On a crisp but clear Friday morning in February, students, teachers and parents from Tres Pinos and R.O. Hardin Elementary schools tumbled out of school buses and mini-vans, and walked along a dirt road bordering a field of yellow mustard blooms, near the San Benito-Santa Clara County line. They had arrived at Gonzales Ranch, a 165-acre working cattle ranch owned by the Nature Conservancy, where they would spend the entire school day getting their hands (and in some cases knees) muddy in an effort to restore wildlife habitat to a degraded stretch of the Upper Pajaro River.
This was one of four consecutive days of field trips coordinated by STRAW (Students and Teachers Restoring a Watershed) , a program of Point Blue Conservation Science. The STRAW program supports teachers and helps kids connect with nature in partnership with ranchers and farmers. STRAW has coordinated restoration plantings with schoolchildren on private ranches in northern California for more than 20 years, but the Gonzales Ranch is STRAW’s first project in Santa Clara and San Benito counties.
While the Nature Conservancy has been working with landowners and agencies in the region for decades, this is their first environmental education program in the area. Ownership of the Gonzales Ranch property will soon be transferred to a rancher who will run a grassfed beef operation alongside the restored river corridor.
As the group arrived at the riparian restoration site, they were welcomed by STRAW and Conservancy staff and asked to share their observations about where they were standing. The word “riparian,” the students were reminded, refers to the area adjacent to a river or stream — in this case, a narrow stretch of the Pajaro River, with farmland on both sides, but no stream bank vegetation other than weeds.
Next students were given a brief refresher on watershed science (“All the rain that falls right here will eventually reach the ocean”), the importance of agricultural lands for people and nature (“Cattle and crops grown here become our food”), and the multiple goals of the Conservancy’s Gonzales Ranch restoration project.
“It’s no coincidence that we brought you right here to this exact spot in the Pajaro River floodplain,” explained Conservancy biologist Sasha Gennet. She pointed toward mountain ranges visible on either side of the flat expanse of farmland and told students that many species of mammals and birds that live there need to cross the floodplain in search of food, mates, nesting space, and new home territories. “Right now you can see there is not much shade or cover for them to make that journey safely.”
Gennet also described the role of the floodplain in helping water to spread out, slow down, and soak back into the ground, thereby reducing the risk of flooding to cities downstream such as Pajaro and Watsonville.
Kathleen Pollett of the US Fish & Wildlife Service Partners for Wildife Program explained how her agency helped pay for a special fence that runs along both sides of the wide planting area. “We fenced the river corridor to protect the new plants, but we designed it so that wildlife can pass through it anytime, and the rancher can let the cattle in every once in a while to graze the weeds – like natural weed control,” she said.
The students were treated to a lively “how-to” planting demonstration by a duo of STRAW technicians that played out more like a campfire skit than a classroom lesson. The demonstration covered safety and tools, as well as how to identify the right plants for each spot, scraping weeds with a hoe, digging the hole, planting at the right depth, mulching with cardboard and burlap to prevent weeds and conserve moisture, and for those plant species which might be tempting snacks for wildlife or cattle, installing temporary wire cages to protect them in the first few years of growth.
“We know your parents and teachers will really want to help you do the work today, and they would probably do a pretty good job,” STRAW technician Grace Crain advised the students before releasing them into small teams to begin planting, “But we really believe that you can do it all yourselves, and you will do great.”
This youth-led approach appealed to RO Hardin parent chaperone Maria Mares Castro, an employee of Swank Farms. When asked what she thought about the field trip, Castro considered for a moment, “I think that this is what most of the parents do – this is our work.” She then added with a smile, “It’s good for the children to see how hard people work.”
“Plant inspection!” was the rallying cry when each team of students thought they were ready to have their work inspected by STRAW staff before proceeding to the final steps of installing mulch and wire cages. Occasionally, the students were asked to make a small adjustment, such as tamping the soil down more evenly. As the morning wore on, though, most groups passed inspection every time, and their satisfaction was obvious.
In 2015, more than 200 elementary students and parent volunteers from schools in Gilroy and Watsonville participated in STRAW-led restoration planting days at Gonzales Ranch, but none from San Benito County. Tres Pinos sixth- and seventh-grade teacher Nancy Wilcox observed the planting days last year and jumped at the chance to sign up her students for the field trip in 2016.
“Our school chose to participate because it provides an opportunity for our students to apply classroom skills in an outdoor arena,” she explained. “I can hear them doing their math out here right now—it’s so great!” Wilcox grinned broadly as she gestured toward a group of students huddled around their planting holes.
“Just as important,” Wilcox continued, “Maybe even more important — they are developing cooperative learning skills, learning to listen and follow directions.” Wilcox believes the day will have a lasting impact on her students because “they will be able to monitor the project using Google Earth, and years from now they will see how they have improved their own watershed.”
R.O. Hardin fourth-grade teacher Angela Hagins signed up for the field trip after STRAW staff held a meeting at her school last spring. Hagins said she and her school’s principal appreciated the watershed lesson that STRAW delivered in her classroom one week prior to the field trip, because it tied into her grade-level science curriculum.
“We are studying erosion and deposition in our earth science unit right now, and I can see my students are making those connections out here.” Hagins’ class was one of four R.O. Hardin classes which participated in the restoration during the week.
During the closing circle on an increasingly warm afternoon, both pride and fatigue was evident on the faces of the elementary students and their chaperones. When asked by STRAW facilitators if they thought they did a good job, there was a resounding cheer in the affirmative. “How do you know?” the students were asked. A bunch of hands shot up around the circle. “Because it was really tiring!” moaned one Tres Pinos student. “Because I got really dirty?” volunteered a 4th grader from RO Hardin. “I know!” interjected her neighbor, “Because we used good teamwork!”
On Saturday, students from San Benito High School’s Outdoor and Bioscience clubs and Advanced Placement Environmental Science Class, along with some younger students from the Pacheco 4-H Club joined in the restoration activities at the Gonzales Ranch.
“The morning was cold and the ground was muddy, but that didn’t stop our group of students,” said SBHS teacher Chip Gauvreau, who is also the advisor of the Outdoor Club. “They worked hard and were an inspiration. Even though many of our students are really involved with clubs, class offices, sports teams and AP coursework, they got up on a day off and worked hard. The work they did will help out now and for years to come.”
At the end of four days, a total of 167 San Benito County students, teachers, parent volunteers, and community members participated in the restoration, planting a total of 186 native trees, shrubs and grasses at the site. STRAW Restoration Project Manager Jennifer Benson said she hopes the STRAW program will grow in the Pajaro Watershed area, as interest builds. That seems likely, as schools are already booked for the next round of planting days at Gonzales Ranch in late March 2016.
San Benito educators, ranchers, farmers, and others who would like to volunteer or observe the March 2016 planting days at Gonzales Ranch, or find out about future opportunities to partner with STRAW on a restoration project on a private ranch or farm, can contact Jennifer Benson, at jbenson@pointblue.org or (707) 781-2555 ext. 305.
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