For brothers Bruce and Rick Rominger, conserving the Rominger Ranch in Yolo County was never the end of their work on the land. It was part of their long-term commitment to caring for it and ensuring its future.
The brothers partnered with California Rangeland Trust to permanently conserve their ranch through conservation easements completed in 2018 and 2019. With their ranch protected from future development, the Romingers continue to own and manage it as a working landscape, with cattle grazing remaining an important part of how the land is stewarded. The stewardship also includes restoring native vegetation, which is helping improve wildlife habitat across the ranch.
Currently, the family is working to rehabilitate seven miles of riparian corridors on the ranch by seeking to reestablish native species, including California oaks. As the restoration work continues, cattle grazing remains an important part of the equation for how the family cares for the ranch. Well-managed grazing plays an important role in maintaining healthy rangelands by managing vegetation and reducing the buildup of wildfire fuels, while also supporting soil health, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, and the overall resilience of the landscape.
“We are working to vegetate it with species that would have been there before the Europeans settled and cleared the land,” said Bruce Rominger.
The Romingers have planted blue, live, and valley oaks, along with other native plants, including elderberry, manzanita, sage, and other rangeland forbs and shrubs. Oak trees specifically are a foundational part of California’s landscape, helping maximize ecosystem resilience and function, supporting biodiversity, and providing habitat for wildlife.
This work is long-term. As of now, most of the oaks are still too young to make a significant contribution to the ecosystem, but the Romingers are already seeing small changes, which give them hope for the future.
“We are seeing more grasses and ground cover come up, which has attracted more rodents and small reptiles to the area, and we should be seeing the oaks start to mature in the next five years,” Bruce explained.
Their commitment to oak restoration extends beyond their own efforts. They are also making their land available to support research on California oaks. Currently, they are working with the University of California, Davis and Point Blue Conservation Science to plant blue oak acorns from the San Joaquin region. The group’s research explores the decline of blue oak populations in California due to the increasing heat in the southern regions and the opportunity for relocating the seeds to wetter areas to help increase their numbers.
Caring for and improving the health of the land remains the goal for the Rominger family, while keeping it productive for both agriculture and the ecosystems that depend on it. Their stewardship reflects a long-term approach to the ranch’s future. Although they may not see the full effect of their work in their lifetime, the conservation easements held by the Rangeland Trust will ensure the land remains protected as the trees grow, allowing the ranch to remain both a working landscape and a place where California native oaks and restored habitat can take root for future generations.
California Rangeland Trust is a nonprofit, tax-exempt charitable organization (tax identification number 31-1631453) under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
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