Hollister Ranch

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The region, presently known as the Hollister Ranch, is defined by 14,400 acres of fallow and fertile fields, mountains and valleys along the Pacific Ocean of California between Gaviota State Park canyon and Point Conception. It was the site of some of the oldest known human settlements in the new world, the last "native" population of which was the Chumash, including two villages. It became part of the extensive Spanish land grant known as Nuestra Señora del Refugio, operated by the family of José Francisco Ortega from 1794.

The land was purchased by William Welles Hollister after the Civil War as part of vast acquisitions whose center was originally located at Glen Annie, Tecolotito canyon.

A cattle ranch since the days of the Ortegas, Hollister Ranch is the fourth largest cattle ranch in Santa Barbara County having shipped over 1,500,000 pounds of beef in the summer of 2005. As a result of the Hollister Ranch Owners’ Association CC&Rs, Santa Barbara County zoning and California’s Agricultural Preserve Program, when fully built out, over 98% of the property will continue to be devoted to well managed and sensitive cattle grazing. Other benefits to Hollister Ranch owners as a result of the cattle operation include a reduced fuel load in the event of range fire and the tax benefits that result from adherence to the restrictions imposed by the Uniform Rules of the Agricultural Preserve.

Hollister Ranch owners pride themselves as responsible stewards of the land, ardently claiming to have worked out a successful formula balancing ecological preservation with residential development which functions within both a working commercial agricultural operation and a healthy natural habitat with a wide range of flora and fauna.

This should be understood as a compromise to drastic projects proposed since the 1970s. Projects, prior to the present development, which sharply restricts construction and limits people on the land, have included oil development, a nuclear power plant and high-density housing—all of which have been and currently are opposed by Hollister Ranch property owners.

The land has become a model for ecological preservation recognized locally and nationally. Along the 8 miles of beach frontage, the shoreline natural habitat has been preserved utilizing methods differing from those found along the rest of the California coastline. The shorebird population of the beaches at Hollister Ranch is the healthiest in Southern California. Numerous scientific studies have been, and continue to be, conducted at Hollister Ranch affording researchers the opportunity to observe phenomena not available in other, over-populated areas of coastal Southern California. Scientists from the University of California Santa Barbara and other research institutions express their appreciation for the manner in which the natural resources at Hollister Ranch have been maintained and protected.

For over twenty years Santa Barbara area grade school children have been encouraged to participate (at no cost to the schools) in the Hollister Ranch Conservancy's “Tidepool Classroom” that preserves intertidal life forms not found elsewhere along the coast.

Hollister Ranch owners are currently restricted in terms of development in a situation that many say will result in efficient preservation of one of the last vestiges of the natural California coastline. They are better stewards, as private owners, than regional public, state or national preservation projects. The owners are determined to protect this precious natural environment from the "negative population impacts" found at virtually all other beach areas in the southern part of the state.

There are several companies, including clothing store chain that take the name Hollister. These are addressed separately on Wikipedia.