Status, conservation, and management of oak woodlands at Tejon Ranch, CA

Abstract

Tejon Ranch, encompassing 109 000 ha, is the largest contiguous private property in California. In 2008, the Tejon Ranch Company and a coalition of five environmental organizations executed the Tejon Ranch Conservation and Land Use Agreement that placed 90 percent of the property into permanent conservation and created the Tejon Ranch Conservancy as its steward. Tejon Ranch supports extensive, diverse, and regionally significant oak woodlands. The Conservancy is characterizing the composition and structure of these woodlands to inform land management. Deciduous oak woodlands at Tejon Ranch are well-stocked relative to deciduous oak woodlands previously surveyed by others in California, but like other California oak woodlands, Tejon Ranch also has a high proportion of low stocked areas. Annual grasses and forbs dominate valley and blue oak woodlands, while black oak woodlands have a higher shrub cover. Photo comparison of deciduous oak woodlands at Tejon Ranch indicates a decline in all three species between 1952 and 2009. The Conservancy proposes to assess ecological sites and vegetation states to inform management, increase oak recruitment with tree shelters, and assess grazing management to enhance understory biodiversity.

Parent Publication

• Proceedings of the seventh California oak symposium: managing oak woodlands in a dynamic world

Citation

White, Michael D. 2015. Status, conservation, and management of oak woodlands at Tejon Ranch, CA. In: Standiford, Richard B.; Purcell, Kathryn L., tech. cords. Proceedings of the seventh California oak symposium: managing oak woodlands in a dynamic world. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-251. Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station: 495-503.