
	San Diego County is very agriculturally productive, thanks to a mild, sunny climate. Common crops include: tomatoes, citrus, leafy greens, squash, broccoli, herbs, tree fruits like peaches and lemons, berries, honey, and peppers. There is a substantial market for organic community supported agriculture food in the San Diego area, with many local organizations having lengthy waiting lists. Organic eggs and milk are also popular. Many organic farms also provide tours of their agricultural operations as well as access for hiking, birdwatching, and other recreational activities. This is the type of operation that would allow the landowner to gain the benefits of government programs while improving habitat, thus allowing recreational use and creating an opportunity for farm tours and other programs for making money or for educational purposes.  
	In addition to filling a potentially lucrative niche market, the benefits of organic farming often include greater biodiversity in plants and wildlife in the area thanks to a lack of chemicals in the soil and water. However, organic farming has greater costs than conventional farming in some ways. It requires more intensive labor and management to remove pests and weeds and fertilize the soil without chemicals, and losses are often greater than with conventional methods, while a small organic farm also lacks the efficiency of scale of large operations. Practices not related to organic farming but beneficial to wildlife may also incur greater labor costs, including planting cover crops, strategic grazing rotation, invasive species removal, and active management of plant growth to provide specific conditions such as edge habitat or patches of open ground. Thus, there are many reasons why the landowner in this example might seek financial help or expertise in maximizing both profits and habitat quality.  
The land chosen for this scenario is a parcel adjacent to the town of Potrero, in unincorporated San Diego County, California. It is 160 acres of chaparral, nonnative Mediterranean grassland, and oak woodland next to to the Cleveland National Forest. It lies in the East County Southern Foothills ecoregion of the San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Plan. The plan is still being reviewed, but presently considers over a hundred species of plants and animals. Many are endangered, such as the Stephens' kangaroo rat, the mountain yellow-legged frog, several species of butterfly, and the California gnatcatcher; others are declining and may soon be listed, such as burrowing owls.
	This area was inhabited by Native Americans for untold centuries and was then settled by cattle ranchers and cordwood sellers in the late 1800's. This piece of land was part of an original homestead patent and so was probably used for grazing and/or wood production for many of the intervening decades.
	 chose a piece of property from a real estate website and researched available government programs to see what options a small farmer might realistically have for mitigating costs and preserving wildlife-friendly operations.  As a model of what somebody farming this land might attempt to achieve, I located an organic farm in the same area. 