Farm to Forest

Owner does his part for river reclamation project   

Ashleigh Empey, Kendra Gunnoe, Kaitlyn Hebb, and her mother, Alicia Hebb (right), work together to plant one of the many trees along the Tuolumne River east of Grayson. The four are from Brownie Troop 404 of Modesto (photo by Marty Bicek, Sacramento Bee photographer).

The idea was to plant trees, and plant they did — valley oak, red dogwood, and Oregon ash — on land adjoining the Tuolumne River where almond trees and rows of melons and pumpkins once had flourished.  Stands of cottonwoods and willows already are taking shape on some portions of the 165 acres owned by Tim Venn.

In just three years, if all goes as planned, a forest will be well on its way to reclaiming the area just east of Grayson that had been farmed for more than 30 years by the Venn family.

No, he's not quitting the business just taking his farming practices in a new direction — one borne out of practicality as well as a desire to be a good environmental steward.

"It is a little bit of both, I guess," Venn said as carloads of volunteers arrived at his ranch. "Before 1997, we had 100 acres of almonds here.  I also had 20 acres of fruit trees like Asian pears and a truck garden with row crops."

That all changed eight years ago when Tuolumne River flooding inundated Venn's parcel. The water carried raw sewage, trash, and all types of debris — from old wooden garage doors that apparently had been used for fencing, to various chemicals and equipment used to make illegal drugs such as methamphetamine.

"It was a real mess," Venn said.

The 1997 storm, Venn said, was just one of the more extreme examples of flooding on the site since the early 1980s.  Venn's property is the largest chunk of the Big Bend Habitat Restoration — a 240-acre project aimed at improving and, in some cases, restoring forest, river, and wildlife habitat along the Tuolumne River.

Patrick Koepele of the Tuolumne River Trust, which sponsored the tree-planting session, said the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service bought easements on the site.  Those easements, he said, will permanently protect the land for conservation purposes. But Venn retains ownership and all his associated rights, including minerals, hunting, and fishing. 

The East Stanislaus Resource Conservation District, Koepele said, provided funding to buy one of the parcels.  Koepele said the California Department of Water Resources and National Marine Fisheries Service provided additional money to complete the land transactions and launch the habitat restoration.  Planning and getting permits for the project took about two years, Koepele said. Only native trees, shrubs and grasses are being planted.

About 60 percent of the trees planted, Venn said, were cuttings taken from native trees growing along the river where the Tuolumne bends around his property. The other 40 percent came from nurseries.  Although the usual practice is to plant oak tree acorns, Venn said.  But there were so few oak acorns in the valley this year, he said, the decision was made to use cuttings from oak trees.  Venn said he's hopeful that at least 60 percent of the cuttings will survive.

Cub Scouts, Brownies, and Girl Scouts were among those who helped plant trees.  Kaitlyn Hebb, 7, of Modesto said planting a tree was fun, except when "I got dirt in my eyes."  Kaitlyn and the other children and grown-ups who helped with the plantings received a briefing from Koepele before hiking about a quarter-mile to the work site.

Chyril Turner and Doug Beaman of Modesto were among the 25 to 30 tree-planting volunteers. Both said they have donated money to the Tuolumne River Trust in the past.  Planting trees, Beaman said, "is a fun way to be of service."

Added Turner: "And help make the world a better place."

Venn said the after the volunteers planted the 200 trees, he watered them for the first time.  "They look pretty good," he said, adding it was too early to say just how many of them might survive and reach maturity. "We'll just have to wait and see."  In the meantime, Venn said, he would water the trees once a week, until the winter rains arrive.  "You know how it is (with farming)," he said. "Either we don't get enough rain or we get too much."
Story by Michael G. Mooney, Sacramento Bee staff writer, at 578-2384.