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California's Williamson Act, cattle ranch economics, and biological conservation
Potential sales of rangeland by household income category
![Potential sales of rangeland by household income category](/system/content_item_assets/images/2008/large/0801430_2013_sales_by_income.jpg)
Percentage of owned ranchland that respondents in different household income categories reported they would attempt to sell given elimination of the Williamson Act (n = 134). Green diamonds are the average percentage of ranchland to be sold; green lines show one standard error above and below the mean; orange points show actual data points spread out horizontally within each household income category. According to study author Dale Manning, "California ranching is a vulnerable, low-profit industry. Of those surveyed, 38 percent lost money, 19 percent roughly broke even, and 42 percent made a profit. Of the ranches that made a profit in 2009, 70 percent made less than $10,000. Thus, Williamson Act savings may make the difference between profit and loss for the majority of California ranchers.
Credits: Wetzel et al. 2012