Date: Wednesday, March 26
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Location: Stemple Creek Ranch, Tomales
Cost: $30 (Includes coffee, pastries, and lunch)
Join the North Coast Soil Hub, Stemple Creek Ranch, and Point Blue Conservation Science for a day on the land exploring on-farm resilience, grazing management strategies for resource conservation, and evaluation and monitoring tools. With extreme weather events increasing in the region, hear from local ranchers how they are building resilience to drought, floods, wildfire, and seasonal shifts. In addition to learning valuable tools for evaluating changes and monitoring indicators of ecosystem health over time, participants will have the opportunity to gather together, share experiences, and strengthen our regional network.
Speakers
Loren Poncia is the Chief Cow Whisperer and Rancher at Stemple Creek Ranch. Born and raised in Tomales, Loren follows in the footsteps of his parents, Al and Cathie Poncia, as the 4th generation of his family to steward their land. A graduate of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, with a major in Dairy Science and Ag Business, Loren always dreamed of coming back to the ranch to pursue his passion in agriculture. He oversees the entire ranching operation, and spends countless hours carefully studying genetics with the goal of raising grass-fed and finished beef that is tender, well-marbled, and tastes just as good as, if not better than, grain finished meat.
As Director of Soil Research and Conservation, Erika Foster facilitates Point Blue’s soils projects and program development, including collaborating across multiple groups at Point Blue and with critical external partnerships. The team uses cutting edge science and direct collaboration with land stewards to develop monitoring strategies on farms and ranches in California and across the US. Erika earned her PhD in Ecology, in Soil and Crop Sciences at Colorado State University, Fort Collins. Her research background includes investigation of how agricultural management influences soil health, using dynamic properties of life belowground and soil carbon fractions as indicators of changing soil function. Her current work includes implementing the new collaboratively developed Agricultural Carbon Monitoring Program, a flexible accessible framework for technical assistance providers to assess the impacts of conservation management practices on carbon above and belowground. Erika is thrilled to lead a unique team with in-depth experience in soil science and applied conservation management. The team strives to build healthy soils through science-based conservation practices, diverse management approaches and inclusive monitoring options.
Greg Richardson is a Soil Carbon and Regenerative Systems Specialist at Point Blue Conservation Science. In this role he has facilitated the development of Crop-C, a guide for monitoring changes in carbon on croplands, and led updates to Range-C. He previously completed a master’s degree in Soil Science and Agroecology from the U. of Wisconsin-Madison (’18) and subsequently worked for five years at Paicines Ranch as their Director of Research and Monitoring.
Toby O’Geen is a Professor and Soil Resource Specialist in Cooperative Extension and the Russell L. Rustici Endowed Chair in Rangeland Watershed Science in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at UC Davis. His research program focuses on the application of soil-landscape relationships to address issues related to rangeland health, agricultural productivity, environmental quality and natural resource management. His outreach activities emphasize interactive online soil survey delivery mechanisms and decision support tools (apps) for the public: https://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/soilweb-apps/.
