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Draft 10/8/99 <br />Natural History and the Natural <br />Heritage Program). Much of the <br />information contained in this <br />Inventory has been superseded <br />in recent years by further work in <br />natural areas/wildlife habitat and <br />historic sites, but it remains a <br />source for cultural sites that <br />serves as a basis for further <br />research. <br />E. Land Evaluation and Site <br />Assessment (LESA) Program <br />for. Farmland Evaluation <br />(Orange County Agricultural. <br />Districts Advisory Board,. <br />1992) <br />As a part of the County's efforts <br />to develop a farmland <br />preservation program in the early <br />1990's, the Agricultural Districts <br />Advisory Board worked with <br />Planning and Soil and Water <br />staffs to develop a method to <br />rank and assess prime farmland <br />based on the- LESA model. The <br />-LESA model was developed by <br />the US Department of Agriculture <br />in 1981. The program was <br />developed to `make objective- <br />ratings for agricultural land <br />suitability.' It uses a land <br />evaluation rating system to rate a <br />.tract's soil potential for <br />agriculture. The program also <br />takes into site assessment factors <br />such as location, access to <br />market and- adjacent land use. <br />A summary of this model and <br />how it was envisioned for ..use in <br />Orange County may be found in <br />:Section IV and as Appendix D. <br />F. Water Supply Watershed <br />Studies <br />In the past 12 years, the status <br />of four of the County's 10 water <br />supply watersheds has been <br />evaluated through creation of a <br />watershed study technical report. <br />The watersheds that have been <br />studied (along with-date and. <br />study client) are: <br />• University Lake Watershed <br />(1988, OWASA) <br />• Little River and Lake Michie <br />Watersheds (1988, City of <br />Durham) <br />• Cane Creek watershed (1996, <br />OWASA) <br />A fifth watershed, the Upper Eno, <br />is currently in the midst of aless- , <br />technical evaluation that may <br />nonetheless involve <br />recommended water quality <br />protection strategies. <br />These watershed studies offer a <br />variety of technical data, as well <br />as recommendations for not only <br />land use controls but programs <br />for land acquisition to protect <br />water quality. The Cane Creek <br />Study, in particular, has a heavy <br />emphasis toward land purchase <br />programs for riparian buffers. A <br />map of water supply watersheds <br />is found as Appendix E. <br />8 <br />