Sights from the 10,510-acre Narbaitz-Mercey Ranch in western Fresno County. The property began as grazing land for sheepherders over 100 years ago. Photos via Chris Mathys

As far west as one can travel and still be in Fresno County, one of the largest nature preserves in the region has been declared.

Owner Chris Mathys calls the area west of Firebaugh, butted up against Merced and San Benito counties, the “last frontier of the Central Valley.”

Preserving the more than 15,000 acres of grazing land from development was the driving reason why Mathys took the two years of time and investment to have it remain undeveloped far into the future.

“Ag is how this Valley started, I just see so many people selling and this land getting converted,” Mathys said. “Just look at what happened west of the 99 Freeway in the past few years. Look at Madera.”

The 10,510-acre stretch of land called the Narbaitz-Mercey Ranch began as grazing land for sheepherders over 100 years ago by a man named Henry Mercei, Mathys said. Mercei spelled his name differently than what eventually became the namesake on the property. The ranch transitioned from sheep to cattle in the 1940s and fences eventually went up.

 

Mathys — CEO of Oro Financial in Fresno and former member of the Fresno City Council — bought the land about 15 years ago.

Being so remote, the property didn’t garner the same pressure from urban sprawl as other places, said Mathys. But that doesn’t mean development is out of the question. A large solar farm has gone up near the area.

“The more land that gets taken out, the less open space there is and the more agriculture gets dependent on other countries,” Mathys said.

In California, 40,000 acres of agricultural land is taken out of production every year due to urbanization, according to the Nature Conversancy — the organization through which Mathys registered the property.

The purpose is to keep the land in ranching, Mathys said. Cattle will be kept on the land, fences will be maintained and water will be distributed. Mathys has the cattle managed by a company in Hollister. He has 300 troughs throughout the land supplied through a system of pipes.

Grazing is almost a boost because it means they have to keep the land watered, Mathys said.

The problem with grazing is it’s not like nut or fruit orchards where 100 acres might suffice for productivity. Depending on precipitation, 100 acres of land in the Central Valley might only support three to five cows.

“You have to have a certain amount of acreage to make it worthwhile,” Mathys said.

Besides cattle, the land is also habitat for the blunt-nosed lizard, the California tiger salamander and the kangaroo rat, according to the Nature Conservancy.

“This win-win partnership protects thousands of acres of rangelands with 40 miles of streams maintaining critical habitat for species like the elusive kit fox and the slithery California tiger salamander while providing the resources needed to maintain a sustainable and productive ranch,” said Michael Conner, associate director of land with the Nature Conservancy.

The whole process took about two years, said Mathys. In the past, mercury had been mined from the land and used for munitions during World War II. Heavy equipment had to be brought in to remove waste left over from the mining operation.

Mathys likens the agreement to a lien put on the land that prevents it from bring developed. For the owner, land put in conservancy means tax credits and compensation.

But for Mathys, he says he wants ag land preserved.

“Some of the best farmland used to be in L.A. and Orange County. Not anymore — it’s urban sprawl to the max,” Mathys said. “Do we want that here in the Valley? If we do, then that’s where we’re going to go. If we want to protect that, then we’ve got to do things like this. Otherwise, it’s unstoppable.”