In the News

In the News

Shea and her partner Jim purchased the ranch in 2000. The property was very run down with numerous red tags. There were manure piles throughout the property and trash mounds everywhere which supported a severe rat infestation. Horses stood knee-deep in muck, retaining walls were backfilled with fresh manure and no drainage, and extremely uneven stalls were matted on top of eroded ground. In the winter, there was water and mud everywhere, the arena turned into a pond, the round pen was a mud pit, and some stalls that were built into a cut in the hill flooded throughout the season. In the summer, the ranch was extremely dusty and flies were abundant everywhere.

Jim and Shea could see much potential in the property, and soon applied for a grant from Ecology Action and the Watershed district, giving them a long list of improvements they were hoping to accomplish. Many months later, the entire facility was rebuilt. Manure and trash piles were hauled off, and a manure management program was implemented. Retaining walls were cleaned out and backfilled with proper drainage. Culverts, drains and gutters were installed, and roads were re-graded and base-rocked. The arena and round pen were torn apart, drainage installed, and proper footing added. Stalls were torn down and re-graded, base-rocked and matted.

All of Shea and Jim's hard work was recognized by the County of Santa Cruz and the RCD and Ecology Action. Stewart Ranch officially became a demonstration site for local livestock and land owners to implement proper horse keeping with less impact on the environment and clean water run-off. Every year, Stewart Ranch hosts workshops and assists in consulting other property owners with ideas for living with horses in the challenging area of San Lorenzo Valley. Below are some articles and information on their projects.

CLEAN WATER/HEALTHY HORSES
The Valley Post, Feb. 18, 2003 - Mar. 17, 2003

Three San Lorenzo Valley horse owners and boarding facilities were recently honored at a Santa Cruz County Horseman's Association meeting. Glenwood Equestrian Center, Stewart Ranch, and ManeDance Ranch were recognized for making improvements to maintain horse health, improve water quality, and increase ease of operations.

Each facility developed a manure and land management plan for their site, as well as making other improvements. The work of the facilities will help reduce pollution of the San Lorenzo River. To learn more about manure and land management, call the Santa Cruz County Resource Conservation District at 831-464-2950. If you have manure to give away or sell, or are in need of manure, visit Ecology Action's material exchange program at www.ecoact.org/zero_waste/promax.html.

ecoactawards_400.jpg (33356 bytes)

From left to right: John Broadwood, Shea Stewart and Jim Walters.

LOCAL HORSE OWNERS & BOARDING FACILITIES RECOGNIZED FOR IMPROVING WATER QUALITY & HORSE HEALTH
Santa Cruz County Horsemen's Association Newsletter, February 2003

Three San Lorenzo Valley horse owners and boarding facilities were given recognition at a recent Santa Cruz County Horseman's Association meeting. Glenwood Equestrian Center (owned by Dorothy Wise and John Broadwood), Stewart Ranch (owned by Shea Stewart), and ManeDance Ranch (owned by Claudia Goodman) were recognized for making horse facility improvements to maintain horse health, improve water quality, and increase ease of opeartions. Each developed a manure and land management plan for their site, and implemented improvements such as use of innovative paddock footing to reduce erosion, installation of gutters and drainage systems to reduce mud, and varying use of parts of their property seasonally. All of these actions will reduce sedmient and nutrient pollution to the San Lorenzo River, which is impacted by these and other pollutants.

The demonstration site owners were pleased to participate in the program and receive acknowledgement for their work at the Horsemen's Association meeting. "The information provided by all of the technical advisors on the project saved me huge amounts of time and money," said John Broadwood of Glenwood Equestrian Center.

These facilities served as demonstration projects for the San Lorenzo Watershed Manure management Program. The Santa Cruz County Resource Conservation District and Ecology Action, with collaboration from the Santa Cruz County Horsemen's Association, partnered over the past 18 months through this innovative program offering educational workshops and technical assistance as well as an online manure exchange program. The program was funded through a grant from the State Water Resources Control Board 319(h) Clean Water Act grant program.

Although this program is coming to an end, interested horse or livestock owners, or residents with property to manage may still obtain free technical handouts on such topics as reducing winter mud and erosion, or composting manure from the Santa Cruz County Resource Conservation District at (831)464-2950. Residents can also obtain free, confidential, non-regulatory technical assistance site visits from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service at (831)475-1967. Additionally, if you have manure to give away or sell, or are in need of manure, check out Ecology Action's online material exchange program, Promax.

Contact: Carey Cooper, SC County Resource Conservation District, Ph (831)464-2950, email: sccrcd@cruzio.com"

COUNTY PROGRAM OFFERS EASY RESOURCE-SHARING OPPORTUNITIES
Register Pajoronian Staff Report, November 5, 2002

Fall is with us and many gardeners are thinking about conditioning their soil over the fallow season. This season is an ideal time to think about maintaining and improving soil fertility. This couldn't be a better time to participate in the resource-sharing program coordinated by Ecology Action in Santa Cruz. In this program, composted manure -- aged or fresh -- can be obtained at a very low cost or free from other residents of Santa Cruz County.

Sherry Bryan, a local famer at Del Sol Organics, participated recently in the program and picked up five yards of composted manure from Claudia Goodman, a horse owner in Ben Lomond. "It was terrific," Goodman said. "I got two nice boxes of heirloom tomatoes in exchange for the composted manure from my horses." "The manure program allowed me to have confidence that, because Claudia was feeding her horses quality food, my field is receiving quality manue," Bryan said.

All Santa Cruz County residents can get composted manure for their garden or farm for free or a small fee. This exchange will help to improve water quality in local watersheds. To connect with a manure provider in the area, contact Promax at www.ecoact.org/zero_waste/promax.html or contact Ecology Action at 426-5925.

The Management Practices for Livestock Owners in the San Lorenzo River Watershed program is run by the Santa Cruz County Resource Conservation District and funded by a grant from the California State Water Resources Control Board. Best site practices for manure management will be demonstrated Saturday. Visitors can tour three local demonstration sites to view these practices. For more information, contact Kirsten Liske at kliske@ecoact. org or at 426-5925 ext 29.

Links:
ECOLOGY ACTION OF SANTA CRUZ
A non-profit organization designing and implementing waste reduction and pollution prevention programs within Santa Cruz County and throughout the state of California.

PROMAX ZERO WASTE MATERIAL EXCHANGE
A division of Ecology Action, ProMAX is an organization dedicated to finding sources of recyclable materials and people who can use them.

GLENWOOD EQUESTRIAN CENTER
Like Stewart Ranch, Glenwood Equestrian Center is another demonstration site for Ecology Action (see the News page for more information).

BACK TO TOP

SR_bottom_72.jpg (6960 bytes)

P.O. Box 1283, Boulder Creek, CA 95006
located in Ben Lomond
831. 336-3252
Email the Ranch