For purposes of this chapter:

(a) “Amount of land converted to agricultural use” means those lands that were brought into agricultural use or reestablished in agricultural use and were not shown as agricultural land on Important Farmland Series maps maintained by the department in the most recent biennial report.

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(b) “Amount of land converted from agricultural use” means those lands that were permanently converted or committed to urban or other nonagricultural uses and were shown as agricultural land on Important Farmland Series maps maintained by the department and in the most recent biennial report.

(c) “Category of agricultural land” means prime farmland, farmland of statewide importance, unique farmland, and farmland of local importance, as defined pursuant to the United States Department of Agriculture’s land inventory and monitoring criteria, as modified for California, and grazing land. “Grazing land” means land on which the existing vegetation, whether grown naturally or through management, is suitable for grazing or browsing of livestock.

(d) “Department” means the Department of Conservation.

(e) “Interim Farmland maps” means those maps prepared by the department for areas that do not have the current soil survey information needed to compile Important Farmland Series maps. The Interim Farmland maps shall indicate areas of irrigated agriculture, dry-farmed agriculture, grazing lands, urban and built-up lands, and any areas committed to urban or other nonagricultural uses.

(f) “Important Farmland Series maps” means those maps compiled by the United States Soil Conservation Service and updated and modified by the department’s Farmland Mapping and Monitoring Program pursuant to Section 65570.

(g) “Local open-space plan” means the open-space element of a county or city general plan adopted by the board or council, either as the local open-space plan or as the interim local open-space plan adopted pursuant to Section 65563.

(h) “Open-space land” means any parcel or area of land or water that is devoted to an open-space use as defined in this section, and that is designated on a local, regional, or state open-space plan as any of the following:

(1) Open space for the preservation of natural resources, including, but not limited to, areas required for the preservation of plant and animal life, including habitat for fish and wildlife species; areas required for ecologic and other scientific study purposes; rivers, streams, bays, and estuaries; and coastal beaches, lakeshores, banks of rivers and streams, and watershed lands.

(2) Open space used for the managed production of resources, including, but not limited to, forest lands, rangeland, agricultural lands, and areas of economic importance for the production of food or fiber; areas required for recharge of groundwater basins; bays, estuaries, marshes, rivers, and streams that are important for the management of commercial fisheries; and areas containing major mineral deposits, including those in short supply.

(3) Open space for outdoor recreation, including, but not limited to, areas of outstanding scenic, historic, and cultural value; areas particularly suited for park and recreation purposes, including access to lakeshores, beaches, and rivers and streams; and areas that serve as links between major recreation and open-space reservations, including utility easements, banks of rivers and streams, trails, and scenic highway corridors.

(4) Open space for public health and safety, including, but not limited to, areas that require special management or regulation because of hazardous or special conditions such as earthquake fault zones, unstable soil areas, flood plains, watersheds, areas presenting high fire risks, areas required for the protection of water quality and water reservoirs, and areas required for the protection and enhancement of air quality.

(5) Open space in support of the mission of military installations that comprises areas adjacent to military installations, military training routes, and underlying restricted airspace that can provide additional buffer zones to military activities and complement the resource values of the military lands.

(6) Open space for the protection of places, features, and objects described in Sections 5097.9 and 5097.997 of the Public Resources Code.

(i) “Priority land” means any part, or all of a category of, agricultural or open space lands, identified by a local government in that local government’s agricultural land component of its open-space element or agricultural land element of the general plan, that are prioritized for conservation, taking into consideration the need to balance competing land uses.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 434, Sec. 4. (SB 732) Effective January 1, 2018.)