy and environmental justice work with the Latino Issues Forum, a policy and advocacy institute based out of San Francisco. I continue to do that work as a founder and executive director of the Latino Equity Advocacy and Policy Institute, or LEAP.”

Since 2016, León has been the mayor of Huron, where his father, a bracero farmworker, arrived at 14 years old. An orphan arriving undocumented from Mexico, he came to Huron the same year that it incorporated and became a city in 1951. After becoming mayor, León initiated numerous projects to improve the quality of life for residents.

Those include safer crosswalks, solar street lighting, a community garden and an EV ride-sharing service for locals without cars. A plan is in the works for a civic plaza that would also serve as a multimodal transportation center. New and affordable apartments have been built.

Significantly, the complex task of building a local high school is moving forward, if slowly. It has been a Huron dream for a long time.

Looking toward the future and thinking about young people, León wants the city to become a magnet for green technology education and employment. Even a nature preserve on donated land is in progress. Those are just a few of the ideas being spun out in the little city with a can-do attitude. It was a fitting conclusion to a whirlwind journey of exploration, enlightenment and community engagement.