Learning Grounds
Cal Poly's Swanton Pacific Ranch Bustles With Students Eagerly Engaged in Diverse Learn by Doing Activities
The idyllic coastal setting along California’s scenic Highway 1 in Santa Cruz County leads to one of Cal Poly’s greatest assets: the 3,800-acre Swanton Pacific Ranch.
The property, an ecologically diverse living laboratory, is used by hundreds of Cal Poly students annually through internships, courses, field trips and research. The College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences manages the ranch, which is located 15 miles northwest of Santa Cruz, three miles north of the quaint town of Davenport.
A bold initiative to expand the ranch’s accessibility to more students is underway.
Educational opportunities available at the ranch extend beyond the traditional classroom and offer hands-on lessons in sustainable agriculture, timber harvesting, natural resource management, and riparian protection.
In all, there are more than 100 acres of cropland, 1,435 acres of redwood
and Douglas fir trees, and 1,500 acres of grassland.
Richly Diverse Field Studies
Swanton Pacific provides an abundance of Learn by Doing opportunities for students in dynamic and diverse physical and biological conditions.
In California, Swanton Pacific is known as an ecological hotspot because of the biodiversity of its lands, including more than 600 native plant species — many of them rare and endangered — representing 12 percent of all plant species found in the state.
“There is an amazing level of diversity over a very small space,” said Matt Ritter, Cal Poly botany professor and coordinator of the California Big Tree Registry. “It is also home to several national champion trees that are bigger than any other of their species.”
Ritter takes students in several classes to the ranch each year and guides graduate-level research there.
“Swanton is a very important asset to our university because of what it is and what it offers our students,” Ritter said. “It’s a great asset that many universities would love to have.”
Internships are available in the management of watershed, livestock, crops and forestry. Students are also able to work directly with Jacob’s Farm del Cabo, a certified organic farm that leases cropland from Swanton Pacific Ranch to grow a variety of culinary herbs.
Each year more than 50 students from across all disciplines apply for about a dozen internships, said Brian Dietterick, ranch director.
The demand has spurred long-desired plans to expand. Fundraising is now underway to build an educational learning center and field camp that will accommodate nearly all the students who apply.
“We know we want to get more students here,” said Dietterick. “So how do we best accomplish that while balancing our staffing resources and facilities?”
Dietterick and his staff succeeded in getting the new learning facilities approved by the Santa Cruz County Planning Commission. Now the team is preparing for the next task — to raise the $10 million needed to make it a reality.
Courses at Swanton Pacific are primarily offered to Cal Poly students; however, partnerships with other universities and the community allow for additional educational opportunities such as field trips, workshops and seminars. Campuswide curriculum and research options are aplenty: agri-tourism, environmental
ly conscious architectural design and construction, sustainable uses of the land, nutrition and food science, crops, livestock, range management, environmental conservation and ecology studies are just some.
Three holistic management apprenticeships have also been added in crops and livestock, allowing recent graduates to get up to three years of extended work experience on the land. One additional position in forestry and watershed management is also in the works.
Growing The Program
Hints of the property’s history are visible in its aging buildings. However, the surrounding lands remain pristine following years of sustainable management overseen by a small staff and large group of students.
After nearly two decades of effort, plans to transform Swanton Pacific into a state-of-the-art educational hub for Cal Poly students were approved by the Santa Cruz County Planning Commission in March. The project will enable the program to quadruple the number of students offered internships, expanding its capacity to accommodate up to 48 additional students. The improvements will also allow for more long-term graduate research opportunities and will more than double the available research and laboratory space.
The approval paves the way for the long-envisioned Swanton Pacific Educational Center and Field Camp, 12 student cabins totaling 3,840 square feet, an uncovered amphitheater, two staff duplexes, and a laundry and break room. In addition, improvements to existing facilities will result in a large classroom and a dining hall complete with a commercial kitchen.
Ultimately, the new educational facility will allow for additional courses to be taught during summer quarter, including expanding existing courses in sustainable forestry, wildlife ecology, and sustainable rangeland management. New courses will be introduced as well, addressing topics such as hydrogeology, sustainability, and a proposed collaborative food systems course offered by Cal Poly’s Center for Sustainability and UC Santa Cruz.
The catch? The planning approval stipulates that the college has three years to begin construction. “The time is now,” said Dietterick.
To learn more about Swanton Pacific Ranch, a treasured Cal Poly asset for Learn by Doing opportunities, watch the video below.
Interns Find Learn By Doing Experiences Abundant at the Ranch
Tyler Davis, 21, of Sacramento, Calif., is an environmental management and protection major whose career goal is to work on fishery restorations.
“This internship epitomized the Learn by Doing philosophy,” said Davis. “For the summer I had the chance to be fully immersed in my field of study. The most valuable lesson I learned was understanding interconnectedness of all the ranch’s operations and environmental stewardship.”
Chelsea Glasnow, 21, of Santa Clarita, Calif., is a food science major studying culinary arts who wants to open a sustainable food restaurant.
“I learned a lot about my capacity to make meals and stay on budget,” Glasnow said. “The most valuable lesson I learned here is to not limit yourself and to embrace all of the wonderful people around you and what they specialize in.”
Justin Trabue, 20, of Washington, D.C., is a wine and viticulture major whose career interest is in sustainable vineyards.
“Swanton taught me how to work as an individual and with other people,” said Trabue. “At Swanton I learned that your ideas are not the only ones and that through other people’s experiences and knowledge you can better understand what you are learning to do.”
Yanlei Wu, 24, from China, is an animal science seniorwhose career goal is to be a veterinarian.
“The students and staff developed close relationships; you could really sense the synergy and feel how much everyone cared for each other. We became a family, basically. Everyone was so kind and
so sincere.”
Al Smith's Legacy
Al Smith, a Cal Poly alumnus and credited founder of Orchard Supply Hardware, donated the Swanton Pacific Ranch to Cal Poly in 1993 with one simple request — that it be preserved as a working ranch and living laboratory dedicated to Learn by Doing educational opportunities and that the remaining large redwoods, including one tree known as General Smith, be left untouched.
A railroad enthusiast, Smith also asked that the railroad he built on the property be maintained and available to the public. Today, it is preserved by the Swanton Pacific Railroad Society.
Smith, who earned a bachelor’s degree in crop science and a master’s degree in agricultural education, fell in love with Swanton’s natural landscape when he camped there as a young Boy Scout. He made it his life’s mission to acquire as much of the surrounding land as he could. It took him nearly 40 years to acquire the ranch, which makes up much of the original Rancho Agua Puerca y las Trancas Mexican land grant.
Smith valued the real-world educational experiences offered by Cal Poly and collaborated with the university as early as the mid-1980s. When he died in 1993, the framework for transforming Swanton Pacific Ranch into an educational facility was in place.
Today Swanton Pacific Ranch is a model for the practice of informed land stewardship and sustainability. It is dedicated to providing students and faculty with unparalleled learning and research opportunities for understanding sustainable land management practices.