Partnering With Land Stewards to Regenerate the Central Coast

A healthy planet is rooted in healthy working lands. The Community Environmental Council (CEC) works alongside farmers, ranchers, and land stewards to strengthen food systems, restore ecosystems, and build resilience to climate change. Through its Climate-Smart Agriculture program, they support land-based solutions that improve soil health, conserve water, enhance biodiversity, and reduce wildfire risk.

One cornerstone of this effort is CEC’s Pollinator Habitat Program – a regional partnership with the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and local Resource Conservation Districts, supported by the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Together, they provide financial and technical assistance to Central Coast farmers and ranchers to reestablish pollinator habitat on working lands. 

Pollinators are essential to thriving ecosystems and abundant harvests, yet habitat loss has pushed many species into decline. CEC helps landowners install nature-based infrastructure – such as hedgerows, wildflower meadows, windbreaks, and raptor perches – that attract and support a diversity of pollinators, from bees and moths to hummingbirds and even bats. These features not only support biodiversity – they also reduce soil erosion, improve crop yields, control pests naturally, and enhance the overall health of the land. 

For many growers, installing habitat is a goal, but one that comes with cost barriers. That’s why CEC helps connect landowners to funding and cost-share programs that make these improvements more accessible. The results are visible across the region: vineyard managers, ranchers, and farmers are transforming underused or degraded areas into dynamic corridors of biodiversity.

Pollinator habitat is just one part of a broader approach. CEC is also championing prescribed grazing to lower wildfire risk, compost application and cover cropping to improve soil fertility and water retention, and piloting innovative efforts like The Elderberry Project, a collaborative initiative with White Buffalo Land Trust, Orella Ranch, the Wild Farmlands Foundation, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, and many others to establish elderberry as a commercially viable crop, supporting ecological restoration and economic resilience. 

Each practice CEC supports reflects a shared goal: transitioning agriculture from extractive to regenerative. 

Agriculture connects us all. By supporting the stewards of our working lands, CEC is ensuring that local farms and ranches can continue to nourish communities while playing a critical role in protecting our region for future generations.