fall 2008 conservation quarterly - yolo county resource conservation district

8/3/2019 Fall 2008 Conservation Quarterly - Yolo County Resource Conservation District

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Fall 2008

Yolo County Resource

Conservation District

Published by the Yolo County Resource Conservation District

Continued on page 2

Volume 12 Issue 1

Conservation

Quarterly

Dixon Ridge Farms: Organic Walnuts and Bioenergy Productionby Diane Crumley

Inside this edition:Conservation Profile: Russ Lester

Cache Creek Discovery Day a Success

Local Farm Workers Learn about Snakes

New Watershed Grants Fund Coordinators

2008-2009 Field Meeting Series Flyer

Farewell to Paul Robins after 13 Years

Welcome to New Executive Director

East of the town of Winters is Dixon Ridge Farms,where Russell and Kathleen Lester produce organicwalnuts on 500 acres of their 1,250 acre farm site. Fromthe road, the predominant view on the spring day Ivisited included generously spaced trees, and an orchardfloor of diverse cover crops in bloom and buzzing withpollinators. From this quiet roadside scene, it is not im-mediately apparent that Dixon Ridge Farms is the largesthandler of organic walnuts in the United States, processingand shipping from over 65 organic growers. Originatingfrom this quiet Winters locale, their Chandler blondebeauties can be found nationally in organic outlets such

as Whole Foods, and there is an increasing internationalmarket for this product in places such as Japan, whereLester sells them by their varietal names, similar to themarketing of wines elsewhere.

Both 1977 UC Davis graduates, Russ and Kathy setabout farming at Dixon Ridge in 1979, when Russ boughtthe property from his father, Will Lester, thus continuinga century-long family farming tradition. Russ and Kathyreside and work at Dixon Ridge, and have raised fivedaughters there. Continuing along the multi-generational

farming path is daughter Jenny Lester Moffitt, who worksas Managing Director, handling sales, marketing, andbusiness administration. Russ removed the unproductivealmond orchard originally on the property, and beganthe transition from traditional to organic farming methods. In 1992, Dixon Ridge sold its first certified organic

shelledwalnuts, and have consistently expanded salesand production each year, achieving on average a 40%increase per year between 1992 to 2007.

WHOLESYSTEMFARMING

Although producing a premium quality walnut is oneof their primary objectives, the farms goals are broadereaching, and include a strong commitment to sustain-ing family farming, providing secure jobs for their 36employees, and supporting education, research, and theecosystem. Russ employs a whole systems approach basedon enhancing what is already in place. Russ clearly recallthe advice received over a decade ago by UC CooperativeExtension specialist, Walt Bentley--protect and utilize thenatural predators and parasites that are commonly found

Russ Lester & Jenny Lester Moffit continue a family tradition.


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Conservation Quarterly

page 2 Fall 2008

Dixon Ridge Farms, continued from page 1

RCD Directors

Blair Voelz, Chairman

James Mayer, Vice Chairman

Rudy Lucero, Director

David Gilmer, Director

Rachael Freeman-Long, Director

Wyatt Cline, Associate Director

Scott Stone, Associate Director

Garth Williams, Associate Director

RCD Staff

Dan Efseaff, Executive Director

Jeanette Wrysinski, Senior Program Manager

Mark Lane, Water Lab Manager

John Reynolds, Revegetation Specialist

Tanya Meyer, Vegetation Management Specialist

Sue McCloud, Finance Manager

Diane Crumley, Technical Writer

Sheila Pratt, Administrative Assistant

NRCS Staff

Phil Hogan, District Conservationist

Wendy Rash, Soil Conservationist

Ha Truong, Agricultural Engineer

Nick Gallagher, Rangeland Management Specialist

STAFF

in walnut orchards. Thus, the use of a variety of covercrop mixtures can be viewed as the starting point for theLesters whole system farming plan.

In the portion of their orchards where water is avail-able to the entire soil surface, and where maximumnitrogen is needed, they apply their rich mix of cover

crops that include a variety of vetch types (woolly pod,purple, and common), crimson and sub-clover, burr medic,and barley, oats, and cereal rye. In the orchards withmicro-sprinkler irrigation, they use a different mix that pro-duces less biomass, but produces earlier seed and nitrogenproduction under drier soil conditions. Their cover cropsgrow during the season of walnut tree dormancy, so thisminimizes competition with the trees for water.

Cover crops benefit organic walnut production in anumber of ways: providing nitrogen fixation, stimulatingsoil microbial activity that aids in the eventual release ofnutrients from organic matter, suppressing weeds, and

controlling soil erosion and reducing soil compaction.Cover crops also increase biodiversity and can attract,feed and harbor prey for beneficial insects, spiders andpredatory mites. Also important is the potential reductionin dust, which benefits air quality and reduces conditionsattractive to spider mite pests.

REDUCE, RE-USEAfter harvest, pruned tree limbs, leaves and twigs are

chipped and re-applied to the soil surface, and walnuthulls are dried and then spread back onto the orchardfloor. This is an efficient improvement on traditionalpractices that typically involve burning the piles of post-harvest waste.

Water from the flood-irrigated portions of the farm

is retrieved in small basins and recirculated into theirrigation system for re-use. With assistance from an En-vironmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) contractlast year, the Lesters have installed over 200 acres ofsprinkler irrigation, and will be planting filter strips andhabitat-enhancing hedgerows along orchard borders.

Walnut shells removed during processing are placedaround the sprinklers to discourage weed growth.

SHELL POWERIn addition to their efficient farm resource recycling,

Dixon Ridge Farm is now home to the BioMax 50, anextremely innovative biopower system that convertsbiomass residues from their walnut shells into clean andgreen electricity, heat, and eventually synthetic dieselfuel. The BioMax 50 is being developed by the Com-munity Power Corporation from Colorado as a modularbioenergy production system that to date has convertedthe following non-edible by-products into electricity:peanut, pecan, nutmeg and coconut shells, wood chipsand sawdust, coffee husks, corn, soybeans, and chickenlitter. With the help of a grant from the California EnergyCommission and a $30,000 investment from Lester fora concrete slab and other infrastructure, Dixon RidgeFarms became home to one of the first four BioMax 50sin the world, and is the first to be used on a farm withthe goal of eventual energy self-sufficiency.

Biomass energy is a form of solar energy stored byplants through the photosynthesis process. Accordingto the Michigan Biomass Energy Program, this potentialenergy resource is quite significant. Each year, approxi-mately 100 terawatt-years of energy are stored by plants,which is equivalent to 10 times the energy needs of cur-rent human activities!

The first module of the BioMax 50 not only providesthe shells to the gasifier, but also dries the biomass byrecycling the heat output from the gasification process.The second module converts the biomass to a gas thatcan then be used to make electricity, heat for shaft power,or eventually liquid fuels. The use of the BioMax 50does not generate harmful emissions, and the char-ashproduced can be added back to the soil, thus providingadditional carbon sequestration.

So far, this system has utilized about 1/3 of the an-nual 2.5 million pounds of walnut shell by-product toproduce $30-40,000 worth of electricity and $9,000 of

Continued on page 3


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page 3 Fall 2008

propane, which has off-set 40% of their electricity usageduring shelling and freezer storage, and 25% of the pro-pane needed for walnut dryers and the heating of farmbuildings during the winter. Russs goal is for 100% energyindependence by 2012, which could be accomplished bythe next model called the BioMax 100 and the addition

of a synthetic diesel fuel production module to be put inplace later this summer.

Russs future energy production goals are to increasethe use of solar roof panels up to 100,000 square feetand to experiment with the production of biodiesel fromwalnut oil pressed from inedible walnuts, which couldpotentially provide 75% of the diesel needed for histractors, trucks, irrigation and generators.

The results of this grand energy experiment that

Russ has been conducting at Dixon Ridge Farms havebroad-reaching implications, and have the potential tobenefit many growers in the future. The Lesters are an-other prime example of the competence and innovativespirit that fortunately is so prevalent among the growersin our region.

May is officially designated as Watershed Awareness Month inCalifornia, with the goal of emphasizing the importance ofwatershed education and stewardship activities at the local communitylevel. This year, the Cache Creek Nature Preserve served as a beautifulaccessible and educational venue for the second annual Cache CreekDiscovery Day. The free one-day outdoor learningevent was attended by over 160 residents from

Farm workers introduced to local snakes

Snakes are an important part of a healthy ecosystemboth on the farm and in wildlife areas. Snakeeat rodent pests such as mice, moles, voles, gophersand ground squir-rels that can harmcrops, damage ir-rigation lines andweaken bermsand levees. Ad-ditionally, snakesaid in controllinginvasive speciessuch as bullfrogsand red-earedslider turtles, andprovide food forother beneficialwildlife species, such as raptors. Despite the potentiabenefits of having snakes on the farm, many farm worker

concerned for their own safety will kill any snake theyencounter immediately.

On an early morning in March, YCRCD and CacheCreek Conservancy staff held an informal workshop at theheadquarters of Joe Muller & Sons, to introduce farm workers to useful information about our local snakes. Jeff Clarkeducation coordinator at the Cache Creek Nature Preserveled the workshop with Spanish translation by Elpidio Ti-

jerino from the Yolo County Department of Agriculture. Mr.Clark gave a PowerPoint photo presentation highlightinglocal species, their benefits to farmers, and what to do ifyou see one: back away slowly, and give them time to getaway, because they are more afraid of you, than you are ofthem. Participants were shown slides comparing the verycommon gopher snake to the western rattlesnake. Gophesnakes often attempt to mimic rattlesnakes by pulling theirmore slender heads back into a triangular shape, hissingand shaking their rattleless tail in the hopes of foolingand scaring off potential predators.

If you are interested in hosting a snake educa-tion workshop on your farm, please contact Jeanette

Wrysinski at YCRCD at 530-662-2037, ext. 118. YCRCDwould like to thank Pacific Coast Producers for providing refreshments.

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Dixon Ridge Farms, continued from page 2

Watershed Explorers Converge on Cache Creek

for Discovery Day 2008

Continued on page 4

Walnut shell mound ready for use by BioMax50.

Hands-on biomonitoring lesson.

Jeff Clark, Cache Creek Conservancyintroduces gopher snake.


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Fall 2008 page 4


New Grants to Expand Watershed Coordination EffortsYCRCD has recently been awarded grants from the

CA Department of Conservations Watershed Coor-dinator Program. The cumulative three-year fundingof $373,000 will support two additional watershedcoordinator positions for both northern and south-ern Yolo County, and will increase our capacity forregional collaboration ongoing in Colusa, Lake andSolano counties.

One of the new watershed coordinators, HeatherNichols-Crowell, will serve landowners in the HungryHollow, Dunnigan Hills and Dunnigan/Zamora regionsto guide the development of local stewardship plans toaddress flood management and stream restoration, andto assist family farmers and other landowners in research-ing innovative methods for farmland protection and easement options.

South of Cache Creek in the Willow Slough watershed, a second coordinator, Chris Robbins, will focus efforts oassisting smaller, tributary sub-watershed groups along Lamb Valley Slough, Lower Willow Slough, Chicka

hominy Slough and other waterways as such grouparise. Watershed-based activities in adjoining areasuch as Solano County, Putah Creek and CachCreek will be important partnerships in terms oshared learning, program development, and largewatershed coordination.

Throughout the region, watershed coordinators will guide the implementation of the new

Welcome to the Watershed Program (to be described in the next issue), continue working ocritical resource issues including water quality, soerosion, air quality, and assist stakeholder groupin establishing long-term funding strategies fo

their prioritized conservation efforts.

Discovery Day, continued from page 3 a Tule bracelet, and hands-on hydrology by carvingtheir own channel at the stream table.

The event was organized and hosted by the CacheCreek Watershed Forum, a tri-county group of naturaresource, agricultural and educational partners who meetbi-monthly to share information and develop regionalcollaborative strategies to improve watershed healthMembers include US BLM, Lake and Yolo Counties, Eastand West Lake RCD, Colusa and Yolo County RCD, Rum-sey and Robinson Rancherias, Cache Creek ConservancyCache Creek Watershed Stakeholders Group, TuleyomeArea Sierra Club and Audubon Society chapters, and YoloCo. Flood Control and Water Conservation District.

Support for the event was provided by CCWFmembers CALFED Watershed Program grants, YoloCounty Dept. of Parks and Natural Resources, andan anonymous donor. Additional thanks go to GoodHumus Farms, Fully Belly Farms, Three Docs Ranch andManas Ranch for local produce, Woodland High SchooFFA for a BBQ lunch and Boy Scout Troop 68 & CCNPvolunteers. We are looking forward to hosting nextyears event at Anderson Marsh in Lake County.

Yolo, Colusa, Lake, and other Bay Area counties, whocame to enjoy the watershed amongst the oak woodlands,wetlands and riparian habitat that has been restored at theCache Creek Nature Preserve.

Discovery Day is designed for all ages with specialemphasis on providing hands-on outdoor learning op-portunities for elementary school-aged youth, with abroad range of topics relevant to the watershed. With 12learning-stations, two guided hikes, and reptile and rap-tor presentations in the old barn, visitors had plenty ofactivities to explore, and enjoyed taking a rest at lunchtimelistening to the Flatland String Band and Kent Reevescowboy poetry.

Cooling off and doing some creek-wading at the bio-monitoring station was a very popular destination amongall ages, where visitors collected streambottom critterssuch as mayfly and dragonfly larvae as living indicators ofwater quality. Along the path overlooking the wetlands,students tried their hand at playing Water-use Monopoly,identifying local mammal tracks & native plants, weaving

Willow Slough watershed, western Yolo County.

Hungry Hollow region, northwestern Yolo County.


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Fall 2008 page 5

We also extend a welcome to ALLIE SCRIVENER, whoworked on several projects as a summer intern. She has

been conducting surveys of theprogression of the tamarisk leafbeetle along Cache Creek andhas assisted our Ag Water Man-ager, Mark Lane, with irrigationevaluations as part of the Mo-bile Water Lab program. After abusy year in the classrooms ofUCD, Allie has enjoyed gettingan on the ground educationon the creeks and farmlands inYolo County.

Departure and Arrivals

After almost 13 years with YCRCD, our ExecutiveDirector, Paul Robins left Yolo County for life nearWatsonville with his family. YCRCD staff and board badehim farewell with a barbeque at the home of John andMarsha Anderson on June 19, and he left us with a fewwords of farewell:

Working in Yolo County with family farmersand ranchers, the RCD Board and staff, and agencyand organizational partners for the past 12+ yearshas been an honor and a blessing. The partnershipsand potential for good work on the ground in thiscounty are entirely unique. Im not sure how to ex-press how grateful I am for what working with youall has given me; it gives me a history, technical toolsand confidence to plug into my work on my newhome place among 5 acres of Pippin apples and withthe RCD of Monterey County, that I know I didnthave even 5 years ago.

I know Im walking into a sea of conservationconfusion in the context of light brown apple moth,food safety vs. water quality, and a $3 BILLION ageconomy. I cant say Ill begrudge the sea breezesand redwood trees, but its going to be some workregrowing the roots that I tear out from this cornerof the Central Valley after 25 years. Probably whatexcites me the most about our new home is that Illbe joining forces with a family that has been farm-ing that ground for well over a century. While Imnot much of an example, I hope my kids will opt tosettle and work on family land there as we make ourown place in the coastal small farming community.Thank you for helping me set the stage for this nextstep in our familys life.

Please welcome DAN EFSEAFFwho joined YCRCD asExecutive Director in mid-August after almost 10 years withRiver Partners in Chico, CA. Dan was raised on a family farmin Kern County, learning the ropes of farm work before head-ing off to college for degrees in Biology and Environmental

Toxicology. He joined RiverPartners in 1999 as a tractordriving ecologist and hasprovided leadership as their

Restoration Ecologist andan innovator in the fieldof habitat improvement inCalifornia. Together withhis wife, Susan, and fourdaughters, Dan will bestarting a new chapter in hiscareer and life here in YoloCounty. Please drop him a

line or stop by to introduce yourself (or haul him aroundin your truck) as he gets his feet planted in Yolo loam andwork forging ahead with YCRCD staff and Board.

Pauls farewell BBQ, full of tributes for a job well-done.

Pauls last day at YCRCD - monitoring sites on Cache Creek.

Photocourtesyo

fPhilHogan.


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YoloCountyRCD/NRCSFieldOffice

221W.CourtStreet,Suite1

Woodland,CA95695

Findprojectprogressreports,events,links,andupdatedconservationarticlesontheRCDwebsiteatwww.yolorcd.org

The Yolo County RCD offers various resource materials for sale. To place an order, send your request toYolo County RCD - Orders, 221 W. Court Street, Suite 1, Woodland, CA 95695; call 530-662-2037, ext. 117;or send an e-mail to [email protected].

Please add tax and shipping and handling costs to publication prices below:

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Woodland,CA Ifyouwouldliketoreceivethisnewsletterelectronicallyinsteadofbymail,[email protected].

Know Your Natives; A Pictorial Guide to CANative Grasses (includes supplement) ................ $30

Know Your Natives - supplement ONLY ..............$15

Bring Farm Edges Back to Life! ............................. $15

California Native Grass (poster) ........................... $17

Monitoring on Your Farm ........................................$15

Working Habitat for Working Farms (video) ....$10 Please add 7.75% sales tax to prices

Shipping & handling:

1 item: $6.00

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fall 2008 conservation quarterly - yolo county resource conservation district

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