In an emotional confession, Merrie told of her promise to Don’s father regarding the ranch. “I made a promise to his dad on his deathbed, because his dad, his mother, and I were close. I made a promise to him, before he passed with cancer, that I would work my best to keep this a ranch and carry on his wishes that he was already doing. I told him I would do it. He knew I would keep the promise.”
A bright, red barn embellished with the Certified Angus Beef, and Five Star Land and Livestock logos, greeted ranch tour visitors as they drove by pastures of black angus cattle onto Mark and Abbie Nelson’s property. As part of the California Rangeland Trust’s partnership with Raley’s and AT&T through the “Where Your Food Grazes and Grows” program, our last ranch tour of the year was nothing short of perfect.
What an exciting year it has been for the Rangeland Trust! With the support of our ranching partners, donors, and friends, we’ve hit a lot of milestones. Here are just a few highlights:
California Rangeland Trust has conserved more than 330,000 acres of land in its twenty-one years, a number we don’t take lightly. It is our responsibility to ensure the terms of each conservation agreement are being upheld and the land is well-preserved. We do this, in part, through an annual process called “monitoring.” where we visit each conserved property.
Before starting my new role as the Communications Coordinator for California Rangeland Trust, I traveled three hours from my home in Visalia to attend the PT Ranch tour in Ione. The tour was part of a larger series of unique on-farm experiences offered through the Rangeland Trust’s Where Your Food Grows and Grazes program.
In June, the Rangeland Trust brought together urban and rural communities at A Western Affair 2019 at Wente Vineyards in Livermore, California to celebrate our Western heritage and mutual love of land, legacy, and all things country.
Imagine generating enough clean energy on a ranch to power 100,000 homes. Thanks to a new solar project on the Jack Ranch in San Luis Obispo and Monterey counties, owned by the Hearst Corporation, a groundbreaking model of clean energy, innovative land management, and stewardship is creating 280 megawatts of green energy. Spanning 2,900 acres, the California Flats solar project was thoughtfully designed as an alternative revenue source for the ranch that is completely compatible with existing agricultural operations. California Rangeland Trust is proud to play a role in a venture that demonstrates the importance of rangeland and gives insight into the future of large-scale sustainability projects on ranches.
On Saturday, April 20, over 100 guests stopped to smell the flowers during a tour of the Keegan Ranch. Hosted by California Rangeland Trust and ranch owner Jim Keegan, the event was sponsored by Raley’s as part of the “Where Your Food Grows and Grazes” program. It is designed to bring the farm to-fork movement to life for children and families from both urban and rural areas, and it gives them a unique opportunity to connect to healthy food and the land and people who produce it.
From Tim Koopmann’s ranch in Alameda County, he has watched the city grow. A shadow encroaching on the green hills, urban expansion has scratched at his horizon as long as he can remember. His small stretch of land is 50 miles from San Francisco, between Livermore and Fremont, right smack in the middle of one of the state’s most rapidly-developing regions. He’s been fighting for these open spaces all his life, battling pressure from developers, declining cattle prices, drought, enormous tax penalties triggered by the deaths of his father and grandfather, and negative public opinions against grazing.
Conservation easements on the 2,502 acre Keegan Ranch and 1,547 acre Epperson Ranch add 4,049 acres to the existing 16,130 acre wildlife corridor in the valley – the already conserved Bear Valley and Payne Ranches. In collaboration with CRT, WCB and NRCS matched funds to conserve the two ranches.
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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