“A-monds,” Gil Ramos answers when naming his primary crop. The word releases from his lips in a drawn-out twang giving the word a certain authenticity that feels more substantial than the “all-monds” that non-farmers use. Gil is a grower inColusaCounty, and his family has farmed the property since 1958. He describes his land with the legitimacy of a lifetime spent outdoors. He knows every curve of the adjoining Salt Creek, every change in grade along the rows of trees, and where the hawks and vultures like to nest. He also knows how important it is keep the land from development.

“This area along Salt Creek is special,” explains Gil. “Because there are no buildings you have a clear view all the way to Lassen Peak, over 160 miles away.”

As a fifteen-year veteran of the Colusa County Resource Conservation District board, Gil is something of a conservation vanguard. He avoided the clean-farming techniques that are common practice in the almond industry, even allowing a UC Davis researcher to monitor a hedgerow he planted ten years ago “because it seemed like I ought to.” That hedgerow is now thick with mulefat, California fuchsia, and manzanita. Warblers flit in and out of the growth.

When his water district decided to address water quality problems resulting from agricultural run-off, Gil was the first to sign on to a new incentive program that encouraged farmers to plant trees and shrubs around farm edges to keep soil in place. With help from the Colusa Resource Conservation District and Audubon California’s Landowner Stewardship Program, Gil has planted two additional hedgerows on his property along with more than a thousand native plants. The goal is to use the plants’ strong root systems to reverse erosion. It will take many more years and several more farmer recruits before researchers can see the water quality improve, but Gil is confident that the new management practices will work.

As the program’s number one booster, Gil never tires of selling his neighbors on the benefit of partnering with Audubon.

“Why do I enjoy working with Audubon?” he says. “Because it’s something to be proud of.”

Photo caption: Gil Ramos is a conservation leader in Colusa County.