Gabilan Ranch in San Juan Bautista—which provides habitat for the endangered California Condor—recently earned the Bird-Friendly Land Certification from the National Audubon Society.
The certification recognizes Gabilan Ranch for its efforts to support wildlife habitat and resilient working lands, says a press release from the Audubon Society.
Owned by the Reeves, Baldocchi and Boyle families, the land at Gabilan Ranch is managed to promote more native perennial grass and wildlife diversity in Monterey and San Benito counties, according to the Audubon Society. The ranch’s diverse landscape includes annual grasslands, valley oak woodlands and riparian areas that create “essential habitat” for the California Condor.
The ranch, which has been associated with the Boyle family for almost 100 years, runs a feeding station and cameras to monitor the condors that live on the property.
“We have always managed the land for the benefit of wildlife as well as to support a regenerative grazing strategy for our cow-calf operation,” said Darrell Boyle, Chairman of Gabilan Ranch. “We control grazing in pastures to protect ground-nesting birds; we introduced Tule elk to the Gabilan Range; we have a nesting pair of California Condors on the ranch; and we get to watch bald eagles fledge every year.
“Working with Audubon helps us provide a home to an abundance of bird species.”
Gabilan Ranch is one of five ranches in California that recently earned the Bird-Friendly Land Certification. The others are C&R Ranch near Red Bluff, Deer Creek Hills Preserve near Sacramento, Durst Home Ranch near Capay and Jalama Canyon Ranch near Lompoc.
Audubon Conservation Ranching is a science-based certification program that aims to stabilize the decline of grassland bird populations through partnerships with farmers and ranchers, according to the Audubon Society.
Since 1970, North America’s grassland birds have seen the steepest population declines of all terrestrial biomes. Audubon works with more than 155 certified farms and ranches in the U.S., all taking voluntary conservation action to support grassland birds and biodiversity across a combined 4.5 million acres.
Because most grassland birds live on private land, partnering with landowners is one of the best ways to help these species at scale, says the press release.
Audubon currently partners with 20 certified ranching operations in California—including the five newly certified ranches—and has enhanced more than 314,000 acres of habitat.
“These five ranches expressed interest in Audubon Conservation Ranching almost immediately as the program was coming into California,” said Pelayo Alvarez, Program Director for Audubon Conservation Ranching in California. “Now, we’re proud to partner with these producers, each of which is successfully managing its acreage to support birds and other wildlife.
“From the start, it was clear that all five managers wanted to be good land stewards and learn as much as possible about the flora and fauna in these landscapes.”
To earn Audubon’s Bird-Friendly Land Certification, ranches must meet rigorous standards for habitat management, environmental sustainability and animal welfare, verified through independent audits, says the press release. Ranchers work with Audubon range ecologists to create Habitat Management Plans tailored to each ranch’s conditions and goals.
These plans include practices such as adaptive grazing, invasive species control and native plant restoration to support biodiverse, resilient grassland ecosystems that benefit wildlife and producers.
“All five ranches are demonstrating exemplary bird-friendly management, using rotational grazing to achieve specific goals and adapting their practices based on changing environmental conditions and monitoring results,” said Payton Thomas, Rangeland Ecologist for the Audubon Conservation Ranching program in California. “Their bird-friendly grazing practices create a mosaic of grassland habitat that supports the breeding, nesting and foraging needs of a variety of priority species across the state.”
Now that these five California ranches have achieved Audubon’s Bird-Friendly Land Certification, they may use the associated seal on beef products, letting consumers know that their purchases support habitat conservation for imperiled grassland birds, the Audubon Society said.
