A city (or county) is not an accident but the result of coherent visions and aims

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Specific information must be shared with groundwater agencies. The 
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA)
 allows 
local jurisdictions to customize groundwater plans based on their specific needs. Discussion of water should analyze water needs 
for domestic, agricultural, ecological and industrial uses, and provide for the conservation of water supplies and protection 
of aquatic ecosystems as a beneficial use. Land use choices affect water demand long into the future. When evaluating the 
feasibility of possible land use patterns, cities and counties should work with water agencies to consider projected available water 
resources under a changing climate, and water conservation measures to ensure a sustainable water supply, rather than simply 
Natural Resources as Nature’s Benefits; Greenprints and Conservation
A conservation element can include a quantification and explanation of the benefits that the community obtains from 
their surrounding ecosystems. Communities’ well-being depends on the benefits that nature provides for free, every day and 
everywhere. For example, we depend on ecosystems such as forests and wetlands, for clean water, fertile soils, food, fuel, storm 
protection, minerals and flood control. 
These benefits, often called “nature’s benefits,” are commonly categorized into four broad categories. Provisioning benefits 
include the production of food and water, while regulating benefits include the control of climate and disease. Supporting 
benefits include nutrient cycles and crop pollination. Lastly, cultural benefits include spiritual and recreational opportunities. 
To help inform planning decisions, these benefits can be 
assigned economic values
, values that measure other non-monetary 
benefits to the community, and values that demonstrate the benefits gained when various natural resources mutually reinforce 
each other. These benefits and services can be expressed in a “Greenprint,” such as those developed under the 
federal sustainable 
communities initiative
, which can help local governments to analyze and plan for these cross-cutting and community-supporting 
benefits in their general plan updates and apply innovative and successful strategies for implementation. For more information 
on ecosystem services see 
http://www.fs.fed.us/ecosystemservices/
http://www.nature.org/science-in-action/ecosystem-services.xml 
deferring to water agencies to meet any projected demand. Jurisdictions may want to form joint committees to synchronize 
planning timelines between water and land use, coordinate with local 
integrated regional water management plans (IRWM)
, 
consider using watersheds as their planning area, or explicitly acknowledge their relationship to an existing watershed. Smaller 
urban development footprints (i.e. concentrated development) protect and enhance the watershed, improving water supply, flood 
management, and water quality. The 
California Water Plan
 currently projects diminishing reliability in water supplies of 3-5% 
in the next twenty years. Existing water sources may also become less reliable due to climate change and development. The 
conservation element is inextricably connected to the
 land use
 and 
open space
 elements. 
The decision in 
County of Amador v. El Dorado County Water Agency
 helps to further clarify the relationship between 
availability of water and development: “in determining whether and where to permit development, a county must necessarily 

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consider the availability of consumptive water supplies. If additional water supplies are available, growth and development 
are feasible. Conversely, if that water is not available, growth is necessarily limited.” The Government Code and Water Code 
additionally require water supply districts to prepare water supply verifications and assessments for some large-scale projects, 
including subdivisions of over 500 dwelling units (
Gov. Code § 66473.7)
). When amending its general plan, a jurisdiction 
shall coordinate with any public water agency pursuant to 
Government Code section 65352.5
 to analyze available water supply 
information and identify adequate water for anticipated growth. Additionally, 
Urban Water Management Plans
, where required, 
rely on build-out data from general plans, highlighting the importance of consistency and communication between agencies. 
For specific projects, the water supply verification comes at the final approval stage of project development, and a subdivision 
cannot be approved if adequate water supplies do not exist at this stage. (
Gov. Code § 66473.7(b)(1)
).
National Flood Insurance Rate Program maps
,
 dam failure inundation maps
, information available from the 
California 
Department of Water Resources
, 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
, the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency
 and historical 
data on flooding all provide useful information for identifying flood-prone areas for floodwater management purposes. Aspects 
of floodwater management must also be addressed in the 
land use
 and 
safety
 elements, and local governments may want to 
consider combining these discussions in their general plans (
Gov. Code §§ 65302(a), 65302(g)(2)
). The Government Code also 
provides further requirements on development in flood hazard zones as defined in 
Government Code section 65007(d)
 in the 
Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley (
Gov. Code §§ 65302.9
,
 65860.1
,
 65865.5
,
 65962
, 
66474.5
). 
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Intent of Analysis
Recommended Data
Assessment of existing and projected demands on water supply sources Inventory of quality and boundaries of watershed, aquifer recharge 
areas, groundwater basins, and other water resources
Risk assessment for flooding
Flood maps
Examination of ability to align policies, zoning, and goals regarding 
housing built
Number of housing units allocated through SCS 
Assessment of potential housing developments
Documented interest by developers and landowners
Forests
Requirement Description:
The conservation element must provide for the management, enhancement, protection, and potential modification of the 
current agroforestry practices for wildlife protection, watershed protection, recreation, and aesthetic purposes. Possible topics to 
address include protection of oak woodlands and urban forests, analysis of possible future development within resource areas, 
the need for suitable and predicted-to-be suitable habitat management for the mitigation of climate change, precipitation 
retention for watershed management and attenuation of flood waters, aesthetics, cultural use, commercial value of forests, and 
protection of timber resources subject to timberland production zoning (
Gov. Code § 51104(e-g)
; 
51110-51119.5
)
California’s forests are valuable assets and their conservation provides many benefits to the natural and built environments. 
As trees grow and develop, their value to the forest ecosystem and climate change mitigation increases. Older trees sequester 
significantly more carbon than young trees and are necessary for nutrient cycles for nitrogen and phosphorous. These nutrients 

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