Swanton Pacific Ranch is a ranch in Santa Cruz County, California, outside the town of Davenport. The ranch is owned and operated by California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) for educational and research in sustainable agriculture. The ranch encompasses rangeland, livestock, and forestry operations for the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, comprises a significant part of the community of Swanton, and includes the lower Scott Creek watershed.

History

The Central California region was occupied by the Ohlone Indian Tribe. The tribe resided near Waddell Creek (which runs from east to west) until sometime in the mid 19th century. In November 1843, the land was granted to Ramon Rodriguez and Francisco Alviso by the Mexican Governor of California Manuel Micheltorena. The land grant, named Rancho Agua Puerca y las Trancas, meaning "Hog Water and the Bars", was confirmed by president Andrew Johnson on March 1, 1867. The same year it was sold to James Archibald. To manage the dairy farm he hired Ambrogio Gianone, a Swiss immigrant who constructed the cheese house in 1867 and the barn in 1880 which are still standing. Eventually, Gianone bought a third of the ranch land on the northern end now known as Gianone Hill. After Archibald died in 1875 his wife sold the remainder of the land to Joseph Bloom who continued to use the land for water and farming.

The future mayor of Santa Cruz, Fred Swanton, decided that the land could be used to generate renewable energy. In the last decade of the 1800s he built a powerhouse with two dams on Big Creek and Mill Creek, and generated hydro-electric power for the Central Coast Counties Gas and Electric which became part of PG&E. However, after a forest fire broke out the flume was destroyed and the powerhouse was abandoned. To assist with logging on the land the Ocean Shore Railroad was constructed. It ran along the coast from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. The railroad hauled logs out of Swanton to the San Vincente Lumber Company sawmill in Santa Cruz. The redwood from this logging was used to rebuild San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. In 1922 the railroad was shut down due to a demand for higher wages from its employees.

In the 1920s residents realized artichokes and Brussels sprouts grew well in the coastal area. A dam was installed on Scott's Creek and water was transported to the upper terraces for irrigation. What is now rangeland has remnants of reservoirs from this time period. The Poletti and Morelli families became the owners in 1938. The ranch was divided into three phases: a Grade B Dairy, a beef cattle operation and an assortment of row crops. Later John and Bob Musitelli took over beef and cattle and developed a cow-calf operation. As the Muistelli's expanded their operation the Grade B dairy left.

By 1978 Albert B. Smith, president of Orchard Supply Hardware, acquired Swanton Pacific Ranch. He first learned about the area in a Boy Scout camp there. When the camp closed, Smith bought the land and then over time bought the rest of Swanton Pacific Ranch. In 1993, he donated the ranch to Cal Poly saying:

Swanton is an uncrowded, beautiful place. My goal in putting this acreage together is to preserve it as such and to share it now and in the future with people who will appreciate it and profit from the experience. Thanks for listening!" - Albert B. Smith

Geography Swanton Pacific Ranch sits in the coastal mountains north of Santa Cruz. The spread include of forest extending from steep mountain slopes down to grassy meadows. Scott Creek runs through Swanton Ranch. "The landscape is different here than on campus," notes natural resource management Professor Brian Dietterick, a certified hydrologist and the ranch's director. "First are coastal forested mountains- steep mountains that support perennially flowing streams. The streams serve as habitat for sensitive aquatic species and fish like Coho salmon and Steelhead trout." Swanton Pacific is a unique place to teach resource management. "It's similar to a Northern California Forest," he states. Swanton Pacific is a living forest laboratory unlike any other at Cal Poly's campus core or the of university ranches just west of the campus. Swanton Ranch overlooks the Pacific Ocean. It lies north of Santa Cruz. The elevation ranges from sea level to around on the highest ridge north of Little Creek. There are four ecological regions on the land: cropland, forest, rangeland and riparian land. Riparian lands are adjacent to water sources. There are riparian corridors along Scotts Creek, Mill Creek, Little Creek, Archibald Creek, Queseria Creek, and some smaller unnamed drainages. The riparian corridors provide a habitat for both the endangered Central California Coast evolutionary significant unit of coho salmon and the threatened Central California Coast distinct population segment of steelhead.

Almost half of Swanton Pacific Ranch, , is covered with mixed forest. Over 63% of the forest contains Redwood trees. (Todd, 1988). The majority of the remaining land is grassland with about of brush. The major riparian corridor goes straight through the center of the ranch along Scotts Creek. It widens to at the estuary which flows into the ocean. The rest of the riparian corridors are only a few feet wide due to steep slopes. There are of cultivated land. Vegetables dominate the crops grown at Swanton. There is also some oat hay grown on the ranch.

Ranch facilities

The facilities on Swanton Ranch are used for ranch management and student housing. The Ranch administrative offices are housed in the Green House, which has a kitchen/dining room area for interns studying and staying on the Ranch. The Red House contains two meeting rooms that open into one large room. The Red House has five bedrooms for student interns, two bathrooms and a kitchen. The Al Smith House is located on the east side of Swanton Road, just north of the Cal Fire station. This house was built by Al Smith for his frequent visits. It has two bedrooms, two baths and a magnificent stone fireplace. The living room overlooks the ocean. There is a separate training facility here which can be used as a meeting room. A water monitoring lab is also located in the Al Smith House. The barn at Swanton Ranch was built in 1874. It is enclosed with wood siding that was milled from the Ranch's own timber. It has a corrugated iron roof. Much of the structure was originally constructed with pegs rather than nails. Cal Poly SLO has taken over the restoration of the barn and has used the original construction concepts whenever feasible when remodeling it. The Bunk House is another place for interns to stay while studying at the Ranch. It currently can accommodate ten students. It has seven bedrooms and four bathrooms. The Staub House has a living area upstairs for resident graduate students, and a kitchen which serves the yurts on the lower level. It is named for one of the previous settlers on the Ranch. The Yurts, located in front of the Staub House provide accommodations for forty people on field trips to Swanton Ranch. The yurts were installed in 1999. There is also a building called the Cheese House on Swanton Ranch. The Cheese House is listed in the County Register of Historic Buildings.

Swanton Pacific Railroad

The gaugeSurviving Steam Locomotive Search Swanton Pacific Railroad was constructed in the 1980s by Albert Smith. This miniature railway is scaled to 1/3 standard size with four miniature steam locomotives built by Louis MacDermot for the Overfair Railway. The Overfair was originally part of the Panama–Pacific International Exposition of 1915 which was an official celebration of the completion of the Panama Canal. However, after the exposition, the Overfair Railway did not have much success. The locomotives were stored on MacDermot's estate and would not run again until the 1980s. Al Smith had previously worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad and decided to purchase the locomotives from an auction because of his love of railroads. In 1979 he began laying the rails along Scotts Creek with the help of volunteers. The railroad was maintained and run by the Swanton Pacific Railroad Society. It attracted many visitors, especially railfans, who volunteered to support its operation.

In 2020 the site was damaged by the CZU Lightning Complex fires. The wildfire scorched tracks, historic buildings and three of the original engines. On December 2, 2022, Cal Poly University, announced "the railroad does not fit within the strategic intent of the [land]", explaining its decision to abandon the efforts to rebuild the railroad. The railroad will be permanently closed, its equipment donated, and the land will be refocused towards "educational pursuits".

Land uses

Swanton Pacific Ranch is a self-sustaining non-profit organization and educational institution that provides hands-on learning about sustainable resource management. The Ranch is run like a commercial ranching operation, with crops, grazing and forestry programs covering 80% of operating expenses."NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION CATEGORY – Swanton Pacific Ranch." SQA Online Resource Center. 22 Jan.-Feb. 2006. 20 Feb. 2008 <http://www.ecoquality.com/sqa/recipswanton.htm>. The remaining 20% comes from an endowment through Al Smith, a Cal Poly SLO Alumni that gave the Ranch to Cal Poly SLO. Swanton Pacific Ranch serves the people of California as part of the California Polytechnic State University. The Ranch provides educational opportunities for K-12th grade, college age and above. Agricultural programs provide education while incorporating sensitivity for environmental concerns. Ranch management falls into three divisions; forestry, rangeland and cropland.

Forestry

Management philosophy

Cal Poly SLO provides students with a quality education program in Forest Management. The university is committed to presenting a full scope of all timber management procedures to their students. Management activities range from prime commercial Redwood/Douglas fir forests to restoring poor quality damaged stands and improving the genetic base of native Monterey pine trees. Cal Poly SLO students are provided the complex experience of maintaining an uneven aged forest. Valencia Creek and Swanton Pacific are very unusual properties. They each have different harvest rotations and timber harvest plans. These properties provide Cal Poly SLO students with an excellent "learn by doing" opportunity that encompasses the full spectrum of forest management. Cal Poly SLO's forest project goals are twofold; to provide a quality educational program and to ensure healthy forests. The forest management practices are guided by The Forest Stewardship Council's principles and criteria for certified forests. To accomplish the goals of the program, Cal Poly SLO provides the most up to date and innovative management practices available to minimize environmental damage during the harvest. Concern is giving to wildlife habitat but also to making sure the timber stands remain healthy in the future. Redwood also re-sprouts after harvesting. No replanting is required. Some understocked areas are planted with Redwood to increase the Redwood component. Careful monitoring and thinning of the existing clumps is undertaken. The Redwood harvest in the early 1900s included burning which probably helped the regrowth become stronger. Douglas fir does not re-sprout and so must be planted where desired.

Management sites

Little Creek