Two new ranching tenants are joining Midpen’s Conservation Grazing Program after a competitive recruitment process. Baird Livestock and Land Management are leasing conservation grazing areas within coastal areas of Midpen’s Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve, while Willow Creek Land and Cattle will be operating in a portion of La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve.
Baird Livestock is a family-owned ranching operation made up of brothers Sean and Arron Baird and their parents. Their family has lived in San Gregorio for six generations, and started the first San Gregorio General Store. They continue ranching today, bringing formal educational backgrounds and expertise in natural resource and rangeland ecology management along with experience working with public agencies.
“We apply whole-systems thinking, considering all of the natural resources in an ecological system when it comes to creating land management objectives. Consistent monitoring and adaptive management are crucial to sustainably managing rangelands,” the Bairds said in their proposal.
Willow Creek Land and Cattle was founded by siblings Liz and Matt Reikowski to provide conservation-oriented grazing management and natural resource stewardship on public and private lands, including at Pinnacles National Park. Willow Creek is made up of three partners who have formal education and experience in ecology, natural resource management, grazing planning and monitoring, livestock operations and infrastructure maintenance.
“Willow Creek specializes in grazing to achieve natural resource management objectives. We conduct science-based rangeland monitoring and use the results to objectively evaluate how well grazing is meeting land management objectives,” Willow Creek stated in their proposal.