One of the earliest experiments with conservation grazing in San Mateo County took place on hillsides tucked off State Route 84 in the early 2000s. The place was called Driscoll Ranch, and there were few county ranchers who didn’t know its name.

Rudy Driscoll, Jr., once a policeman and later a cattle rancher, always enjoyed his father’s motto for the ranch: “a place for strangers to meet and leave as friends.”

His father, Rudy Driscoll Sr, had purchased the initial land in 1967 and expanded it since, until it reached 3,681 acres- reportedly the largest working cattle ranch in San Mateo County. Rodeos and competitions hosted at the Driscoll Event Center, a rustic arena and cattle holding area, were part of local lore and attracted a diverse crowd, from gay bull riders to mounted search and rescue patrols.

Before his father’s death in 2001, the Driscolls negotiated a deal with POST. The land trust could purchase the property- a long-held dream of the family- and grazing could continue on the ranch land.

“From my side of it, I wanted to make sure cattle grazing was not treated as an evil,” Driscoll said. “It had gotten a bad rap at that point in time. My goal with POST was to create a model to show that cattle could be used as a strong management tool if proper practices were put into place.”

What Driscoll was doing with his cows got some attention in the media, and he felt the message was received by his conservation partners. “We tried to show that cattle made sense on these properties to bring back native species and get rid of exotics,” he said.

In 2006, the district purchased the ranch from the trust for $9 million, leaving the district responsible for assigning future grazing leases. Last year, the district entered into talks to lease and manage, but not buy, the Event Center and a related property on the ranch for the trust.

On a bright day last fall Bob Meehan and KC Andersen were preparing for one final event at the Event Center.

Meehan, who had managed the ranch for 10 years but worked the property for 18, was reflective. “This was the first ranch where cattle were accepted as a land management tool,” he said. “It was Rudy’s vision to help. Our goal here was always to keep the old western way of life going.”

Andersen, a local rodeo promoter and event planner, set out decorative cowboy boots. “This place was so beneficial to the coast,” she said. “The open space groups say that they are preserving this land, but this place preserved something, too: the rancher and cowboy way of life.”

Both were awaiting the results of the district’s bidding process for two new grazing leases, one of which would be awarded to Driscoll Ranch and the other to McDonald Ranch, a neighboring property. The district had merged both properties into their greater La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve.

The district had several of its properties open to grazing already, and had even been grazing Driscoll since 2006. But the thousands of acres in the Driscoll and McDonald ranches were the largest grazing lease they had offered, and it was complicated by the fact that the Driscoll property is expected to be one of their first preserves to combine public trails and grazing side-by-side.

In November, the district announced that they had awarded the leases. Driscoll was awarded to a rancher from San Benito County, and McDonald was awarded to the Markegards, both operators who had experience grazing on open space land.

But the results didn’t sit well with all five finalists. Some accused the district of changing the rules halfway through the bidding process, without allowing them to re-submit new bids. Paul Barulich, whose cattle company was one of the finalists and who had previously grazed on the Driscoll property, felt the process was unclear.

“The people who got the leases are very good ranchers. It was the process that was flawed,” he said.

He felt his concerns over the details of the lease- such as who should maintain control of the Event Center- were never answered during the process. In general, he worries that the District’s bureaucratic style is alienating ranchers. “When requests for proposals are at 26 pages, and you need a PhD to read them, then you have a problem,” he said.

Kirk Lenington, who was involved in the process, said his district only intervened to ensure a fair playing field for applicants.

“What we discovered was that inadvertently as we wrote the request for proposals, we had set it up in a way to favor large operators with a fair amount of experience,” he said. “That resulted in a disadvantage for the San Mateo coastal local grazers, because they are just not running as big of properties.”

To help address this imbalance, a coastal rancher was chosen for one of the two ranches. Lenington hopes that by doing this, coastal ranching will have a stronger presence in future bids.

Barulich also worries about the future of the Event Center, and that certain popular uses- such as rodeos- are being seen as incompatible with open space use. In mid-December, district officials announced that, in managing the Event Center, they would allow cattle transportation, group trail rides, roping competitions, and, for up to two more years, a gay and lesbian rodeo previously held on the site.

Barulich wonders if district planners might not understand the practical benefits of an event like a rodeo, and the consequences of restricting them. “Is rodeo agricultural use? That’s how you train cowboys, so they can hone their skills and tools,” he said.

Credits:
Top image: Bob Meehan surveys the grounds of Driscoll Ranch before turning over the property to the district.
Data: Timeline data courtesy of POST and interview with Rudy Driscoll, Jr. Timeline created with Timeline JS.