Swanton Pacific Ranch Management Plan Preface and Approvals This Management Plan represents a living document that is revised periodically to reflect the most current approaches and summary information. Major revisions are expected to occur every 5 years unless significant changes warrant updates in a more timely manner. Major revisions will be submitted for review and approvals at a minimum of every five years. Approvals: _____________________________________________________________________ Brian C. Dietterick, Date Director, Swanton Pacific Ranch _____________________________________ ____________________ Andy Thulin Date Dean, College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences _____________________________________________________________________ Lorlie Leetham Date Executive Director, Cal Poly Corporation _____________________________________________________________________ Cynthia Villa Date Vice President for Administration and Finance i Swanton Pacific Ranch Management Plan TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................. II LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................. VIII EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................... 1 1. SITE DESCRIPTION .............................................................................................. 4 1.1. Swanton Pacific Ranch site location ...................................................................... 4 1.2. Swanton Pacific Ranch site setting ........................................................................ 4 1.4. Valencia Creek property setting ........................................................................... 6 2. GOALS FOR SWANTON PACIFIC RANCH PROPERTY ................................. 8 2.1. Donor's Vision ...................................................................................................... 8 2.2. CAGR Cal Poly College of Agriculture Vision .................................................... 8 2.3. Swanton Pacific Ranch Vision ............................................................................. 8 2.3.1. Ranch Projects’ Goals .................................................................................... 9 2.3.2. Ranch Specific Goals .................................................................................... 9 2.4. Project Action Plan ............................................................................................ 12 3. OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS ........................................................... 13 3.1. Opportunities ..................................................................................................... 13 3.2. Constraints ......................................................................................................... 14 4. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ........................................................................... 18 4.1. Regional History ................................................................................................ 18 4.1.1. Native Americans........................................................................................ 18 4.1.2. Mexican Land Grants .................................................................................. 19 4.1.3. Early settlements ......................................................................................... 19 4.2. Swanton Pacific History..................................................................................... 21 4.2.1. Structures .................................................................................................... 22 4.2.2. Land Uses ................................................................................................... 23 4.3. Valencia Creek Property History ........................................................................ 24 4.4. Al Smith’s Life .................................................................................................. 24 4.5. Early Cal Poly Involvement at Swanton ............................................................. 25 4. ARCHAEOLOGY .................................................................................................. 26 4.1. Swanton Pacific Ranch ....................................................................................... 26 5. GEOPHYSIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................... 27 5.1. Climate .............................................................................................................. 27 5.2 Geology ............................................................................................................... 27 ii Swanton Pacific Ranch Management Plan 5.2.1. Landslides .................................................................................................... 27 5.3. Topography ....................................................................................................... 29 5.4. Hydrology ......................................................................................................... 29 5.4.1. Water Quality Monitoring ............................................................................ 31 5.5. Soils .................................................................................................................. 34 5.5.1. Swanton Pacific Ranch soils ........................................................................ 34 5.5.2. Valencia Creek Soils .................................................................................... 35 7. EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM ............................................................................... 36 7.1. Educational Philosophy...................................................................................... 37 7.2. Educational Involvement at Swanton ................................................................. 37 7.2.1. Intra-College Cooperative Participation....................................................... 37 7.2.2. Outside Educational Involvement at Swanton .............................................. 38 7.3 Applied Research Activities ................................................................................. 39 7.3.1. Past Research ............................................................................................... 39 7.3.2. Current research .......................................................................................... 39 7.3.3. Potential Ranch Applied Research Projects .................................................. 41 7.4. Existing Educational Program ............................................................................ 42 7.4.1. Internship/Apprenticeship Program ............................................................. 43 7.4.2. Long-Distance Learning .............................................................................. 43 7.5. Future Educational Program ............................................................................... 43 7.5.1. Educational facilities ................................................................................... 44 7.5.2. Honors Program ........................................................................................... 44 7.5.3. Apprenticeship program for Cal Poly students .............................................. 44 7.5.4. Ph.D. Program in watershed management .................................................... 44 7.5.5. Educational program for non-Cal Poly students ............................................ 44 8. NATURAL RESOURCES ..................................................................................... 45 8.1. Natural Habitat Areas ........................................................................................ 46 8.1.2 Valencia Creek Forestland ............................................................................ 49 8.1.2. Grassland .................................................................................................... 50 8.1.3. Cropland ..................................................................................................... 52 8.1.4. Aquatic areas ............................................................................................... 53 8.2. Habitat management practices ............................................................................ 56 8.2.1. Habitat monitoring ...................................................................................... 57 8.3. Habitat Restoration ............................................................................................ 59 8.3.1. Lower Queseria Restoration Project ............................................................ 60 8.3.2. Upper Queseria Project ................................................................................ 62 8.4. Watershed management ..................................................................................... 64 8.5. Native plant species ........................................................................................... 64 8.6. Exotic plant species ........................................................................................... 65 8.7. Wildlife ............................................................................................................. 66 8.7.1. Endangered animal species.......................................................................... 66 8.7.2. Wildlife population management ................................................................