Wildfarmers eyes expansion, hopes to double in size

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Paicines conservation group Wildfarmers is aiming to expand its property holdings in their efforts to better protect a dwindling blue oak population.

The group is looking to acquire 40 acres of land adjacent to its current site. 

The property sits to the east of Wildfarmers’ lot and would allow the organization to further its core mission to protect the blue oak and provide habitat for native wildlife.

But the group must raise $225,000 to purchase the land.

Wildfarmers Executive Director Veronica Stork said, “This property featuring significant wetlands and meadow habitat presents a once-in-a-generation chance to double our protected landscape, expand our restoration laboratory and permanently secure a critical wildlife corridor in San Benito County.”

Stork told BenitoLink, “Acquiring this land would not only double the replenishment of the aquifer but it will quadruple it as it has a lowland space the water naturally flows into.” 

The property is drawing interest from multiple buyers so Stork feels “time is of the essence.” 

According to the organization’s website, one part of its mission is to restore blue oak habitats in San Benito County in an effort to support thriving wildlife populations and reconnect people with wilderness through stewardship, land acquisition and outdoor education.

Stork noted in a recently published news release that the acquisition directly advances the nonprofit’s mission, including:

• Active restoration: Doubling the organization’s blue oak restoration footprint, expanding its living laboratory from 40 to 80 acres of actively stewarded habitat
• Wildlife habitat: Adding significant wetland and riparian features—rare in the landscape—providing year-round water sources and dramatically increasing wildlife habitat diversity and resilience
• Wildlife corridors: Creating a continuous, protected wildlife corridor enabling species to migrate, forage and breed across a larger unfragmented landscape
• Community connection: Expanding capacity for overnight camping and immersive wilderness experiences, deepening the organization’s Wilderness Reconnection program and bringing more people into direct relationship with wild places
• Strategic land acquisition: Land acquisition is explicitly named in the organization’s strategy. Stork said “this is exactly the kind of acquisition we envisioned: contiguous, restoration-ready and permanently protective

Stork describes the organization’s current 40-acre site as a living laboratory “demonstrating that active stewardship can increase blue oak sapling survival up to 400%.” According to Stork, an adjacent parcel would mean Wildfarmers could scale its techniques, generate stronger data comparing managed vs. unmanaged zones and develop restoration models applicable across California’s 3.3 million acres of blue oak habitat.

The wetlands on the neighboring property add a new ecological dimension to Wildfarmers work, she said. Vernal pools, seasonal marshes and riparian corridors support amphibians, migratory birds and invertebrates. Integrating wetland stewardship alongside the oak woodland would allow Wildfarmers to demonstrate whole-watershed restoration Stork said.

To learn more about Wildfarmers go its website.

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