Date:
8/4/2003 12:00:00 AM
Title:
California Ranch is ESAP Region VI Honoree
Work Family Ranch Wins NCBA Environmental Stewardship Award
Washington, D.C. (August 5, 2003) – Elaine and George Work, owners of Work Family Ranch, have been selected as regional winners of the Environmental Stewardship Award, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) announced today. The Work Family Ranch is one of seven regional winners nationwide, and represents NCBA’s Region VI, which includes five southwestern states and Hawaii.
Sponsored by Dow AgroSciences, the Environmental Stewardship Award Program (ESAP) recognizes cattle producers whose stewardship practices are inventive, cost-effective and contribute to environmental conservation. The recipients of this top U.S. beef industry environmental award are selected by a committee of representatives from university faculty, federal and state government agencies, and conservation and environmental organizations.
“We’re so proud of our ESAP winners and the philosophies they embody,” says NCBA President Eric Davis. “Ranchers like Elaine and George Work have an innate love for the land that benefits the environment, their communities, their businesses, and serves as an example for all of us.”
The Work Family Ranch is a combination cow/calf and stocker operation. It is family owned and well on its way to being fifth generation operated. Guided hunts, a Farmstay program, public trail rides, and girls’ horse camp make up the rest of this unique ranch. It is located in part in Monterey County, Calif., and the entrance to the ranch is on the San Luis Obispo County side. The original ranch was homesteaded in the late 1890’s and has been thriving ever since.
The ranch consists of 12,000 owned acres, with 9,000 acres for grazing on native and non-native perennial grasses, 1,000 acres for dryland farming, 1,000 acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, and 1,000 acres rotated between pasture and crops. The ranch is considered a year-round grazing operation with no supplementation to their 200 head of mother cows and 200 head of stockers.
“George Work has been recognized for his pioneering work in soil and water conservation. He was one of the first ranchers in the United States to begin practicing Holistic Management,” says California producer and California Cattlemen’s Association President, Darrel Sweet. “The Work Ranch sets an example that needs to be shared with as wide an audience as possible.”
The Works have been involved extensively with conservation groups, including the Natural Resources Conservation Service through the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program and the Environmental Quality Incentive Program. These involvements have helped fund such ranch improvements as ground level troughs that not only provide their livestock with water, but service the needs of birds and other wildlife. Other conservation projects on the Work Family Ranch include ground squirrel disease research, conservation/no till methods, windmills to help distribute water, no-till planting, leaving some grain crops for wildlife, and other habitat improvements like crushing brush using hay and some hungry cattle.
“Since first learning about the stewardship from my father,” says George Work, “I have understood the importance and responsibility of using management techniques and processes that help ensure the future operation of the ranch for all life.”
The Work Family Ranch, through their operation and outreach, has shown that cattle are not just a commercial product but also a very valuable tool for the environment. The optimum level at which their ranch operates today is due in part to the many groups that the Work family has been involved with, such as: University of California Cooperative Extension, California Department of Forestry, California Department of Fish and Game, Natural Resources Conservation Service and the California Native Plant Society.
The Work Family Ranch will be formally recognized as a regional ESAP winner at the 2004 Cattle Industry Convention and Trade Show in Phoenix, Ariz., next January, when the national award winner will be announced.
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Editor’s Note: For additional information, news releases and fact sheets on individual winners, contact NCBA’s Washington office at 202-347-0228.
Producer-directed and consumer-focused, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is the trade association of America’s cattle farmers and ranchers, and the marketing organization for the largest segment of the nation’s food and fiber industry.