To view the Agricultural Lands Assessment Fact Sheet, click here To view the Agricultural Map, click here The Agricultural Lands Assessment identifies lands that are the most valuable for agriculture, including farming and forestry practices. The goal of this map is to understand the location and condition of lands that support or could potentially support farming and forestry practices throughout the region. The working group focused on the economic productivity or profitability of agricultural lands in this assessment. They agreed that the single most important determinant of whether lands will stay in farm or forest use is their income producing potential for the landowner. If its agricultural operations are not economically viable, a farm will cease to be a farm. Because the primary focus of this assessment is the economic viability of Agricultural Lands – other services provided by these natural systems are not covered in this assessment. For example, in the Agricultural Lands Assessment, forests are assessed based on the potential to support timber production and other forestry practices, and not on their capacity to provide habitat or produce clean water. These other functions of forests are assessed in the Wildlife Habitat and Biodiversity and Water Quality Assessments. Soils were identified as the single most important landscape characteristic that determines if the land is suitable for farming or forestry practices. The presence of an existing farm or forestry operation was the second most important indicator of suitability for agriculture. The work group agreed that if an operation was functioning, then multiple characteristics must be present (i.e., soils, vegetation, slope, positive economic factors, etc.). The Agricultural Lands Assessment will be used to help create the regional green infrastructure network by overlaying it with the other 2 primary assessments (Wildlife Habitat and Biodiversity and Water Quality) and the Recreation and Cultural Resources data map. The Agricultural Lands Assessment will help to identify opportunities for corridors, linkages, and buffers between incompatible lands uses.
|
| Assessment Work Group Members National Resources Conservation Service – Madison County NCSU Cooperative Extension – Madison, Transylvania and Henderson Counties NC Division of Forest Resources NCSU Mountain Horticultural Crops Research & Extension Center NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources Ag Land Preservation Consultants (Tom Elmore and Jon Bonham) Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy Warren Wilson College Economics Department The Biltmore Company USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project UNCA Department of Economics Buncombe County Soil and Water Conservation District Land-of-Sky Regional Council |
Interested in learning more about Green infrastructure planning? Check out these upcoming training Conservation Fund A Strategic Approach to Conservation Planning Using the Green Infrastructure Approach GIS Tools for Strategic Conservation Planning |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| A Project of Land-of-Sky Regional Council 339 New Leicester Hwy. Asheville, NC 28806 ph: (828) 251-6622 fax: (828) 251-6353 |
| Linking Lands and Communities in the Land-of-Sky Region Creating a framework for conservation and development that respects community values and natural systems |