The Land

Swanton Pacific Ranch is comprised of a diverse landscape overlooking the Pacific Ocean, 15 miles north of Santa Cruz. Scotts Creek, a year-round stream reaching to the ocean, bisects the property.

The elevation ranges from sea level at the estuary to around 1,200 feet on the ridge north of Little Creek.

The land use results in four logical divisions; cropland, forest, rangeland, and riparian; however the ranch is managed under holistic management.

The current cropland acreage is approximately 115 acres, all of it in CCOF Certified organic production.

Forested lands are managed as commercial forests and comprise around 1000 acres at Swanton and the entire 620 acres of Valencia Creek. These forests are predominately second growth redwood-Douglas-fir forests resulting from logging from 1909 through 1921. Some of the stands have had logging continuing through the 1970's. Rangeland accounts for roughly 1,900 acres, located primarily on the coastal side of Scotts Creek.

Livestock programs include stockers and cow-calf.

Riparian corridors exist along Scotts Creek, Mill Creek, Little Creek, Archibald Creek, Queseria Creek, and some smaller unnamed drainages. These provide critical habitat to both the endangered Coho salmon and the threatened steelhead trout as do the wetlands at the mouth of Scotts Creek.