The Schank Family has been farming in the Lahontan Valley now for four generations, and three of those generations have been involved in local politics working just as hard to preserve agriculture as they’ve worked at farming. The original ranch was bought in 1939 by Roy Schank, when his son Cyril was nine-years old. Cyril grew up to run the ranch and served as a Churchill County Commissioner. His son Ernie Schank has farmed the place his whole life, serving on the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District board for 24 years before turning over the reins to son, Abe who serves on the TCID board currently.
Ernie Schank welcomed Captain Evan Morrison of NAS Fallon, County Commissioner Pete Olsen, and several other local leaders to his farm recently to thank them and recognize the efforts of the community to preserve agriculture land and family farms through a conservation easement program that was begun back in 1994.
“Part of the reason we’re able to keep these farms in the family is the reason that we’re here today,” said Schank. The family finalized a placement of a conservation easement on what used to be the Kent Ranch, located east of Fallon near the corner of Harrigan and Highway 50, this May.
Churchill County has partnered with the Navy in their Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration program (REPI) to preserve nearly 8,000 acres in farmland, to the tune of $15.6 million invested. The Navy pays 90% of the cost to purchase easements from willing sellers to preserve critical areas near military installations and “mitigate encroachment pressures” that support the military mission of the base.
“In 1994 we were struggling and wanted to sell off part of our land,” said Schank, “and we had some land that would make good lots for houses. At that time the county had a planned unit ordinance and as a part of that had some provisions for “cluster developments.” He said he worked closely with Eleanor Lockwood who was the county manager at the time, to help develop what would eventually become the conservation easement program. In 1999 Schank signed with the county the first cluster development in Churchill County designed to preserve 60 acres of green space and allowing for four lots that would be on the edge of the property, not infringing on the agriculture. “This was a way to preserve agriculture, green space, and provide a little extra cash to stay in ag,” said Schank.
A couple years later, according to Schank, Brad Goetsch, Stu Richardson, and staff from the Navy approached him to work on details of the conservation easement program which would allow development rights to be purchased for cash, with the county and Navy acting as partners to protect land around the runways.
Captain Evan Morrison spoke at the event saying this is a “good news” program that is a great way to forge a local partnership with the community. “Encroachment is real,” he said. “This program will help us avoid the history of San Diego, Point Mugu, and other bases where encroachment by developers has almost made it impossible for the navy to perform their function.”
He said all the local governments have to sign off on the purchases, from the City, Fish & Wildlife, the Truckee Carson Irrigation District, and the Fallon Tribe. “We want to make sure it’s not something that causes concern to anyone and we lock up the area under the flight pattern.” He also said the program Transfer Development Rights part of the program makes development rights available to transfer from areas around the base and the flight pattern to areas where the community has determined development is desirable.
Schank says the conservation easement program provides several benefits to the community including protecting agriculture and the rural way of life that has created the “Oasis of Nevada,” keeping water in the valley that provides for recharge of the underground aquifers, and allowing families to keep their farms and their farming way of life. It also keeps the water in production, protecting the overall health of the Newlands Project and TCID.
The benefit to the Navy, according to Morrison, is protecting the Navy operations. “We can’t accomplish much without the support of the local community, and this program cements those relationships,” he said.
With over 70 easements secured and protected by the conservation program, County Commissioner Pete Olsen, said the program is a great benefit to the community as a whole. “The water recharge from agriculture benefits every person in the community and we look forward to doing more of these.”
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