Nowhere to Hide: Why Rebuilding the Understory Can Save San Benito County's Wildlife 

We've walked the grazing lands of San Benito County long enough to notice something before we could name it: the silence. Fewer birds. Fewer tracks. Fewer of the animals that once made these hills feel alive. The wildlife here is vanishing, and while the pressures are many, they share a common thread: our wildlife has nowhere left to hide.

Our new paper, Restoring the Understory: A Case for Native Vegetation as a Natural Defense Against Wildfire and Hydrological Decline in California's Blue Oak Woodlands, is the culmination of years of observation, restoration work, and engagement with the scientific literature.

We have exciting news: thanks to the generous support of the Community Foundation of Monterey County, wildfarmers is developing a functioning nursery — and we are ready to grow.

When did you last truly see the stars? Not just a few faint pinpricks, but the breathtaking panorama of the Milky Way stretching across an ink-black sky, so vivid you could almost touch it? At WildFarmers, located 35 miles from Pinnacles National Park in Paicines, CA, your campsite offers a portal to the cosmos…

In 2025, with the support of the Community Foundation of Monterey County and the Community Foundation of San Benito County, we at Wildfarmers transformed 3 acres of our 40-acre property from a landscape of dry, invasive grasses into a thriving ecosystem.