The key to life at the ranch is water. It comes in somewhat limited supply and anything we can do to improve water sources improves the habiat not only for livestock, but for wildlife as well.
With 18 ponds over the 2,000 acres, we do have good water supplies, but over the years the ponds have suffered from [...]
Archive for the ‘Endangered species’ Category
Pond Repair at the Ranch
Posted in Endangered species, Ranch Management, Wildlife habitat, bobcats, tagged stock pond repairs on October 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Callippe Silverspot Butterfly
Posted in Ecology, Endangered species, Wildlife habitat, butterflies, outdoors on June 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Another Bay Area endangered butterfly is the callippe silverspot. The reason for its decline is clear. Its habitat is grasslands in San Francisco and other cities surrounding San Francisco Bay.
In the Livermore Hills we find a variety of callippe butterfly that is similar. As with the callippe silverspot, this callippe butterfly is associated with violets [...]
First Fawn – First Rattler
Posted in Ecology, Endangered species, Wildlife habitat, blacktail deer, wildlife conservation, wildlife management on April 21, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Saw a pair of fawns yesterday. First of the year for me. Whenever I see my first fawn of the season, I can’t help but count back to the date it was conceived. I’ve been told that the blacktail gestation period is about 7 months. Various internet sites say it’s about 200 days. That sounds [...]
Thoughts on Managing a Ranch for Native Wildlife, Hunting and Value
Posted in Ecology, Endangered species, Hunting, Land Ownership, Wildlife habitat, blacktail deer, deer, outdoors, wildlife conservation, wildlife management on April 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Our Alameda County ranch, like most ranches, has a variety of habitat types – oak woodland, oak grassland, riparian and chaparral. One thing that’s clear to me is that the effects one can have upon habitat in the hills are more subtile than the results one sees on valley farm ground. Our delta property responds quickly and [...]
In My Perfect World
Posted in Ecology, Endangered species, Hunting, Land Ownership, Wildlife habitat, outdoors, wildlife, wildlife conservation, wildlife management on March 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
In my perfect world, everybody would be a hunter.
It is interesting to imagine how our lives would be changed if everybody hunted. There are many effects that such a change would have on our collective psyche, and also the habitat around us.
At a time when space is at a premium, it is interesting to theorize [...]
Time to Open Lands to Hunting
Posted in Big game hunting, Deer hunting, Deer hunting, Ecology, Endangered species, Endangered species, Hunting, Land Ownership, Mountain lions, Mountain lions, Ranch Management, Wildlife habitat, boar, deer, elk, outdoors, real estate, tule elk, turkey, wildlife, wildlife conservation, wildlife management on January 18, 2008 | 1 Comment »
My brother spotted a deer in Mocho Creek last week. It was a doe. Having lived along Livermore’s Mocho Creek for much of our lives, we know that spotting a deer in the creek is unusual. So unusual that the last deer we saw in Mocho Creek was over 40 years ago.
Our previous deer sighting occured [...]
