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 i Swanton Pacific Ranch Management Plan TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................. II TABLE OF FIGURES ............................................................................................ VIII LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................... IX EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................... 1 1. SITE DESCRIPTION .............................................................................................. 0 1.1. Swanton Pacific Ranch site location ...................................................................... 0 1.2. Swanton Pacific Ranch site setting ........................................................................ 0 2. GOALS FOR SWANTON PACIFIC RANCH PROPERTY ................................. 2 2.1. Donor's Vision ...................................................................................................... 2 2.2. CAGR Cal Poly College of Agriculture Vision .................................................... 2 2.3. Swanton Pacific Ranch Vision ............................................................................. 2 2.3.1. Ranch Projects’ Goals .................................................................................... 3 2.3.2. Ranch Specific Goals .................................................................................... 3 2.4. Project Action Plan .............................................................................................. 6 3. OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS ............................................................. 7 3.1. Opportunities ....................................................................................................... 7 3.2. Constraints ........................................................................................................... 9 4.1. Regional History ................................................................................................ 12 4.1.1. Native Americans........................................................................................ 12 4.1.2. Mexican Land Grants .................................................................................. 13 4.1.3. Early settlements ......................................................................................... 13 4.2. Swanton Pacific History..................................................................................... 15 4.2.1. Structures .................................................................................................... 16 4.2.2. Land Uses ................................................................................................... 17 4.4. Al Smith’s Life .................................................................................................. 18 4.5. Early Cal Poly Involvement at Swanton ............................................................. 18 4. ARCHAEOLOGY .................................................................................................. 20 4.1. Swanton Pacific Ranch ....................................................................................... 20 5.1. Climate .............................................................................................................. 21 5.2 Geology ............................................................................................................... 21 5.2.1. Landslides .................................................................................................... 21 5.3. Topography ....................................................................................................... 23 5.4. Hydrology ......................................................................................................... 23 5.4.1. Water Quality Monitoring ............................................................................ 25 ii Swanton Pacific Ranch Management Plan 5.5. Soils .................................................................................................................. 28 5.5.1. Swanton Pacific Ranch soils ........................................................................ 28 7. EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM ............................................................................... 30 7.1. Educational Philosophy ..................................................................................... 30 7.2. Educational Involvement at Swanton ................................................................. 31 7.2.1. Intra-College Cooperative Participation....................................................... 31 7.2.2. Outside Educational Involvement at Swanton.............................................. 32 7.3 Applied Research Activities ................................................................................. 33 7.3.1. Past Research ............................................................................................... 33 7.3.2. Current research .......................................................................................... 33 7.3.3. Potential Ranch Applied Research Projects .................................................. 35 7.4. Existing Educational Program ............................................................................ 36 7.4.1. Internship/Apprenticeship Program ............................................................. 37 7.4.2. Long-Distance Learning .............................................................................. 37 7.5. Future Educational Program ............................................................................... 37 7.5.1. Educational facilities ................................................................................... 38 7.5.2. Honors Program ........................................................................................... 38 7.5.3. Apprenticeship program for Cal Poly students .............................................. 38 7.5.4. Ph.D. Program in watershed management .................................................... 38 7.5.5. Educational program for non-Cal Poly students ............................................ 38 8. NATURAL RESOURCES ..................................................................................... 39 8.1. Natural Habitat Areas ........................................................................................ 42 8.1.2. Grassland .................................................................................................... 45 8.1.3. Cropland ..................................................................................................... 46 8.1.4. Aquatic areas ............................................................................................... 47 8.2. Habitat management practices ............................................................................ 51 8.2.1. Habitat monitoring ...................................................................................... 52 8.3. Habitat Restoration ............................................................................................ 53 8.3.1. Lower Queseria Restoration Project ............................................................ 54 8.3.2. Upper Queseria Project ................................................................................ 56 8.4. Watershed management ..................................................................................... 58 8.5. Native plant species ........................................................................................... 59 8.6. Exotic plant species ........................................................................................... 59 8.7. Wildlife ............................................................................................................. 60 8.7.1. Endangered animal species.......................................................................... 60 8.7.2. Wildlife population management ................................................................. 62 8.8.1. Fire ............................................................................................................. 62 8.8.2. Erosion ....................................................................................................... 63 8.8.3. Flooding...................................................................................................... 63 8.8.4. Pests/diseases .............................................................................................. 63 8.9. Future Plans ....................................................................................................... 64 8.9.1. Agri-tourism ............................................................................................... 64 9. FORESTLAND ......................................................................................................