In the Wild: Dulles Hanula and Nicole (Nico) Naylor at the California Department of Conservation

Dulles and Nico, recent graduates from the Environmental Policy and Management program, partnered together to work on their practicum with the Division of Land Resource Protection at the California Department of Conservation (DOC). They compiled a database of every county’s policies related to mitigating the loss of agricultural lands to development.

During his time in EPM, Dulles focused on Sustainable Agriculture and Water Resource Management. With undergraduate degrees in International Political Economy and Political Science from Fordham University, Dulles worked in public relations and campaign management before becoming a graduate student at UC Davis in 2024. With a deep passion for California’s nexus of agriculture and water resources, Dulles hopes to translate his past experiences and background in policy and economics into the next stage of his career. 

Nico specialized in Conservation Management and Environmental Data Science. Their undergraduate degree was in Biology, with minors in Chemistry and Art Studio, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Nico has a strong scientific background, working within laboratory sciences, and a deep passion for interdisciplinary work, inspired by outreach positions and creative work. Nico hopes to take their scientific background and apply those skills to a future career in conservation.

Starting Fall of 2025, Dulles and Nico dove into their practicum with the California Department of Conservation (DOC), under the supervision and mentorship of Monique Wilber. With California being one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world, urban sprawl has become a major threat to agriculture-based areas in the Central Valley and around the Bay Area. The main aim of the project was to identify which counties across California have specific policies, often called agricultural mitigation ordinances, that protect farmland from being converted to other uses. For counties that have legal ordinances protecting farmland, some opted to use a ratio-based mitigation system, meaning for each acre of farmland converted developers would have to ensure a given amount of land remains in agriculture. For example, 2:1 mitigation ratio means for each acre of farmland you convert, you must set aside 2 acres of equivalent value or pay fees in-lieu of mitigating the lost land. Agricultural mitigation varies widely throughout the state, from the specific ordinances in Yolo County to the lack of farmland in San Francisco. Their work will be used to centralize this information in one accessible location and to serve as a baseline overview of the current state of agricultural mitigation in California. 

“I truly enjoyed the experience of getting to know the differences between all of the California counties’ ordinances, especially with the guidance of our mentor, Monique. The value of conserving land in California cannot be understated!” -Nico

By compiling legislative code and general plan data in this spreadsheet, they were able to build a broader narrative of where and why these ordinances and ratios are being used, while also providing the DOC with a comprehensive list of policy data relating to how counties make land use decisions related to agriculture. Through this, Dulles and Nico created two GIS maps to spatially visualize how these ordinances are being used across California. These maps are included in the overall executive summary, where they provide some potential reasons for why and where these ordinances are being used, along with policy recommendations to strengthen the state’s farmland protection standards. 

This culminated in a presentation with the Department of Conservation on February 12th, 2026, to members of the public and relevant stakeholders. You can reach out to Dulles Hanula or Nico Naylor to access this database.

Dulles and Nico gained valuable experience in understanding the connection between land-use regulation, zoning, and agriculture, especially in the Central Valley. If we care about securing the livelihoods of rural farmers, understanding how policies shape land-use decisions is a crucial first-step. 

“I have honed my skills through this project to continue impacting how we use and conserve agricultural resources in the decades to come.”  - Dulles Hanula