Nearly three months after record-breaking storms hit Santa Barbara County, Rancho Tajiguas Preserve is still struggling to recover from storm damage.

The 3,272-acre preserve, located on the Gaviota Coast, is home to a historic and working ranch that includes the Tajiguas Creek watershed and grows produce, including avocados.

It has been owned by the nonprofit Gaviota Coast Conservancy since 2024.

Back-to-back winter storms in late December and early January caused flooding across Santa Barbara County. The ranch received 2 inches of rain in just 30 minutes in late December, according to Doug Kern, executive director of the conservancy. 

This led to a “massive flood,” he said.

The ranch is only about 85% repaired, Kern said.

“Now we are just going to continue to do more repairs, on top of the repairs that have been done, just to fully stabilize those,” he added.

Ana Citrin, conservancy legal and policy director, said ranch manager Leo Murillo called that late December storm the “worst storm he had ever seen.”

Citrin led a group of about 20 community members on a guided walk at the preserve late last month, one of many walks the conservancy organizes to open the preserve up to the public. In the days before the walk, volunteers filled about 20 bags with debris pulled from the creek.

The flooding swept boulders, equipment, fallen wood from the 2021 Alisal Fire, and even cars into the creek, according to Kern.

“Imagine all of this huge amount of storm debris coming down the creek, the water being very high, actually going over the top of the bridges (across the creek) and then wood getting caught up behind it,” Kern said. “…It must have been terrifying for the residents.” 

Crews also repaired damage near the watershed at the back of the property. The roads had been almost entirely washed out, which affected the water systems underneath.

Citrin said the irrigation lines that run across the creek sustained significant damage. Some were completely broken and had to be reinstalled.

With the pipes broken, the ranch was left with no water for about a week. Employees relied on bottled water.

The creek also flooded an employee’s house on the ranch, forcing the family to evacuate. They were later placed in alternative housing due to the significant damage.

The conservancy fundraised about $6,000 to give to the affected family, according to Kern.

While volunteers cleared debris near the home, they found a suitcase filled with stuffed animals they believed belonged to an employee’s child. Those were cleaned and returned. 

“It became an effort of true caring for the land to get all of that stuff out,” Kern said.

The storm repairs also forced ranch employees to lose time they would have normally spent working on other parts of the property.

Employees now are back to preparing for the hot summer months and the accompanying fire season. 

“Emergencies are just going to be part of the landscape, whether it’s a fire or flood or some kind of drought, all these things are just a normal part of the rhythm of working with land,” Kern said.