About This Project
This website is the product of a project for the class Earth Systems 176/276: Open Space Management Practicum at Stanford University during the fall of 2015. The goal of this project is to work on an open space management project with a community organization. Our community partner was the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST). POST is a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation and preservation of open spaces in the broad San Francisco Bay Area or San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties.
Our objectives for this project was to: 1) create a guide to protect endangered native Californian species that could be affected by ranching activities in Cloverdale Ranch (owned by POST) and 2) compile research about protecting local fauna on grazing land and develop a concise list of management recommendations. We wanted to tackle the specific question of how should Hidden Valley (a part of Cloverdale Ranch) be managed as cattle-grazing land, keeping in mind the ecological sensitivity of the local fauna. However, the results of what we found can be applied to areas with similar habitats and species. |
Species Life Cycles and Ranching Management
We chose specific species based on our research on threatened species in the Bay Area, information from POST’s Cloverdale Coastal Ranch Plan, and correspondence with Laura O’Leary, the Senior Stewardship Project Manager at POST. Our goal was to choose a set of diverse organisms: we ended up with one amphibian, one reptile, three mammal, two fish, one insect, and four bird species.
We chose management practices that are specific to protecting our chosen species of concern and broader recommendations that help protect all of the local flora and fauna in the Bay Area. We condensed our extensive research into a short set of recommendations. We decided to present our management recommendations in a concise way - as a list of suggestions organized by issue. Our recommendations address issues of drought, pesticide use and runoff, grazing in riparian environments, land use change, and more.
We chose management practices that are specific to protecting our chosen species of concern and broader recommendations that help protect all of the local flora and fauna in the Bay Area. We condensed our extensive research into a short set of recommendations. We decided to present our management recommendations in a concise way - as a list of suggestions organized by issue. Our recommendations address issues of drought, pesticide use and runoff, grazing in riparian environments, land use change, and more.