299 Swanton Road
Davenport, CA 95017
Central Phone: 427-1718
Product or service: Non-profit organization and educational institution that provides hands-on learning about sustainable resource management.
Award Status: Innovative Resource Management Model

Swanton Pacific Ranch (SPR), is a self-sustaining non-profit organization and educational institution that provides hands-on learning about sustainable resource management. SPR is run like a commercial ranching operation, with crops, grazing and forestry programs covering 80% of operating expenses. The remaining 20% comes from an endowment through Al Smith, a Cal Poly Alumni (and founder of Orchard Supply Hardware).

SPR serves the people of California as a part of Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo. SPR provides educational opportunities for K-12th grade, and college age and above. Agricultural programs provide education while incorporating sensitivity for environmental concerns.

The ranch has implemented a Community Supported Agriculture Program (CSA) that educates people about the source of their food supply, and generates funds by selling produce to community members while involving them in farming practices and events. CSA members volunteer through social functions, bringing them together with farmers. Excess produce is sold directly to farmers' markets and food stores so that no food is wasted.

This past year SPR hosted fundraisers for Santa Cruz Land Trust, SC Chapter of the American Red Cross, and the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project (MBSTP). In addition, SPR donates to organizations such as Farm Bureau, Agri-Culture, Save Our Shores, and the MBSTP.

Interns working and living at the ranch have as part of their responsibilities a community service component. Students learn how production costs and efficiencies affect the financial picture of the ranch. Programs are run by interns who select from projects they personally want to support, ranging from beach cleanup to trail maintenance to educational programs in local schools. SPR encourages creativity and innovation in the workplace by fostering close working relationships between faculty members and students, management and employees, through involvement in the local community and participation in a variety of local organizations related to farming, resource management and education.

Holistic management is practiced on the ranch with all projects and management efforts weighed in terms of the social, economic and environmental concerns and benefits. For example, in order to reduce the impact of the agricultural operations on Scott's Creek, the entire operation was converted to organic production. Forestry practices are managed in order to reduce the impacts of logging on other resources and to establish a biologically diverse logging area.

The ranch is a great laboratory for students to learn sustainable resource management because of the combination of local plant and animal resources.

Social Responsibility

Swanton Pacific Ranch has community relations as one of its main efforts. We participate in a number of community fundraising efforts each year. This past year the ranch hosted fund-raisers for the Santa Cruz Land Trust (over 850 people attended), the Santa Cruz Chapter of the American Red Cross (over 500 people attended), and the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project (over 100 people attended). All of these efforts were hosted as a donation to the organizations to assist them in their community outreach and fundraising efforts. In addition donations are made to a variety of organizations for fundraising efforts including Farm Bureau, Agri-Culture, Save Our Shores, and the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project.

Interns working and living at the ranch have as part of their responsibilities a community service component. Each intern selects the type of community service that they would like to be involved in, and the ranch assists them by providing this service time. Interns have been involved in various types of programs from beach cleanups to trail maintenance to educational programs in local schools to Gray Bears field gleaning to literacy programs.

The internal community is encouraged by treating all students and staff members with respect, by encouraging creativity in the work place, and by social interactions to help make the student/faculty and supervisor/employee relations more than normally found or expected. Local neighbors are introduced to the ranch employees and students through a series of community dinners where one neighbor family is invited to a ranch dinner on a regular basis throughout the year. Staff members are encouraged to become involved in the local community and participate in a variety of local organizations including board of director of the Farm Bureau, board of directors of Agri-Culture, Community Alliance for Family Farms, Lighthouse breakfasts, Focus Ag, Advisory Committee for Vocational Agriculture at Watsonville High School, Scott's Creek Watershed Council, and Blue Circle.

Professional development of staff is an important investment the ranch makes. Employees are encouraged to continue to improve their skills by attending workshops, conferences, and training programs that are relevant to their career paths. Examples of such training include Holistic Management Financial Decision Making, California Watershed Conference, Watershed Academy, Agri-concepts Low Cost Cow-Calf Production, Meat Goat Seminar, ACE Accountability Workshop, and the California Holistic Management Conference.

Environmental Stewardship

Swanton Pacific Ranch is a truly exceptional environmental resource on the north coast of Santa Cruz County. It is home to the Coho salmon, steelhead trout, California red-legged frog, snowy plover, golden eagle, peregrine falcon, California mountain lion, bobcat, coyote, and many other wildlife species. In addition the flora of the ranch is extremely diverse with over 400 species of California native plants identified on the ranch property. It is with the utmost of care and concern that resource management and agriculture are practiced at the ranch. The combination of resources and regulations in Santa Cruz County make the ranch a great laboratory for students learning sustainable resource management.

Holistic management is practiced on the ranch as a whole with all projects and management efforts weighed in terms of the social, economic and environmental concerns and benefits. In order to reduce the impact of the agricultural operations on Scott's Creek, the entire operation was converted from conventional row crops with high pesticide use to organic production. The fields will be certified by CCOF in three years. Forestry is practiced in the second growth forests with the goal of converting the even-aged forests which resulted from early logging to uneven-aged management. This management reduces the impacts of logging on other resources, especially the fragile watershed systems that support the Coho salmon and steelhead trout. Our practices have been reviewed by groups including the Sierra Club and Save-the-Redwoods League and viewed by them as exemplary in terms of minimizing the impacts of logging. Our grazing program is managed using a rest-rotation system to protect the native plants, especially the native perennial grasses. This system is actually thought to be the reason some of the native plants still thrive at Swanton, according to Gray Hayes from the California Native Plants Society. In managing our range area, we have fenced the livestock out of all ponds, springs, and riparian areas to prevent damage and siltation. This required extensive fencing and water development. The fencing protects critical habitat areas for wildlife on the rangeland, and the water systems are designed to provide watering stations for a variety of wildlife species.

We have participated in a number of projects to improve conditions in Scott's Creek and to monitor the conditions in the future. Included in these are restoration of the USGS stream gauging station, installation of three rated section flumes, longitudinal profile of Scott's Creek, Scott's Creek restoration project. All these projects are supported totally or in part from the operating funds of the ranch

One of the objectives in our strategic plan for the ranch is to "Operate Swanton Pacific Ranch as an exemplary, commercial ranching and forestry operation providing sensitivity to environmental concerns.


Economic Development

Swanton Pacific Ranch is an educational entity serving the people of California as a part of Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo. In this role we are providing educational opportunities about agriculture and natural resources management to a large sector of the population, ranging from k-2 school groups to high school groups to college age and beyond. We provide these to better educate people about the issues and concerns and promises of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

To better demonstrate these practices, All these programs are run with a sustainable approach and ethic. The income generated from the sale of products is used to cover the expenses of the educational programs of the ranch. Each year approximately 80 percent of the operating expenses come from ranch income and sources other than state support. This makes the ranch a unique educational facility in the state.

As part of the effort to increase the income from crops projects, the ranch has implemented a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. This program involves people with the source of their food supply while insuring that the cost of the agricultural production is covered by the members fees. As a part of this program, members receive a weekly share of produce and a newsletter informing them of the activities associated with the CSA. Weekly the members are met by the individuals producing and packing the food find out what the members like and what the members would like changed about their share of produce. Members are asked to participate in work days in the CSA garden and social functions, such as pot lucks held periodically to bring the members together with the producers. Excess produce from the CSA garden is marketed directly through farmers markets and sales to food stores in the Santa Cruz area.

Students living and learning at Swanton Pacific Ranch in the internship program learn how production costs and efficiencies affect the financial picture of the ranch. Budgeting, marketing, and management are learned first had in real life enterprise projects rather than through lectures and classroom projects. This method follows the tradition of "Learn-by-Doing" for which Cal Poly is well known.