Swanton Pacific Ranch: Cal Poly’s School Forest

This field training is an opportunity for participants to increase their understanding of Swanton Pacific Ranch’s (SPR) past and future land management decisions applied to the school forest, their ability to be involved in opportunities at SPR, and their understanding of how to engage with collaborative natural resource management at SPR moving forward.

Mark Swisher, Director of Swanton Pacific Ranch, will provide context to our sites, discuss the importance of our Seaview Community Firebreak, CZU Lightning Complex fire impact at SPR, and the historic prevalence of education in our school forest. Nadia Hamey, our longtime partners at Hamey Woods, will provide technical knowledge on restoration treatment plans including past and current timber operations, ecological site descriptions related to prescription recommendations, and reforestation efforts. SPR will also address recent understory treatment work which targeted invasive Ceanothus stands that have encroached on and outcompeted reforestation efforts. Amy Ormiston, Forestry Research Assistant at SPR, will discuss Variable Canopy Retention study plots at SPR. This is a multi-year, student-centered research project that examines how variable canopy cover, paired with forest treatments, influence post-fire recovery in redwood forests. Over the past 2 years, Swanton has created post-fire forest health restoration polygons that were thinned at varying levels of canopy retention: 20,50, and 80 percent, and treated with three forest health treatments: lop and scatter, pile burn, and mastication. The workshop will also address the importance of outdoor education, specifically at SPR, and explain how we might maximize our value as an educational resource to serve Cal Poly curriculum, faculty, and students.

Among key discussions from those outlined above, there will also be opportunity for group input, ideas for future opportunities, and identification of blind spots or areas that could be improved at Swanton Pacific Ranch.

This workshop is a great opportunity for students to experience industry conversation and exposure to real world problem solving.