It’s a fairly simple project with a pretty big goal.
Take a stretch of open river land that’s been used for farming and ranching for more than a century, build a fence and plant some trees, and create a safe passageway for wildlife to travel between two mountain ranges.
The Nature Conservancy launched the project two years ago on a 165-acre piece of property it acquired on the Pajaro River in northern San Benito County. Partnering with other conservation organizations, area school districts and a local rancher, the conservancy carved out a 16-acre restoration corridor, set up a wildlife-friendly fence and began planting oaks, willows, sycamores and more than a dozen other native trees and shrubs.
The overall goal was to create a forested riparian corridor that provides cover for wildlife to traverse the open space between the Santa Cruz Mountains in the west and the Diablo Range to the east. A riparian corridor is a plant community made up of vegetation growing near a river, stream, lake, lagoon or other natural body of water.
On a warm, sunny morning in late February, Abigail Ramsden, project manager for The Nature Conservancy, and rancher Allan Renz met up at the conservancy land near Shore Road and the Santa Clara County line. Standing next to his pickup truck surrounded by a sea of bright yellow and deep green mustard grass, Renz stated the obvious: Spring had sprung early in the Central Coast.
Renz, 31, a fifth-generation Hollister rancher, leased the property from the conservancy the past two years for grazing land for his cattle. He’s one of a network of talented ranchers who partner with conservation organizations like the conservancy for access to the one thing they don’t have – land, Ramsden said. He also has a passion for protecting and restoring the environment.
“He’s really progressive and active; he’s all over the county,” Ramsden said about Renz. “He’s one of those young, progressive, hungry guys who doesn’t necessarily have the land of his own, is getting started but is trying to take those first steps.”
In turn, ranchers like Renz are important to conservation projects. Their grazing cattle help control the growth of dominant species like mustard grass, which choke out native species if allowed to grow unchecked.
“From a cattle and ranching standpoint, you want a hybrid mix,” Renz said. “You want to graze it to a point where you have a healthy mix of everything not just one species.”
The same is true with the Pajaro River riparian corridor, which was in dire need of a good grazing on that beautiful February morning. Renz had not been able to turn his cows on the property due to heavy December rains that turned the pasture into a mud bog. Lease negotiations with The Nature Conservancy also held him up, but he hoped to get some cattle in there soon.
“They need to come in and graze this for a limited time,” Renz said. “If you don’t manage it … what business is not managed? It’s the same thing with farming and ranching.”
Renz’s contribution to the restoration project wasn’t limited to managing the grazing land. He also helped build the riparian fence along the corridor, worked on the irrigation system set up by the conservancy and removed a fence that blocked a culvert.
“It was made of hog panels, built to prevent cows from getting under and running away,” Renz said.
The hog panels were replaced with the riparian fence, which is much lower than the standard cattle fence and made with smooth wire rather than traditional barbed wire. Renz said the riparian fence works well as an interior fence for cattle but allows wildlife to get through. Almost immediately after the old fence was taken down, a surveillance camera set up at the project caught a bobcat strolling through the culvert.
Nobody was really thinking of conservation when they installed infrastructure such as the hog-panel fence, Ramsden said.
“It’s amazing how quickly wildlife respond to something so small as changing the fence. Studies show that there’s awesome wildlife over there and a little bit over there but not that much crossing,” she said, pointing to the bright green east and west mountain ranges. “We’re not trying to say we’re fencing this off as a stronghold for nature, we’re saying nature needs permeability. We can have a fence here that allows us to manage this area.”
Part of that management includes planting native vegetation along the corridor. Restoration projects normally plant only the species that used to exist in the area, but scientists came up with the idea of planting a wider variety – a total of 15 species – in hopes of insuring greater success in the midst of unpredictable climate changes and other environmental influences.
“We don’t know what’s going to work so we’re planting a wider variety of stuff in hopes that some things will be successful and that they’ll also be providing shelter and food to the animals at a broader time of year,” said Ramsden, examining a small sapling protected by a wire cage. “We’re trying to plan for uncertainty. What can we do here to make this particular landscape more resilient to a change of climate?”
The first plants were put in along the corridor a year ago. The second phase of planting occurred in December with the help of a class of Watsonville second-grade students recruited by STRAW – the Students and Teachers Restoring a Watershed project. Earlier this month, students and teachers from Gilroy took part in the third planting day.
STRAW – part of the Bay Area Integrated Water Management Plan – networks with teachers, students, restoration specialists, landowners and managers, and other community members to work on habitat restoration projects like the Pajaro River corridor. Active primarily in the North Bay, East Bay and West Bay, STRAW is now extending its helping hand into the South Bay and Central Coast.
Educating children about conservation and getting them involved are integral parts of the river restoration project, according to Ramsden. Building that knowledge and creating people who think and care about their landscape from an early age is crucial, as those children will eventually grow up and become the movers and shakers of the world.
“Bringing the kids out here is one of those things that hopefully will stay with them throughout their lives,” she said. “Every time they drive by here they’ll feel a sense of ownership and they’ll see this place change. They’ll see the trees grow up and say, ‘I helped make that happen and I know why it’s important.‘”
Although San Benito County schools have not yet signed on to help with the project, Ramsden hopes to get them on board for the next phase of planting.
“Let’s see if we can get more school kids to work in their landscape in their county,” she said.
When the Pajaro River restoration project ends next year, the conservancy will eventually sell the property so they can take the invested funds and put them to use on another project. But the land will remain protected by the conservation easement.
“The riparian corridor will remain and we will continue to work with the new landowner,” Ramsden said. “We don’t want to get in the rancher’s way. The idea is to be as hands-off as possible … not to be a big brother but to be a good partner.”
Renz can vouch for the legitimacy of that idea. After working with the conservancy for two years, he’d like to continue partnering with the nonprofit agency dedicated to conserving land and waters. It’s been a good experience for him and he hopes to lease more conservancy-owned land in the future.
“I’m hoping for about a 100 more, “ said Renz, chuckling lightly as he walked to his truck, the lush grass and weeds falling under the weight of his boots. “We’re fortunate for what we have, but for now it’s a good starting point. They’re good people to work with, and I’ve learned a lot from them.”