May 2006

Ranch Conservation and Restoration Plan Takes Shape

By HR Conservancy

For several months now, the Conservancy Advisory Committee has been developing a draft  Conservation and Restoration Plan for the Hollister Ranch. If approved by the Conservancy, this Plan will be presented to the HROA Board at its June meeting for consideration. Seen as primarily a policy document, the Plan recommends the following:

• The Ranch founding documents (CC&Rs) charge the owners with being good stewards of the environment.

• While still environmentally “healthy,” the Ranch is under pressure from a number of areas

• Fragmentation of habitat both on the Ranch and in the 150,000 acres of surrounding private ranches is the biggest threat to our biodiversity.

• The ecological services provided by the cattle operation are invaluable because it manages the land as a single ecological landscape, not as 136 separate parcels. We must do more as owners to support the work done by the HR Cattle Co-Op.

• Education of the owners is key in developing responsible, informed behavior that minimizes our impact on our surroundings.

• Monitoring of a select number of environmental indicators should begin, or be reinstated, and must continue for many years to be useful in judging our conservation success.

• Control of noxious, invasive species and toxic materials on the Ranch should become a routine part of our overall management program.

• A permanent environmental management function should be established on the Ranch.  Based on past experience, the Conservancy believes that some steps should be taken to give the HR Conservancy some independent standing and allow it to take actions that may not be popular with all elements on the Ranch at all times.

• There are several excellent restoration projects that can be undertaken for which outside funding is available. Before these are pursued, a strategy for minimizing risk (to the owners) and developing the strong support of the affected owners should be a pre-requisite.