Quick Facts:
- 197 acres north of Lincoln along Raccoon Creek
- Protected in 2022 by an Agricultural Conservation Easement, which allows the current or future landowner to continue ranching or farming
- Family-owned and operated cattle and mixed livestock ranch; high-quality grazing land, consisting of blue oak woodlands and annual grasslands
- Funding was provided by California Climate Investments and special reserve funding donated by our members over the years for agricultural conservation
About The Preserve
Whiskey Run Ranch is a family owned and operated cattle and mixed livestock ranch. The land is high-quality grazing land amidst blue oak woodlands and annual grasslands, with a quarter-mile stretch of Raccoon Creek running through the ranch.
Placer Land Trust purchased an Agricultural Conservation Easement from the landowners at market value, permanently protecting the property while allowing the landowners to continue their agricultural operations. The landowners wanted to protect the ranch from subdivision and development and pass it along intact to their children and future generations. Under the Agricultural Conservation Easement, the landowners retain the right to limited development so that the family can continue to live and work the land, while being compensated for giving up the right to subdivide and fully develop the property.
Sustainable Livestock Ranching
The landowner has a family history of farming and wanted to establish a sustainable livestock grazing program on the ranch, allowing for other compatible uses such as inviting youth and scout groups out to the ranch for educational opportunities. When purchased by the landowners in 2016, the ranch had been severely overgrazed. Following the advice of the University of California Cooperative Extension Farm and Ranch Advisor, the landowners determined how many cattle the ranch can sustainably support, and decided to let the land rest and recover for several years before re-starting a commercial operation.
During the rest period, the landowners experimented with rotational multi-species grazing and developed a plan for a sustainable mixed livestock operation. They grazed the ranch with two horses, five goats, 150 chickens, and two steers using rotational grazing in order to get experience with portable fencing, and to see the effects on the land. Grass, wildflower, and other foraging growth have since significantly rebounded, allowing them to bring more cattle back to the ranch. Grazing with mixed livestock is one component of their plans for a sustainable operation, since different livestock target different forage. The ranch has several separate permanently-fenced sections to allow for rotational grazing, and the landowners use this property in rotation with another 500 acres of surrounding properties to allow a sustainable grazing intensity.
Conservation Values
In addition to the benefits to local agriculture, protecting this land helps preserve the Raccoon Creek corridor, an important migration route allowing wildlife to move west to east. Special-status species in the area include Swainson’s hawk, Tricolor blackbird, California black rail, steelhead, salmon as well as several plants listed as rare by the California Native Plant Society. The landowners have observed juvenile salmonids, bald eagles, golden eagles, various hawks, owls, hummingbirds, wood ducks, mallards, woodpeckers, turkeys, quail, deer, black bear, bobcats, foxes, and skunks on the property.
Creatively Meeting Funding Challenges
Funds for the Whiskey Run Ranch project were made available through the California Strategic Growth Council’s Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program (SALC) in collaboration with the Department of Conservation. SALC is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment – particularly in disadvantaged communities. Placer County remains one of the fastest-growing counties in California, and the growth of Lincoln has been particularly explosive, with hundreds or even thousands of acres of farmland being converted to development every year. Agricultural conservation easements that limit or prohibit future residential development avoid the ongoing GHG emissions associated with that development, and also promote healthy land use practices that promote environmental health.
State funds were to be supplemented by federal grant funds, but federal funding fell through at the last minute and Placer Land Trust tapped special reserve funding donated by land trust members over the years for agricultural conservation.
“We’re thankful for the State’s investment in protecting agricultural lands like Whiskey Run Ranch,” says Placer Land Trust Executive Director Jeff Darlington. “In this case, our local members and supporters of Placer Land Trust deserve a special shout-out for making this project happen.”
Whiskey Run Ranch is private property and is not open to the public. For a list of our properties that have public trails, visit our Trails page.
