Conserving the Lands and Waters of California’s Heartland

Within the vast expanse of the southern San Joaquin Valley region live a mosaic of landscapes stretching from the tree-clad Sierra through the rambling foothills and across the farms and prairies of the valley plain. Natural terrains have been transformed or buried under the strata of concrete, asphalt, wood and metal that characterize modern human development.

Scattered around the largely commercialized and residential domain are still places that are reminders of vintage landscapes. Some are preserved by public or government agencies as parks for their natural or historical value, others by private groups dedicated to a particular place or landscape.

One such group of locals has had the foresight and wherewithal to save a wide range of local natural treasures to enlighten and delight people now and in the future. Sequoia Riverland Trust (SRT; sequoiariverlands.org/) is on a mission to conserve the lands and waters of California’s heartland. In doing so, the Visalia-based nonprofit “engages landowners, farmers, conservationists, business partners and governmental agencies to collaborate on land conservation throughout our region.”

They cover a lot of ground. Over the past three decades, the SRT has worked with other groups and public agencies to protect more than 44,000 acres of natural lands in nine Valley counties. They also have conservation easements on some 30,000 acres of working farms and ranches, preserving them into the future.

The SRT has roots in three separate organizations in the Visalia, Three Rivers and Springville communities with the same goal of preserving natural landscapes in the Kings, Kaweah and Tule watersheds.

SRT’s executive director, Dr. Logan Robertson Huecker, came to the organization through her love of nature and a desire to participate. She explains the first major acquisition was the Kaweah Oaks Preserve. It happened through the incessant efforts of local folks who saw the value of a last patch of undeveloped valley oak woodland near Visalia.

“People in this area becoming concerned about it kind of goes back to the early ’80s. And that’s when the Nature Conservancy came in to eventually purchase that land for protection. At a certain point, they realized that they did not want to be the stewards of Kaweah Oaks for the long term. They were looking for a local organization to be able to take that on. And that’s where we came in.”

Kaweah Oaks Preserve is a public resource serving nature lovers, school excursions and researchers. It is free and open dawn to dusk and is an easily accessible 10-minute drive east of downtown Visalia.

Aaron Collins describes the preserve as an island of nature and biodiversity in a sea of farms and suburbs. “There’s incredible diversity here on our 344 acres. We’ve got bobcats, we’ve got all kinds of bird life.

“I think we’ve got 340 species that were recorded in the baseline report when the preserve was formed. We still see pretty much the same mix. Except now the groundwater recharge feature attracts migratory birds that never came here because there was no large body of water that would normally attract them.”

Along with oaks and sycamores, Collins observes that the preserve is habitat for the valley elderberry, which is an important species here because it is the sole home for the elderberry longhorn beetle. “We also use the berries; we offer them to community groups, to local restaurants. And it’s often a bumper crop. So, it’s a resource for us. The birds enjoy them too, of course.” He says the elderberries have thrived under SRT management.

Collins is director of investments and partnerships for the SRT. He was born and raised in nearby Exeter and came to love the area in his boyhood. Like all the crew, he came here out of respect for nature and the group’s mission to save and restore unique and rare ecosystems.

There are several strategies to achieve that goal. He says people might be surprised to learn that the lush green habitat at Kaweah Oaks is kept that way by using cattle grazing to help manage vegetation in the expansive salt grass meadow in the preserve.

“It’s tuned to keeping the cows where they belong and where they’re beneficial. Originally, 150 years ago, when this was just wild nature, we had elk on the valley floor, we had all kinds of grazers. So, the cows are maybe a simulation, if not a perfect analogy for that. But they do have a similar role. We try to see it as a function of balance and helping keep the preserve under control.”

Within the preserve are many natural wonders to behold. It’s like going back in time to experience the seasonally flowing watercourses and a variety of habitats and secret gardens reached by any one of nine short hiking trails.

There is the Alan George picnic area named after the local activist who led the effort that saved the area, along with the Grove, which is a tree-lined amphitheater with a handcrafted performance stage that Collins designed. Both areas are available to reserve for special occasions.

Putting the preserve into a larger perspective, Huecker acknowledges that “the area that we now know as Kaweah Oaks is the ancestral homeland of the Wukchumni Yokuts tribe. And so, we work with various tribal members in our education programs and volunteer programs to help bring that traditional ecological knowledge in as well as working with the tribal members who live at the neighboring property on various stewardship activities on both properties.”

Another beautiful and accessible nature area was formerly a gravel quarry. Dry Creek is a 152-acre SRT preserve in the foothills near Woodlake. It is unusual because unlike most Sierra watercourses, it flows north to south rather than east to west. It took a major restoration effort to make Dry Creek look the way it does today.

“We definitely have been able to help bring back some of the sycamores, some of the cottonwoods, those different species that grow along the streambed to increase habitat and support biodiversity, as well as provide recreational opportunities for people,” says Huecker.

Dry Creek Preserve abounds in spring wildflowers and is home to a native plant nursery operation that grows thousands of native plants used for restoration projects. Walking around, it is hard to believe the area once resembled what Collins describes as a moonscape.

“We have had success with our Dry Creek Preserve in going back and restoring land that had been scraped bare for a gravel quarry,” notes Collins. “And you almost wouldn’t know that it was a gravel quarry unless you saw one deep pit that’s left. It was dug so deep that it left a lake there that was not there originally. But aside from that, it’s pretty true to its former state.”

Further north along Dry Creek, the SRT owns the neighboring Homer Ranch, a historic 1,819-acre cattle ranch. The SRT purchased the land from Stephanie and Richard Homer, whose great-great grandparents homesteaded the land in the late 1800s. They wanted the land to be preserved and enjoyed by the public.

Homer Ranch is host to one of the largest and last remaining sycamore alluvial woodlands in the world, along with extensive blue oak woodlands. The area is a critical wildlife corridor for a variety of species such as resident and migratory birds, mule deer and mountain lions. Moreover, the wildflowers strewn amid emerald-green foothill grasslands are spectacular to behold.

A companion landscape at a little higher elevation is the 908-acre McCarthy Blue Oak Ranch Preserve. Named in honor of the SRT’s former long-term executive director, Soapy McCarthy Mulholland, the ranch is five miles north of Springville, where she lived.

Huecker notes the importance of preserving this classic rolling blue oak ecosystem: “This preserve is unique and actually similar to Homer Ranch. Homer Ranch provides habitat connectivity between protected federal lands and the preserves. The McCarthy Blue Oak Ranch Preserve also abuts certain federal lands. And so, there’s a connected habitat there, which is helpful for all of those species.”

She notes that the ranch is part of a complex of conserved lands in the Springville region, providing even wider habitat protection and connectivity between the mountains and the valley while providing public access.

Lewis Hill is a much smaller but no less critical habitat in the foothills north of Porterville. It is a 110-acre rocky hill in the foothill grasslands that is home to two endemic and rare flowers. Rare indeed is the striped adobe lily that has only been documented six times in the last 20 years. It only occurs in Tulare and Kern counties and is a threatened species due to urbanization and competition from non-native plants.

The San Joaquin adobe sunburst is an endangered flower with only a handful of known sightings in three Valley counties. It is also under pressure from grazing along with agricultural and urban development, as well as from invasive vegetation.

Because of the sensitive nature of Lewis Hill, it can only be visited on special occasions with a guided walk. Huecker recalled the SRT’s recent annual visit. “We had about 180 visitors out there to hike up the hill and experience the unique geology and the unique species that grow there.
“It’s neat to be able to help protect them and have people experience them. And then, of course, we have the other more common wildflowers like fiddle neck and California poppies.”

The Sequoia Riverlands Trust has had the mission and vision to spread its conservation actions broadly, even onto the much-abused Valley bottomlands. According to the writings of John Muir and others, nearly the entire Valley floor was a prairie shrouded with wildflowers and grasses, dotted with vernal pools.

The 725-acre James K. Herbert Prairie Wetlands Preserve is a patch of that antique landscape. Huecker says the preserve is exceptional.

“It’s protecting one of the largest remaining of these wetland prairie habitats in our area,” says Huecker. “Because of the unique habitats there, we open it basically just for special events or when we’re taking field trips or special tours onto the preserve. And you can really think about it as a small piece of what was an extensive wetland prairie in that area of the valley.”

At one time, it was an alfalfa field. The SRT, upon acquiring the land, began restoration. Staff created an 83-acre seasonal wetland with stream channels and native vegetation that enriched wildlife habitat for animals and insects, including 125 species of birds.

Herbert Preserve is also a science laboratory for preservation using controlled fire and grazing to improve forage for cattle and wildlife alike. They are showing that agriculture and wildlife can coexist to mutual advantage.

Family farm preservation is also an SRT priority. They have crafted 85 conservation easements covering nearly 30,000 acres of working farms and ranches. Conservation easements are voluntary agreements between landowners and the SRT. Farmers and ranchers continue to operate with provisions that preserve the natural values of the land. The owner can also donate the land to the SRT in exchange for tax deductions. Huecker underscores the mutual benefit.

“There are practices that farmers and growers can employ that can sort of bump that up. If they’re cover cropping in between their rows, that can help increase the habitat value. Pollinator plants in conjunction with whatever they are growing for their business can help to that as well. And so, there are a lot of sustainable farming practices that do contribute to habitat value.”

Science and land management work extends all the way to the Carrizo Plain National Monument for SRT staff. They are using innovative strategies to manage some 19,000 acres there and in nearby solar panel arrays.

“We became involved in the Carrizo Plain as a result of some large solar developments that were going on there. Those companies needed to mitigate for habitat that was going to be converted to solar ranches.

“We have three conservation biologists who work in the Carrizo Plain, and their job is to manage that land and also to monitor for certain key species. For example, our staff gets to go out and do monitoring for giant kangaroo rats.”

The SRT is also a key player in the movement to revive depleted groundwater basins, as Huecker explains, “multi-benefit land repurposing, or MLRP (Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program), is a grant program from the California Department of Conservation, and it’s essentially a program to bring resources to overdrafted groundwater sub-basins to help them address the needs under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.”

One example Huecker cites is a former citrus orchard in Tulare County. “When the project is finished, we’ll have some recharge basins that will be managed by the groundwater agency, but we’ll also have a restored nature area along a creek that in addition to providing habitat for plants [and] animals will be able to be like an outdoor classroom for the students in that area.”

Educating future generations of conservationists, scientists and nature lovers is yet another important branch of the SRT tree. They partner with schools, community groups and families to provide outdoor educational opportunities like field trips and classes. Summer programs involving young people from some of the Valley’s small towns focus on topics like natural history, regenerative agriculture and alternative energy studies. The SRT is spreading out its wings in time as well as in space.

For Huecker, the real value of work done by the Sequoia Riverlands Trust is reflected in the many colors of their palette. “I think that is where you see a real value in the various kinds of conservation that we do,” she emphasized. “We understand that we serve both a broad and a unique region, working from the foothills down into the valley floor.”

She stressed that while there are natural areas and parklands in the Sierras, getting there can be a challenge for many. “We see ourselves as filling a real need. In conjunction with that, there are privately conserved lands, which essentially are still working ranches able to provide that habitat continuity. And when we get down onto the valley floor, there is a combination of being able to conserve and support a resilient regional economy.”