Advisory Board Carolyn Battaini

Christa Bigue Diane Centoni Roger Hoppes Joyce James

Gordon Ray MD Tracey Walsh

Staff

Marilyn Johns Director

Leslie Jensen Coordinator Kathi Baxter

Environmental Science Educator

Augie Aguilar

Ranch Foreman

Bruno Acosta Groundskeeper

Wendy Rotchstein Ranch Talk Editor

Program Staff

Denise Kelly Amy Kruckewitt Julie Mathiasen Terri Pacheco Nancy Poss

Elkus Ranch Land Sale

Thank You Volunteers!

News from the Board: Carolyn Battaini

Flora & Fauna - The Bobcat

What’s New at the Ranch?

Master Gardener Report

The Importance of Playtime

Wish List & Calendar

Sale of Surplus Property Benefits Elkus Ranch Submitted by Cindy Barber, UC Director of Development Services

Q u a r t e r l y N e w s o n E l k u s R a n c h P r o g r a m s F a l l / W i n t e r 2 0 0 9

In This Issue

F ollowing years of preparation, UC sold a 450-acre portion of the Richard J. Elkus Ranch in San Mateo County. The university will retain the 150-acre lower parcel, including the conference center, barns, gardens and other facilities. The popular outdoor educational programs of the Ranch will continue.

The property was sold to Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD) to create an endowment to help sustain the Ranch and it’s programming. This particular parcel was important to MROSD as it was the final link in the District’s attempt to create a corridor of public open space from Skyline Ridge to the coast. Ultimately, a continuous hik-ing trail will be developed to realize the District’s dream of a “Purisima to Sea” trail.

The sale provides a financial benefit to the ranch. Founded in 1975 as a gift from the late Richard J. Elkus, the ranch pro-vides environmental and agricultural education programs to approximately 6000 youth and adults each year, with an emphasis on youth from city backgrounds or with disabilities. In accordance with Elkus’ wishes, the sale proceeds established an endowed fund for the benefit of the programs and activities of the ranch and 4-H programs in San Mateo and San Francisco counties.

Marilyn Johns, County Director for San Mateo and San Francisco counties, em-braced this sale, saying “Midpeninsula’s goal is to be a good steward of the land, and our goal is to do environmental education and develop youth as good stewards of the land.”

University of California Cooperative Extension Richard J. Elkus Ranch Environmental Education Center

We would like to thank all of the volunteers who came to help spruce up the ranch on Sept. 19th: The Mukai family, Lisa Gray, Jacob and Damian, Bobbie Benson, the Landens, the Webers, Jake Bowman and Ethan Williams.

Also a big thanks to our faithful volunteers who come on a weekly basis; Deb Hedger and Jessie, Carole Fahy, and the Meadow’s family.

—submitted by Leslie Jensen

Map of Elkus Property Sale

Thank you!

News From the Board by Carolyn Battaini, Advisory Board Member

H ave you visited the Ranch lately? It continues to get better all of the time. Thank you to everyone for contributing your time and effort to make Elkus such a special place. And thank you

Advisory Board members for donating your time on Saturday mornings and weekday evenings to contribute your ideas and help support this wonderful place!

I’d like to share some of the recent successes at Elkus Ranch:

Programs are booked through the Fall and Spring. Programs are correlated to CA Dept of Ed. Academic content standards.

Plans are being discussed to increase the usability of the Elkus Conference Center to provide increased financial support for the great programs. Upgrading the conference center will enhance usage.

Land sale endowment has been created, and more information will be shared as available.

Successful outreach efforts continue to the communities that we serve, our partners, government agencies, and our many constituents.

Grants have been received to acquire a tractor and utility ATV to assist ranch staff with daily ranch chores.

Strategic Plan for 2009-2012

We’d like to keep up the momentum of great activities and therefore the Advisory Board has been discussing strategic goals for the next three years. We’ve come a long way in our almost 30 years, and we continue to focus on the future. The discussion is focused in three areas, from which our action plans will be derived:

Promote educational programs to discover and experience meaning-ful, hands-on activities that are both complementary and integrated with the classroom curriculum.

Repair and improve essential facilities- barn roofs, road upkeep, and ranch house repairs. We are working to create a sustain-able water management plan for treatment, water testing, and to purchase a new 10,000 gallon water tank in the near future.

Financial solvency to fund the vision and keep the programs relevant which support the mission of Elkus Ranch.

You can pass along your values to your children, and their chil-dren, by considering a donation to Elkus Ranch. Here you can see and feel the good works that your donation supports.

Whether your cause is children’s education, the environment, ani-mals, nutrition, or health services, we are involved with these causes here. Please consider a tax deductable donation by sending a contribution now to help us keep Mr. Elkus’ vision funded.

Ranch Talk Fall/Winter 2009

Flora & Fauna

T he Bobcat is a North American wildcat and is often seen at Elkus Ranch during the early morning hours high in the hills above the ranch. Bobcats are generally most active at twilight and dawn and are very shy, avoiding people whenever possible. They stand about 15 inches high at the shoulders and are 25 to 30 inches long with a short “bob” tail. Their coats are pale tan to reddish-brown with scattered dark spots. Bobcats usually live in wooded areas or brushy ravines. At Elkus Ranch there are plenty of California quail and cottontail rabbits for them to eat. They also eat snakes, lizards, and small rodents. Bobcats are solitary animals with individual hunting ranges that vary in size to the availability of prey. Caves, hollow logs and rocky ledges are used as denning sites by pregnant females. Kittens are usually born in the spring.

submitted by Julie Mathiasen, Elkus Ranch Educational Staff

The Bobcat (Lynx rufus)

W e welcomed a new horse to our Elkus family in November. Her name is “Scenic Ms. Hustler”. She was donated to the ranch by Ian Lafoon, DVM. She is a 16 year old registered Paint. Scenic Ms. Hustler was a broodmare, a female horse used

for breeding. She is tall and has a black and white spotted coat. She has one blue eye and one brown eye, common in Paint horses.

Sadly, last winter we lost our 20 year old mare, Glory. This left our other horse, Suzy Q, without a friend. Although Jack, our ram, tried be that friend, Suzy Q was not interested. That’s when we decided to adopt Scenic

Ms. Hustler, since horses do much better when they have a companion. Suzy Q is still letting Scenic Ms. Hustler know that she is in charge. The two of them have been hanging out together and we now rarely see one without the other. They walk up to their hillside pasture and like to boss around the sheep.

We would like to thank Dr. Lafoon for his generous donation of such a beautiful horse.

—submitted by Leslie Jensen, Elkus Ranch Coordinator

What’s New at the Ranch?

O n October 19th representatives from Elkus Ranch and UC Cooperative Extension were pleased to host San Mateo County Supervisor Carole Groom (District 2) on her visit to the Ranch. The group met at the Conference Center where Marilyn Johns, UCCE County Director, had the opportunity to explain UCCE’s history, structure, and educational mission. Marilyn outlined the specific ways UCCE uses information to enrich the lives of Supervisor Groom’s constituents.

Elkus Program Coordinator Leslie Jensen described the Elkus curriculum for school children which serves kids from all backgrounds; giving them a chance to see open space, learn hands-on how we grow and raise the food we eat, and become aware of the importance of good stewardship of our land and natural resources.

Master Gardener Coordinator Shannon Gibbs presented a slideshow about the thousands of volunteer hours and the many outreach projects Master Gardeners have created to teach and assist home and school gardeners throughout the county. Master Gardener Carol O’Donnell talked about the current Master Gardener project at San Mateo County Hospital. This project will transform a large area of lawn into an active edible garden. The garden’s produce will be used to prepare meals at the hospital.

Following the presentations, there was a discussion about funding challenges, particularly UC cuts and County government limitations. Supervisor Groom voiced her admiration and support of the work that Master Gardeners and the UC Cooperative Extension does in the county, recognizing the tremendous challenges ahead for us all in the arena of public funding.

With hope for her future support of UC Cooperative Extension programs, we look forward to a continuing positive relationship with Supervisor Carole Groom.

submitted by Charlene Landreau, UC Master Gardener

Ranch Talk Fall/Winter 2009

W e like to joke that summer camp at Elkus Ranch is legalized child labor. Our barns get cleaned, wool gets washed, garden beds are weeded and seedlings are transplanted. Fences get painted, rocks hauled, mulch spread, and compost gets sifted. And that’s all before lunch. You would think the kids would like to spend the afternoon resting under the shade of a big tree or relaxing by the cool of the creek. Instead, they often choose to head into our continually evolving play area and work even harder. They build forts and teepees, create straw mazes and pyramids, hold weddings and funerals, create and perform original plays, negotiate peace treaties between neighboring villages, and swing from the trees.

We are learning to value this time spent in the play area as much as the time spent with the more structured, adult led experiences and instruction. There is a lot of discussion today about how little time children spend in unstructured play. Even less playtime occurs in natural, outdoor spaces. Outdoor play areas like ours provide children with diverse, multisensory

experiences, opportunities for physically active, noisy and boisterous play, physical, mental and emotional challenges, and opportunities to test their strength and courage. Play is so important to children’s development that its significance in children’s lives is recognized by the United Nations as a specific right. Benefits of outdoor play have been shown to include increased concentration after contact with nature, improved coor-

dination, balance and agility, improved reasoning and observational skills and reduced stress (www.whitehutchinson.com/children/articles/benefits.shtml). Perhaps the best part of outdoor play is that it requires no special equipment, materials or supplies. Go outside and play!!

submitted by Kathi Baxter, Elkus Ranch Environmental Science Educator

Pictured (l to r): Carole O’Donnell, Director Marilyn Johns, Charlene Landreau, Leslie Jensen, and Supervisor Carole Groom

Green Fact If 10,000 people spent an hour mowing their

lawn with a reel mower instead of a gas pow-ered one, we’d avert the pollution caused by driving a car about 10 million miles, plus it's great exercise!

UC Master Gardeners

The Importance of Playtime

County Supervisor Carole Groom visits Elkus

Carolyn B

attaini

http://www.whitehutchinson.com/children/articles/benefits.shtml�

Thank you to our most recent donors!

Augustine Aguilar, Carolyn & Steve Battaini, Kathi Baxter, Bothin Foundation, Diane Brosin, Victoria Fuller, Dr. Ian Lafoon, Jeanne Letsinger, New Leaf Community Market. Please consider donating to Elkus Ranch. Your donations have helped us provide camperships, classroom trips, a display for water education, and complete the Enabling Garden. We are a designated non-profit agency and all donations are tax deductable. Please make all checks payable to: UC Regents and mail to :

RanchTalk 80 Stone Pine Road, #100 Half Moon Bay CA 94019 elkusranch@ucdavis.edu http://cesanmateo.ucdavis.edu

University of California, in compliance with Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex mental or physical handicap, or age in any of its programs or activities, or with respect to any of its employment policies, practices, or procedures. Nor does the University of California discriminate on the basis of ancestry, sexual orientation, marital status, citizenship, medical condition (as defined in Section 12926 of the California Government Code) or because individuals are special disabled veterans or Vietnam era veterans (as defined by the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Act of 1974 and Section 12940 of the California government Code). Inquiries regarding this policy may be addressed to the Affirmative Action Director, University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources, 1111 Franklin St., 6th Floor, Oakland, California 94607-5200. (510) 987-0097.

Elkus Ranch Administration Office 80 Stone Pine Road, #100, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019

Phone: 650-712-3151

Fax: 650-712-3153

Elkus Ranch Wish List Donations towards new barn roofs 4" plant pots Bed sheets Foam camping mats (not air) Garden tools such as: pruning shears, gloves, trowels Deck furniture for conference center Cloth napkins and tablecloths

2009-2010 Calendar Winter camp December 21, 22, 2009

Spring Preschool Days March 3,4,5, 2010

Sheep to Shawl June 12, 2010

Discovery Day Camp session 1 June 14-18, 2010

Range Camp June 20-25, 2010

Discovery Day Camp session 2 June 28-July 2, 2010

Discovery Day Camp session 3 July 12-16, 2010

Discovery Day Camp session 4 July 26-30, 2010

Discovery Day Camp session 5 August 9-13, 2010

Fall Preschool Days September 22,23,24, 2010

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