3 Calhoun Sisters Ranch Earns Audubon Certification for Bird-Friendly Habitat

Livermore, Calif. (July 29, 2024) — The National Audubon Society is proud to announce the 3 Calhoun Sisters Ranch near Livermore, California, has earned designation as an Audubon Certified bird-friendly habitat. This certification, awarded through Audubon’s Conservation Ranching program, recognizes lands managed with a focus on birds and biodiversity.

With this certification, the 3 Calhoun Sisters Ranch will use the Audubon Certified bird-friendly seal to promote its ranch brand, Circle H Beef, signifying the bird-friendly land origin of those products.

The ranch, managed by sisters Nancy Calhoun Mueller, Susie Calhoun, and Merry Carter, is steeped in history. The Calhoun family has been a fixture in California’s Livermore Valley since the late 1850s, with a legacy of farming and ranching on Mines Road for over a century.

Nancy Calhoun Mueller, who resides on the property with her husband, oversees the cattle operations. “The biodiversity of our ranch, the open grassland, the oak woodlands, and the riparian areas create an environment where birds and cattle can thrive. The Audubon Certified bird-friendly recognition ensures consumers that the cattle, the birds, and the environment are all being cared for. We are privileged to be in partnership with the Audubon Conservation Ranching program,” she said.

Since assuming management on their family ranch in 2018, the Calhoun sisters have dedicated themselves to improving the habitat value on the property. With support from local conservation organizations, they have upgraded the ranch’s infrastructure to improve livestock rotations, restored native plants, supported local research initiatives, and built community around responsibly raised beef. This is all work that they will continue to expand on as an Audubon Certified bird-friendly ranch.

Grace Ferguson, a Range Ecologist with Audubon California, guided the Calhoun sisters through the bird-friendly certification process – ensuring alignment on all program requirements in areas of habitat management, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare – while Owen Sowerwine and Farley Connolly of the Alameda County Resource Conservation District (ACRCD) led the creation of a habitat management plan for the property. Rotational grazing serves as the centerpiece of the Audubon certification, and this fundamental document guides grazing management in ways that create a mosaic of bird-friendly habitats.

Ferguson says the grazing pattern models on how ancient grazing ungulates once roamed – biomimicry – to ensure plant diversity in species and structure, resulting in habitats that support more bird species. “The grazing strategy includes medium- to high-intensity grazing in smaller pastures to allow for extended rest periods. Under this grazing strategy, the Calhoun sisters are able to maintain a mix of short and tall stature grasses for species like Western Meadowlarks and Lark Sparrows, patches of shrubs for the California Quail and Spotted Towhee, oak savannah that is needed for Western Bluebirds and Acorn Woodpeckers, and healthy riparian vegetation for Ash-throated Flycatchers and Black-headed Grosbeak,” Ferguson said.

The Calhoun sisters are already at work spreading the message of grazing being an important tool for rangeland bird conservation. To celebrate their recent certification, they hosted a gathering of conservationists, ranchers, foodies, local representatives, and more to spread the word about the work that Audubon is doing and the positive impact grazing for bird habitat can have on both birds and people. “Audubon’s Conservation Ranching program is lucky to have such enthusiastic and committed partners as the Calhoun sisters. We look forward to seeing what they will continue to accomplish on their ranch and beyond to support rangeland birds and their habitats.”

Ferguson says it’s hard to overstate how important partnerships are to powering modern conservation. She notes that the ACRCD, which previously supported the Calhoun sisters through several restoration projects and wrote a carbon farm plan for their ranch, brought invaluable local knowledge and experience to the sisters' certification process.

“Being able to partner with local Resource Conservation Districts to write our habitat management plans and outreach to ranchers is critical for increasing our program’s capacity to enroll ranches. It also increases our ability to connect ranchers with their local conservation community. Building these relationships provides our ranchers with long-term access to technical assistance and funding support to ensure they can manage their lands for bird habitat and biodiversity far into the future,” says Ferguson.

For more information about the Audubon Conservation Ranching program and the Audubon Certified bird-friendly certification, please contact ConservationRanching@Audubon.org.

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About Audubon Conservation Ranching

A wildlife habitat initiative of the National Audubon Society with a unique market connection, Audubon Conservation Ranching aims to stabilize declining grassland bird populations in partnership with ranchers. Audubon Conservation Ranching’s enrollment includes over 100 ranches and nearly 3 million acres that have earned status as Audubon Certified bird-friendly land. Incentivizing this habitat work for birds and biodiversity are consumers with an appetite for conservation, who support it by purchasing products grazed on these lands. Shoppers see a special package designation – the Audubon Certified bird-friendly seal – that sets these products apart. For more information, visit www.audubon.org/ranching.

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Media Contact: Anthony Hauck, anthony.hauck@audubon.org