Editor’s note: This article was originally published in the Merced County Times newspaper on Sept. 12, 2024.
Driving through the Highway 140 corridor in Merced County, locals and travelers alike enjoy the rolling country views that define the California landscape. Thanks to efforts by the Sierra Foothill Conservancy, those views are now guaranteed to remain just as they are today, forever.
The Waltz-Turner Ranch is one of two ranches owned by the Morrison family that recently received conservation easements. The Waltz-Turner Ranch is 10,361 acres that spans Merced and Mariposa Counties. The Sierra Foothill Conservancy recently acquired a conservation easement for the Waltz-Turner Ranch, protecting the land from future development.
Sierra Foothill Conservancy Executive Director Bridget Fithian explained to the times how significant achieving this easement was for the family, and the region.
“They’ve been ranching this property for multiple generations, and completing the conservation easement is going to ensure that they’ll be able to continue their ranching operation and pass it on to their children,” said Fithian. “It’s the largest conservation easement that Sierra Foothill Conservancy has ever completed, and the next largest down from this is adjacent to it, and that property, the Hornitos Ranch, is just under 7,000 acres. So it’s this really significant expanse of land and working ranches that we’re able to conserve in perpetuity just between these two projects.”
Conservation easements involve a complicated legal process, but they boil down to providing protection from future development to properties that value from remaining in their natural state. An easement is added to the title of a property, without the property changing ownership. Even if the land itself changes hand, the conservation easement remains.
“There’s an analogy of calling it like a bundle of sticks,” said Fithian. “With a conservation easement, that landowner essentially takes a couple of those sticks out and sells or donates them to a land trust like Sierra Foothill Conservancy, and then they retain all the other sticks, all the other rights that are in that bundle, but they’ve removed the development rights to the property.”
The Sierra Foothill Conservancy has a line out the door of properties who believe they could benefit from easements, and to date have successfully conserved 64,520 acres. Owners can often use the payment from an easement to reduce the debts large spaces often acquire, or benefit from tax breaks because of the easement. In the case of the Morrison family, it allowed them to continue the ranching tradition of their family.
“This family has kept this massive area intact through the operation of their ranch. For a couple hundred years these folks have been managing this land, raising cattle on it, taking care of the land. And they really do care about the land,” said Fithian. “Because of their stewardship, we have this beautiful, huge, intact landscape. By doing the conservation easement, it honors that commitment that they’ve had to that land for all this time, and then ensures that we still have this gigantic piece of land and forever intact.”
She added: “Ranching is a really important part of the Mariposa economy, so when we conserve our rangelands we’re also supporting conserving that economic value in our community, and also the cultural value of that tradition and way of life of ranching, that is you know really important to the communities that we live and work in.”
The process for the easement started in 2021, and the cost was covered by a combination of private philanthropy as well as a grant from the California Department of Conservation’s Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program.
The Sierra Foothill Conservancy has been active since 1996, but Executive Director Fithian shared that over the last 10 years activity has ramped up, and they have been steadily growing to meet the responsibility. For the families who obtain these easements, it’s a preservation of their legacy and more.
“The importance of keeping this working cattle ranch intact goes beyond our family and its heritage. This land is rich in history and wildlife, and there are not many like it. Our family realizes how unique this ranch is and has always worked it with love and respect,” Landowners Ken and Adela Morrison said in a statement.
“If you like wildlife, if you like birds, if you like deer, if you like butterflies, if you like bees, then that’s a reason to be really happy about this, because this is habitat conservation that all of those species that move throughout our entire region need in order to survive,” said Fithian. “When we conserve working range lands and we conserve open space, we’re conserving water that provides for our natural systems and our beautiful streams and rivers, but also that drinking water that we all depend on.”
It’s worth noting that among those natural systems on the Waltz-Turner Ranch are vernal pools, a distinctive feature in the California landscape that hosts distinctive plants and wildlife.
Ultimately, one of the biggest benefits is just maintaining California’s beauty.
“One of the things that we all love as Californians, and as people that live in this part of the state, is our landscape, and to know that this beautiful open space is gonna remain that way in perpetuity,” said Fithian.
Anyone who is interested in supporting the Sierra Foothill Conservancy’s mission is encouraged to explore the options to get involved on their website, sierrafoothill.org. They offer memberships that provide many opportunities to get outside and explore nature.