A Landscape With Deep Roots in History

The Bird Ranch at San Luis Creek is a privately owned historic ranch estate rooted in the agricultural and ecological heritage of California’s Central Valley, set along one of the region’s last remaining riparian corridors on San Luis Creek. Influential Westside entrepreneur Simon Newman owned the land in the 1800s before selling it to Clarence Petersen. In the early 1900s, the Petersen family, Danish farmers, established the ranch buildings to support a working chicken and dairy operation. The architecture reflects their Danish heritage, emphasizing craftsmanship, simplicity, and durability. In 1997, stewardship of the ranch passed to the Areias family, who continue to this day as thoughtful caretakers of the property, carefully restoring its historic buildings while breathing new life into the land.

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Long before European settlement, the Yokuts and Matsun people lived along the banks of San Luis Creek, sustained by its seasonal waters, wetlands, and abundant birdlife. The creek served as a gathering place and life-giving pathway through an otherwise dry and open plain, supporting generations of Indigenous stewardship. In September 1806, Spanish explorer Ensign Gabriel Moraga followed this same waterway into what is now Merced County, using San Luis Creek as a guide across a harsh, treeless landscape. Early accounts describe how the relief of finding fresh water inspired Moraga to name the nearby river La Merced, meaning “mercy” or “grace,” a name later adopted by the county itself. His journey marked one of the earliest recorded European passages through the region and placed San Luis Creek at the heart of Spanish-era exploration.

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Before modern agriculture transformed the valley, vast grassland, riparian, and marsh ecosystems supported millions of waterfowl and shorebirds, along with elk, antelope, and deer throughout the valley and along the creek. While dams, canals, and land leveling dramatically altered much of the landscape, including the construction of the San Luis Dam in 1962, this stretch of San Luis Creek endures. Sustained today by backwater from the Main Canal, it remains essential habitat and a nesting corridor for great blue herons, egrets, and other bird species.

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A Living Sanctuary & Stewardship

More than 100 mature cottonwood trees still canopy this final tree-lined reach below the San Luis Reservoir and O’Neill Forebay, providing critical refuge in an otherwise altered Central Valley landscape. This intact riparian corridor supports one of Central California’s largest Great Blue Heron rookeries, along with many native and migratory species that depend on healthy waterways.

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Stewardship at the ranch is active and ongoing. Through wetland restoration and the establishment of a Monarch butterfly sanctuary, native milkweed and pollinator-supporting plants have been reintroduced to provide critical habitat for Monarch butterflies and other pollinators during key stages of their life cycles. The sanctuary is a protected landscape quietly integrated into daily life at the ranch, cared for with patience, consistency, and restraint.

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The Bird Ranch’s approach to stewardship has been featured in a PBS short documentary, Growing Forward | The Big Tell, exploring how working agricultural lands can also support wildlife and healthy ecosystems.
Watch the short film › https://youtu.be/SGzjjR0TfjI

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Today, The Bird Ranch at San Luis Creek protects this rare and enduring landscape where water, history, and wildlife continue to flow together. We invite you to slow down, gather, and experience this place with the same sense of connection that has drawn people here for generations.