RANGELAND TRUST TALK

by GoWest Marketing for the California Rangeland Trust

Ernest Bufford stands on his own land in Kern County— protected forever in partnership with California Rangeland Trust. Growing up in inner city Los Angeles, at age 12 Ernest knew he wanted to be a rancher.

“As soon as you cross that hill, you’re in another world,” he says. “You’re stepping back in time. It’s the Wild West out here.”

Ernest has lived many lives. He’s worked as an officer for the California Highway Patrol, an undercover investigator, a bodyguard for luminaries such as Ronald Reagan. For a period of time, he exchanged guide and patrol services for hunting rights on a large Southern California ranch.

“I was a U.S. Marshall in 2001, sitting in the judge’s chambers, telling the judge about the ranch I was guiding at,” Ernest recalls. “He was reading a newspaper and pointed to a listing. He said, ‘Why don’t you buy your own ranch? Here’s one for sale.’ So I bought it.”

On the north side of the Walker Basin 35 miles northeast of Bakersfield and 25 miles south of Lake Isabella, that initial 330-acre parcel seemed rundown. Ernest knew it was just overgrazed. He saw clear water, hot feed and potential. Through careful management, he brought the ranch back to life. Then he expanded.

“Working with the Rangeland Trust has been nothing but the best,” Ernest says emphatically. “They really try to help me all the time.” After putting that initial parcel under easement with the Rangeland Trust, Ernest used the easement money to save neighboring land from development. He is a man with a mission: Not simply to own land, but to protect it. The locals call it “Ernieville:” 900

acres of patchwork parcels stitched into a spread of open space, a free passageway for sensitive wildlife— Ernest Bufford’s corner of the stillwild West.

“I’m a curious person,” he says. “I like to see everything.” At 76 years old, on his ranch Ernest is a boy again. He frequently shares his discoveries with visitors, from Los Angeles friends to his grandson’s youth football team. He knows every hidden secret, every treasure, every idiosyncrasy. He knows each of the seven different ecosystems on his property. He knows where to find the traces of an ancient Kawaisu

Ernest Bufford on his Kern County Ranch.

The Bufford Ranch is home to a wide range of historical artifacts including traces of an ancient Kawaisu Native American settlement to items left behind by 19 th century gold miners.

Native American settlement, and the artifacts left behind by 19 th century gold miners. He knows every plant and rock and tree. What he doesn’t know, he will find out.

This ranch is his legacy and his home. His new mountain neighbors have welcomed him with open arms. Ernest said he hasn’t experienced any prejudice because of his skin color or because he is from the city.

“They don’t look at color,” he says, “None of them. Out here, a man’s a man until he proves he’s not.” A USDA representative once told Ernest that she believes him to be the only black man running cattle on his own land in the state of California.

He has also been told he is the largest black landowner in the state.

Neither of these facts has been proven definitively, but Ernest does know he’s unique. His advice for young people, especially minority kids, is characteristically simple, straightforward and honest. “Don’t get stuck. You don’t have to be part of a ‘group.’ You can be your own person. Buy your own property. Have your money in the dirt. Leave it better than you found it.”

Ernest loves taking his guests to an overlook of a magnificent valley view, where an ancient Native American pictograph has been painted on a massive boulder. The painting depicts two suns, one covered in black shadow; the record of an ancient eclipse. The people who walked this land thousands of years ago did not want what they saw in the sky forgotten. It’s a full circle moment between former dwellers of this land and its modern steward. Ernest carries the torch of those who came before; honoring their legacy, telling their story and protecting this land for the generations still to come.

PRITCHARD SUMNER RANCH SHANDON, CALIFORNIA| KERN & SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY | 8,525± ACRES | $11,250,000

Pritchard-Sumner Ranch is rich with history. First homesteaded in the 1860s and held in the same family for 150 years, this 8,525±-acre ranch is a turn-key cow-calf operation running 250 head complete with homestead, cross-fencing, pastures, and troughs.

38 California Cattleman June 2020 IN MEMORY

Al Kalin was an incredible storyteller, but the story of his own life is the best one of all. Al Kennedy Kalin was born June 4, 1948 in Brawley. His father, Albert Kalin, came to the Imperial Valley in 1915 and pioneered what would grow to become the top agricultural commodity in the county by building the first two feedlots. Al’s mother, Louise Kennedy, was the daughter of Imperial Valley pioneers who traveled by rail on an immigrant train in 1907 from Texas.

When Al was born, Albert rode his horse through the lobby of Planters Hotel announcing the birth of his son. Al’s brother, Carson, was born 3 years later in 1951. Sadly, it was later that same year that Albert passed away, leaving Louise to manage the feedlot, the 3,000-acre farm, and the Planters Hotel as a single mother.

Beginning at a young age, Al’s mother would drive him around the ranches with her and they would look at birds and animals. By the age of 5 he was riding his own horse at the feedlot and earning money trapping gophers and shooting the pesky blackbirds with his BB gun. By age 7 he had earned enough money to buy his own shotgun which he used for dove hunting and to earn more money by shooting muskrats.

Al raised steers for 4-H, played football, worked on the farm, explored the Planters Hotel in which they lived for many years and learned about its operations. Most of his childhood summers were spent at their high desert ranch near Victorville, trout fishing in their reservoir with his nanny Ruthie Mae who taught him to fish, and irrigating alfalfa fields with a retired farmer named Fred Middaugh who became like a grandfather to Al and taught him how to see things in nature unknown and hidden to the common person.

All of these people and experiences in his early years helped influence and nurture Al’s love of the great outdoors, his respect for nature, and his vast knowledge of many aspects of agriculture and life in the Imperial Valley that would grow to expertise levels throughout his life.

Upon graduation from Brawley Union High School in 1966 Al went on to attend college at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where he earned a degree in Farm Management and also completed advanced studies in Crop Science, Soil Science, Agricultural Engineering and Game Bird Management. During this time he also enlisted in the National Guard and spent his summers from 1971-1977 serving our nation as a grenade specialist and fixing tanks.

While still in high school, Al had started Kalin Farms with his brother Carson, and after college and his service in the military, he returned to Brawley to continue helping manage the farm as well as a drainage tile maintenance company. Together they farmed 2,500 acres of wheat, alfalfa, carrots, dry onions and sugar beets. He also pioneered the use of a newly declassified color infrared film for use in aerial photography to spot soil and crop problems in Imperial Valley fields.

Al built a house near the Salton Sea, right in the middle of the farm, which would become the Kalin family home for the rest of his life. In 1973 he met Patti Faulk and after several years of giving her fishing advice and then courting her, they married in 1976. After their fishing hobby ran amuck, as he put it, Al and Patti started a fishing lure manufacturing company together in their home that grew so large they had to move it to a warehouse at the feedlot. AL KALIN

He was well known and respected in the tournament bass fishing industry and Kalin Lures had an amazing 29-percent market penetration nationwide. In addition to farming, family, fishing and fun, Al dedicated much of his time to serving his community.

He was a Westmorland Community 4-H leader for 10 years, a trustee for the Westmorland Union Elementary School District for 30 years and a director on the Imperial County Farm Bureau board for almost 20 years. As a farmer, environmentalist and foremost expert on the Salton Sea, he has served on countless advisory committees for the Imperial Irrigation District, the State Dept. of Water Resources, UC Desert Research and Extension Center, Desert Wildlife Unlimited, Salton Sea Bird Festival, New River Task Force and more, tackling issues such as water conservation, restoration of the Salton Sea, water quality and others.

He was the go-to person for information, interviews meetings and educational tours of the Salton Sea and the IV agriculture industry for dignitaries, documentarians, journalists, birdwatchers and others.

Al was the recipient of several prestigious awards including the 2004 Governor’s Environmental & Economic Leadership Award, the 2006 Environmental Protection Agencys Environmental Award for Outstanding Achievement (both for the farm water quality program he co-developed), and in 2013 he was named Farmer of the Year by the local Farm Bureau. From 2001 to 2007 he had his own weekly column in the Imperial Valley Press called Outdoor Tales in which he shared enlightening and humorous stories about his life in the Imperial Valley and the Great Outdoors.

His stories were so loved by his readers that he was encouraged to put them in the form of a book, which he finally published in 2017. He dedicated it to the love of his life, Patti. Copies of the book Outdoor Tales are sold at the Simply@ Home store on Main Street in El Centro.

Al’s intelligence and vast array of experience led him to be known as an expert on countless topics like the ones already mentioned, as well as lapidary arts, owls, roses, photography and pretty much anything he put his mind to. His quick wit and engaging descriptions while telling stories could make you feel like you were right there and also have you laughing hysterically.

As remarkable as he was, it was his gentle spirit, quiet nature, willingness to help and teach others and his down to earth personality that made him a dear friend to people of all walks of life. Above all, Al was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. He had a unique relationship with each of his three children: Linda Morse (Sidney); Michael Kalin (Brandi); and Kristin Kalin, as well as his four grandchildren: Austin Morse, Destiny Kalin, Branden Kalin and Kalin Morse.

Patti was by Al’s side when he passed away from cancer at the age of 71. At the sunset of his life, when asked what he enjoyed the most, he answered simply and thoughtfully, spending time with my family and admiring a beautiful sunset. Al will be missed deeply by his family, friends, colleagues, and all those whose lives he touched. He was preceded in death by his mother, Louise Willey and father, Albert Kalin and step-father, Jimmy Willey. He is survived by his wife, children, grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews. A celebration of his life will be held at a later time.