More than 1,700 acres of rolling SLO County ranchland now protected as wildlife preserve
More than 1,700 rolling acres at scenic North County countryside are now under the permanent protection of a nonprofit land trust, the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County.
The purchase of the 1,715-acre property at the peak of Highway 46 West is part of the organization’s wider efforts to protect nearly 4,000 acres in the county in the past seven months and shape the future of the Adelaide region near Templeton. There was a 1,700-plus-acre conservation easement in 2018 over neighboring Fitzhugh Hill Ranch.
While longtime rancher Joy Fitzhugh said she’s sorry Santa Rita Ranch is not in private ownership any more ... but “the land conservancy is the way to go because they’re going to try to do their best to keep part of it in grazing.”
Conservation of Santa Rita Ranch at the heart of the southern Santa Lucia Range has been in the works since 2018, when the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County (LCSLO) partnered on the project with The Conservation Fund, a national environmental nonprofit organization.
At the time, the Templeton property had been put on the real estate market by California Outdoor Properties and Mike Gardner of Sotheby’s International Realty.
The Conservation Fund bought the ranch for $8 million in May 2020, then retained ownership of it for the rest of that year, giving the San Luis Obispo County land conservancy a December deadline to raise enough money to pay back the fund.
It took a $3.94 million grant from the California Wildlife Conservation Board’s Streamflow Enhancement Program, fundraising and substantial borrowing from the land conservancy’s internal reserves to meet the deadline, and, according to a recent news release, “complete the purchase and conserve the Santa Rita Ranch forever.”
“LCSLO continues to seek donations to fully fund this remarkable conservation project,” with a virtual art auction starting Jan. 28, the release said.
According to LCSLO executive director Kaila Dettman, the land trust will receive 40% of the proceeds from the auction, which will include plein air paintings created on the ranch by members of San Luis Outdoor Painters for the Environment (SLOPE).
What’s Santa Rita Ranch like?
The land conservancy’s release described the Santa Rita Ranch assets, including “towering valley oaks, dense bay laurel forests and a remarkable freshwater lake. In addition to the ranch’s lush hardwood forests, serpentine outcrops dot the property’s grasslands and support a variety of rare and endemic flowering plants and succulents. Santa Rita Creek — the ranch’s namesake — forms its headwaters here on its way to the Salinas River.”
With a hush of awe in her voice, Dettman said that “the land is full of wildlife. It’s been nice and quiet out there for a long time, with birds using the lake, deer everywhere” and signs of all kinds of other creatures.
According to Dettman, species spotted on the ranch and neighboring areas include mountain lions, bobcats, black-tailed deer, coyotes, bears and California myotis bats. The area is also home to birds such as bald eagles, great blue herons, red-tailed hawks and wild turkeys, she said, as well as reptiles, amphibians, and plants ranging from poppies to oaks.
LCSLO’s plans are to “maintain the property as a wildlife preserve, sustainable working cattle ranch and future nature education center,” according to the release.
“LCSLO will continue to lease the land to a rancher who grew up on the property and has run cattle there for many years,” the release said. “This partnership is in alignment with LCSLO’s mission to support local agriculture and will ensure the ranch remains sustainably grazed.”
Dettman confirmed that the rancher is Austin Hartzell of Templeton, adding that he runs an average of 80 to 90 head of cattle a year on the land, depending on the grass stock and rain totals.
“Continued grazing helps reduce fire risk, and helps local ranchers keep ranching,” Dettman said. “We’re excited to be able to support that, supporting local ag.”
The executive director said the ranch won’t be open to the public in general. But she said the land trust’s wish list for the preserve’s future includes “educational opportunities, learning among the oaks and hardwoods. It’s an incredible place to explore nature.”
LCSLO doesn’t yet have “an exhaustive list of plans yet, because we had to act so fast” on the purchase deal, Dettman said.
However, she said she envisions a “future center for bringing kids out there to connect with nature and agriculture,” and “some way to connect the public with the property in a limited way, maybe with groups and partnering organizations that want to do outdoor educational” tours or programs.
For now, what’s next is “really trying to celebrate the conservation of this spot” and “the excitement of protecting the habitat and ranching,” while raising enough money to replenish LCSLO’s reserve coffers.
“(LCSLO) really worked hard to buy that ranch,” Fitzhugh said, “and the people of the county stepped up to the plate to help them do that.”
History of Templeton property includes notable names
Santa Rita Ranch share its name with the name of the Mexican land grant that once included the property.
One early owner of the ranch was Chris Juhl, a wealthy man who went on safaris in Africa with a battery-powered machine that made one ice cube at a time for his evening cocktail.
Juhl and his brother, George, likely built the ranch’s main house, which is still there. Later, they sold the parcel adjacent to the home ranch, a property that became Santa Rita Ranchos.
In the late 1920s, Chris Juhl sold the ranch itself to Fletcher Harper Sibley and his wife, Georgiana Farr Sibley, two notable names in North Coast history.
Immersed in agriculture, they were instrumental in developing hybrid corn with Cornell University.
Fletcher Sibley was a hands-on farmer and rancher who managed properties in Illinois and Alberta, Canada. He also raised purebred Hereford cattle on the Sibleys’ Rancho Marino in Cambria and Santa Rita Ranch.
Rancho Marino was, for years, known colloquially as the Sibley Ranch, and the hilly, partially forested oceanfront property is now known as U.C. Santa Barbara’s Kenneth Norris Rancho Marino Preserve.
Another Sibley legacy on the North Coast is Camp Ocean Pines, a nearly 13-acre property that they established as a YMCA camp in 1946. Since 1999, the camp has operated as an independent, non-YMCA facility managed by a board of community members.
The Sibleys sold Santa Rita Ranch in the early 1950s to Wilbur Wright Hartzell, Sr., his wife Mary Biaggini Hartzell, their son Wilbur Wright “Bill” Hartzell, Jr., and his wife Mavis Antognazzi Hartzell, who continued raising purebred Herefords there until the 1960s, when they began a cross-breeding cattle program.
In the 1970s, the family began quarrying and selling Monterey shale from the ranch, operating a water-well drilling business. With a partner, the Hartzells established the Santa Rita Ranchos and Summit Hills developments near Templeton and Atascadero, respectively.
Wilbur Hartell and his son were honored, separately,as Cattleman of the Year by the county Cattlemen’s Association, and Bill Hartzell served as a county fair board director.
After his death in 2011, widow Mavis Hartzell and her sons James and Tim Hartzell sold Santa Rita Ranch to Wayne Hughes, heir to a public storage facility empire. He sold the property in May 2020 to The Conservation Fund, which then sold it to the land conservancy on Dec. 29, 2020.
SLOPE art auction raises conservation funds
A month-long virtual art auction is aimed at raising money for the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County.
“SLOPE Paints the Serene Magic of Santa Rita Ranch” runs from Jan. 28 to Feb. 28 at www.slope-painters.com/collections/155114.
A virtual reception will be held on Youtube at 6 p.m. Jan. 28, with featured artists speaking about their styles, techniques and inspirations.
The plein air artists invited to paint on the ranch property during November and December 2020 included show-event chairwoman Tracy Paz, Dennis Curry, Karen Foster, Jan French, Sandi Heller, Dan Jones, Bernie Kurtz, Denise Schryver, Roseanne Seitz, Laurel Sherrie, Elizabeth Tolley and Jim Tyler.
SLOPE is a group of dedicated artists who create paintings outdoors on location and then use their works to focus public attention on preserving local open space for wildlife, ecologically respectful recreation, ranching and farming.
For details, call 805-473-4640, email artist@SLOPE-Painters.com or go to www.slope-painters.com/events.
Tax-deductible donations to the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County can be made at lcslo.org/donate.
This story was originally published January 24, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
