Midpen has begun a carefully timed project, in partnership with contractors and some Midpen conservation grazing tenants, to mow approximately 375 acres in coastal preserves where brush is encroaching into grasslands. Mechanical mowing is one of several land-management tools Midpen uses to enhance and care for coastal grasslands, one of the most biodiverse and rare ecosystems in North America.
“For millennia, these grasslands were kept open in-part by grazing herds of wildlife and indigenous burning practices,” said Midpen Conservation Grazing Program Manager Matthew Shapero. “Without these occasional disturbances keeping them open, grasslands can eventually be replaced by shrublands or forests. While Midpen protects the biodiversity of shrublands and forests in many preserves, we also want to protect the unique diversity and ecological function associated with grasslands, which recent studies indicate have been significantly reduced in the Bay Area region compared to both recent and pre-history conditions. Midpen actively manages some coastal grassland areas within its preserves to both protect and enhance their unique community of plants and wildlife and support viable agricultural on the San Mateo County coast.”
Grassland-dependent wildlife include American badgers, burrowing owls and northern harrier hawks, among others. Midpen’s unique mission on the San Mateo County coast braids together open space and agricultural preservation and restoration. Another tool Midpen uses on the Coastside to care for grasslands is its conservation grazing program. This collaboration with cattle ranchers is aimed at maintaining and restoring coastal grasslands and their unique biodiversity, reducing wildland fire risk and supporting agriculture on the San Mateo County coast. The preserve areas currently being mowed are within many of the areas where Midpen’s conservation grazing program is also active.