This article was written by BenitoLink intern Meghan Lee. Lea este artículo en español aquí.
Since the San Benito Agricultural Land Trust began overseeing Soap Lake Ranch in 2014, it hasn’t been open for visitors. That changed on May 17 when the Ag Land Trust hosted a tour of the property. Guests learned about the wildlife, hydrology and indigenous peoples who lived on the site while hiking the 3 mile-long loop around Tequisquita Slough.
Soap Lake Ranch is operated as a ranch with a conservation easement, which is a type of land use agreement. Typically, only limited or no development is allowed on a conservation easement. It’s a way to preserve both agricultural land and wildlife.
The Brigantino and Wolf families own the ranch and run the cattle on it together.
More commonly known as San Felipe Lake, the lake has a long history of human habitation. It was the site of a village called Poitoquix for thousands of years before Spanish missionaries colonized the area.
In the early 19th century, the Sanchez family acquired the area from Mexico’s land grant program. It got the colloquial name “Soap Lake” because the naturally high amounts of alkaline in the water were a good resource for soapmaking.
In the late 19th century, it was a portion of cattle rancher Henry Miller’s 750,000 acres of California rangeland. Later, the Cornwell family took over the property. The Wolf and Brigantino families purchased it in 2014 and put it into a conservation easement.
When the Brigantino and Wolf families set up the easement, it permanently preserved the area as agricultural land.
The May 17 tour served as a fundraiser for the San Benito Ag Land Trust (SBALT). While the property is not publicly accessible, the tour offered guests a rare look at the site’s resource management efforts.
San Felipe Lake and Tequisquita Slough —a series of ponds that drain into the lake are part of the easement. The area is a “seasonal wetland,” meaning it is drier in summer and fall and wetter in winter and spring. Because the area also has a high level of alkaline, which is a kind of salt, the plants and animals in the area are salt-tolerant species.
Michael Brigantino served as a tour guide. He noted that Soap Lake is a throughway for many migratory birds.
“I’ve seen more species of birds out here than anywhere else,” he said.
The easement encompasses San Felipe Lake, which is fed by Tequisquita Slough, Ortega Creek, and Pacheco Creek which drain out into the Pajaro River and are part of the Pajaro River Watershed. Because of this, the easement is also the site of major water resource management for both San Benito and Santa Clara counties. There are levees across the property controlling water access and flood management.
The tour also focused on the indigenous presence in the area. Ed Ketchum, a board member of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Land Trust and vice chair and tribal historian for the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, gave a presentation, in which he said that the Ausimas tribe occupied San Felipe Lake. In San Benito County there are numerous entities named after this same tribe also spelled “Ausaymas”.
According to Ketchum, there are archeological sites surrounding the lake indicating that Poitoquix was a permanent settlement. He also said that the area of ponds south of San Felipe Lake was called Welelismo, or “place of the salamanders.”
The tour ended with a catered lunch as well as a raffle. The San Benito Ag Land Trust currently oversees about 6,252 acres in San Benito County. During a speech at the lunch, land trust Executive Director Lynn Overtree said she hopes to increase that number.
“Our goal is to protect another 5,000 acres in the next five years,” she said.
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