Past, present, and future
at Porter Ranch
"The land is vigorous, healthy, and beautiful"

The past is always present at the Porter Ranch. Six generations of Porters lived there before donating the ranch to the Elkhorn Slough Foundation. Today rancher Joe Morris, whose family settled in the San Juan Bautista area five generations ago, grazes cattle on the 200 acres. Joe uses grazing techniques that are far older than five or six generations – they mimic grazing patterns that predate human land use. The result of all this history is that Porter Ranch today is a healthy, biologically diverse landscape. And that’s the way we’d like to keep it.

The story of what’s happening on the Porter Ranch begins when the Porter family acquired it in 1864 from General Mariano Vallejo. For six generations the family lived and worked there. Diane Cooley Porter grew up there and her father knew J.J. Baumgartner, Joe Morris’s grandfather. “John Baumgartner was a historic figure in the cattle industry and he was my dad’s best friend,” says Diane. “They went to Davis and Berkeley together, they were at each other’s weddings. We knew Joe would take care of our land.”

Joe took over grazing the Porter Ranch in 1991, but his route there was unusual and says a lot about how he approaches his work. Joe grew up in San Francisco, and his path to ranching included going to Notre Dame, doing missionary work in Venezuela, and teaching high school in Washington D.C. Eventually it took him to a cattle ranch in Nevada. And then he read Wendell Berry and realized that he could combine two great loves of his life – the desire to do good and to be a cowboy.

In 1991 he combined these loves, and, along with his wife Julie, started the T.O. Cattle Company. T.O. Cattle, he says, is about two things – taking care of the land and raising grass-fed beef. Guiding Joe on this path were Allan Savory’s ideas about “holistic management.” Diane Cooley simply calls it “the right way to graze land.”

Fifth-generation rancher Joe Morris has been practicing
holistic grazing on Porter Ranch grasslands for the last
fourteen years. (photo by Madelein Graham Blake)

The central idea behind Savory’s approach to grazing and Joe’s operation is to graze cattle in ways that mimic the natural grazing patterns of wild herds. They stayed in bunches to protect themselves from predators. They moved around a lot. The plants fed the animals and the animals ensured the health of the plants. The modern version is planning that varies the intensity, duration and frequency of grazing and animal impact. If you pass Porter Ranch you will sometimes see Joe’s cows and sometimes not, because he moves them around, grazing one section after another, carefully mimicking the way wild herds move around. The result, at Porter and on the other land Joe leases, is healthier habitats and healthier beef.

Joe runs 50 cattle a year on the Porter Ranch, a small part of the 2800 cattle he grazes on 7500 acres of leased land. He uses words like “phenomenal” and “beautiful” to describe the grasslands at Porter. “It’s easily the most productive grazing land I have,” he says. Dr. Grey Hayes, who runs the Reserve’s Coastal Training Program, does research on Central California grasslands, including Porter Ranch. He calls the Porter grasslands, “One of the best examples of healthy coastal prairie in the state.”

Grey was researching the importance of “disturbance regimes” on native grasses. The theory behind Joe’s practice is that native plants need the disturbances causes by roaming herds. The land is not overgrazed (too many animals for too long) which leads to the highly disturbed conditions that are breeding grounds for non-native plants. It is grazed for shorter periods and recovery periods are planned, allowing the native plants time between grazing to feed the soil and regrow shoots and leaves.

The idea that grazing can actually be good for the land is gaining currency among land trusts and park officials – but Joe says there is still a lot of prejudice. “I tell them to look at the land, take a walk,” he says, talking about conversations with those who doubt the benefits of his holistic grazing approach. “The land is vigorous, healthy, and beautiful. And the land doesn’t lie. It holds no prejudice regarding management; it simply reveals the effects.”

You can see this vigorous, beautiful land as you drive by the hills where Hall Road becomes Elkhorn Road. After our wet winter an abundant spring followed, and the rolling green hills were thick with grass and wildflowers. Sometimes you can see Joe’s cattle and sometimes not – but you are always seeing the result of the work they do. It is a beautiful sight, and we want to keep it that way.

For more information on Joe Morris’ grazing practices, his grassfed beef, and the T.O. Cattle Company, visit his website at www.morrisgrassfed.com.

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Key conservation tool under attack
Congressional proposals threaten the means
to protect millions of acres

In the past six years, land trusts like the Elkhorn Slough Foundation have reached agreements with more than 10,000 landowners around the country to protect the natural resources of the land – while leaving the ownership and use of the land in the hands of the owners. These agreements are called conservation easements, and during the past six years more than 3.7 million acres of land have been protected through their use.

Sounds like a success story, doesn’t it? Private landowners reaching agreements with local land trusts to protect land – without the expense of acquiring it outright. It is a success story, but if proposals now before Congress are enacted, it is a story that won’t be repeated in the years ahead.

Some in Congress want to radically reduce the tax benefits of conservation easements, a move that could cripple land donations to conservation groups, according to the Land Trust Alliance. The Land Trust Alliance is a network of over a thousand state and local land trusts, including ESF. The changes recommended by the Joint Committee on Taxation of Congress would eliminate entirely deductions for easements on property used by taxpayers as a residence and severely limit the deductions for land conservation that are allowed. LTA says the result would be to drastically reduce donations of conservation land.

Because conservation easements protect land without requiring its purchase, they are a cost-effective way to limit development on private land. That is why hundreds of land trusts have used this tool to protect more than five million acres across the country. The Monterey Agricultural and Historic Land Conservancy has used conservation easements to protect farming on more than 12,000 acres of land, mostly in the Salinas Valley. The Marin Agricultural Land Trust has protected 53 farms and 35,000 acres in Marin County through the use of conservation easements .

ALBA teaches sustainable farming techniques on Triple M Ranch.

The Elkhorn Slough Foundation currently holds three conservation easements totaling 232 acres. The four easements reflect the Foundation’s broad-based approach to protecting the slough – while embracing the multitude of human uses that make this a “working landscape.” The largest of these easements is on the Triple M Ranch (see story below), which protects almost 200 acres of farmland along Carneros Creek, the slough’s primary source of fresh water. A 27-acre easement overlooking Porter Marsh at the north end of the slough includes three houses. A five-acre easement protects wetlands in the Moro Cojo Slough area.

ESF Executive Director Mark Silberstein says that the Foundation’s long term plans call for much greater use of this tool to protect thousands of acres around Elkhorn Slough. “During the past few years, we have concentrated on acquiring key lands as the best way to protect Elkhorn Slough,” Silberstein says. “But as we look ten and twenty years down the road, we see conservation easements as the most important tool we’ll have to protect thousands of acres of farmland and ridge tops.”

Silberstein and the LTA support steps to reduce abuses of the conservation easement laws, but say that the current proposals go far beyond eliminating abuses. We urge our members to let their Congressional representatives know that they support conservation easements – and oppose these attempts to cripple one of the most cost-effective tools we have to protect Elkhorn Slough and other threatened landscapes.

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Annual Celebration
at new Aquarium exhibit
Summer solstice event kicks off membership campaign

The Elkhorn Slough Foundation’s Annual Celebration will be held this year at the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s new Ocean’s Edge exhibit. The June 21st (summer solstice) event will give ESF members and their guests the opportunity to see this fabulous new exhibit without the crowds – and among friends who are actively supporting the protection of the fragile environments highlighted in the exhibits.

“It’s a great opportunity,” says ESF Board Member Steve Webster, who retired last year after working at the Aquarium since its opening as Senior Marine Biologist. Steve is one of the Aquarium’s founders and says the new exhibit fulfills some dreams they had from the beginning. “This exhibit features some of the things we planned on doing when the Aquarium first opened. It’s very exciting.”

Ocean’s Edge is a dramatic transformation of the Aquarium’s original exhibit galleries – keeping favorites like the three-story Kelp Forest and adding exciting new elements like a walk-through wave crash experience and a new gallery devoted to the giant octopus. The changes reflect 20 years of experience in developing innovative and effective marine life exhibits – exhibits that have made the Aquarium world famous.

A new giant octopus exhibit is part of the Ocean's Edge
gallery that opens in May at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
(photo © 2005 Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation)

Those who know Elkhorn Slough will feel right at home in the vastly expanded aviary and wetlands exhibits. And you will feel right at home sharing this experience with others who have joined you in supporting the protection of one of California’s last great estuaries.

1000 Members Campaign
The event will also mark the kickoff of a campaign to increase ESF’s membership to 1000 members. Development Director Stephen Slade says ESF currently has 700 members, up from 500 three years ago. “It’s amazing,” he says, “how much has been accomplished with the support of so few.” Slade says the Foundation’s protection of more than 3600 acres was paid for largely with major funding from foundations and state bond measures, but that members’ contributions cover the stewardship and educational work of the Foundation.

“As we look ahead,” he says, “it is clear that we need to expand our base of community support – both to care for the land we already protect and to complete our mission to conserve Elkhorn Slough forever.”

Executive Director Mark Silberstein says he hopes current members will bring friends to the celebration at the Aquarium – so that they can join the Foundation’s membership.

Tickets are $25 each for members. New members can join for $50 each, which will include admission to the event and a one year membership in the Elkhorn Slough Foundation. Call (831) 728-5939 to make reservations, or click here to reserve your tickets if you're already a member, or here to join and reserve tickets.