Managing Three New Properties!
We are excited to announce that our grazing management for 2015 has expanded to three additional properties, which is a total of 1,037 acres, all located on Sonoma Mountain in Petaluma! Our Grassland Managers enjoyed working with the three property owners/managers to ensure that everyone’s vision of having cattle graze on their property were in alignment. This first year on the properties was about learning the landscapes, their ecology, water resources and topography so that we can figure out how to best manage them moving forward. Below is a little bit of information about each of the new properties we are now managing with a word or two from their managers. If you are interested in following the grazing results any further, please know that the monitoring data for this year will be available to you soon. The results can be found under the management locations tab on our home page.
The Mitsui Ranch is the largest piece of property we have recently added to our management portfolio. It is owned by the Sonoma Mountain Ranch Preservation Foundation whose board members, Chuck Mitsui and Robert Edmiston, have been a delight to work with. The ranch is managed by talented biologist Jeff Wilcox who oversees the monitoring, and restoration efforts on the property with a focus on birds, plants, and amphibians. Jeff has been very helpful all season with logistics in a variety of settings. The property is 632 acres of beautiful landscape that includes: three ponds, wooded areas, mostly gentle rolling topography, and a good amount of quality grass that has had a decent amount of rest over the last year. Jeff had this to say about the project: “The SMI folks use cattle in a way that mimics the selective pressures under which grasses evolved; large numbers of cattle graze a small area, but for a short time. This way, many mouths compete for the same plants, causing cattle to be less selective. Also, cattle are moved before they get a chance to take too many bites of one plant, preventing overgrazing. This method restores grasslands, builds soils, soil nutrients, and increases the water holding capacity of soils. Better soils grow better grass, and the cycle gets stronger. Perhaps most important, is the quality of the people at SMI. The grassland managers are easy to work with, have collective experience and talent beyond their years, and they work very hard…with grace. Their ability to adapt to the changing landscape through the season and move the cattle for forage quality reasons or water supply reasons is impressive.”
Mitsui Property
The Pangea Property covers 128 acres and is owned by James and Sophie Gray, who have been fantastic people to work with. The Grays have made this season much more logistically possible for us as they have supported us by providing water for grazing at both the Mitsui and Walsh properties, in addition to their own Pangea property. The landscape has beautiful views of Sonoma Valley and has a lot of potential for increased biodiversity. Their caretaker, Pete Perez, was also extremely helpful logistically while we were grazing on Pangea, and on the Walsh property next door.
Pangea Property
The Walsh Property is a total of 280 acres, owned by the County of Sonoma, and is managed by Bert Whitaker through the Sonoma County Regional Parks Department. Walsh has not been grazed in 15 years and the dominant species found on the property are invasives and thistles. However, the cattle are eating a good amount of the thistle and we are excited to see what biological changes will come next year from this year’s grazing. We hope, in the non-grazing season this year, to better develop the water resources on Walsh. The water distribution system there was limited, thereby making it more difficult to get the density and impact we would like. When we asked Bert about his experience in working with us at SMI his response was: “We are so pleased this innovative partnership has developed with Sonoma Mountain Institute inspiring property managers near the summit of Sonoma Mountain to cooperate and work towards developing a sustainable organic cattle operation that balances the needs of ranchers while achieving critical grassland restoration.”
Walsh Property
In addition to implementing regenerative grazing methodologies on the three properties, our team at SMI helped all three of these properties get certified Organic through CCOF, and registered through the CDFA. Also new for SMI was that our grazing management service was also certified organic through CCOF! These certifications are imperative in meeting the needs of the Certified Organic cattle we use from various local ranchers.