The financial district of San Francisco may seem like an unlikely place to find a proprietor of a Yolo County farm, but it so happens to be the home of lawyer, farmer, rancher, environmentalist and Yolo Land Trust partner, Lewis “Lew” Butler.
Lew Butler’s early life could be a novel in and of itself. Born and raised in San Francisco, CA, Lew joined the US Navy in World War II. Following the war, Lew graduated from Princeton and Stanford Law School and married fellow Stanford student, Sheana Wohlford, of a San Diego County citrus farming family. The couple had three children – Lucy, Lewis, and Serra.
Lew was integral in establishing the Peace Corps program in Malaysia, where he served as Director and lived with his family until 1964. After their return to San Francisco, Lew set up a law firm with his partner Paul N. (Pete) McCloskey, later a Congressman from the Palo Alto area. The law firm of Butler and McCloskey represented citizens with environmental concerns. Not long after, Lew left his hometown once more, this time for Washington DC, to serve as Assistant Secretary in the Department of Health Education and Welfare. In 1971, Lew and his family returned to San Francisco. At the University of California San Francisco, he co-founded with Dr. Philip R Lee, The Institute of Health Policy Studies. Lew worked at the institute until the mid-1980’s when he retired to focus on his non-profit work including California Tomorrow and the Ploughshares Fund, which campaigned for the abolishment of nuclear weapons. When asked about the difficulty of retirement from such prominent roles, Lew expressed that, getting out of the way and letting the next generation lead was the best thing he could do.
One of Butler family’s favorite vacation spots is Fall River Ranch in Shasta County, CA. The property is co-owned by the Butler family through the Fall River Ranch Partnership, along with many other families. The property boasts a mile of frontage on the Fall River, the largest cold-water spring fed river in the western United States. The rolling grasslands and forests of the property are utilized as grazing land, wildlife habitat, and for sustainable timber harvest. In 2009 Fall River Ranch completed a conservation easement held by the Shasta Land Trust.
The drive to Fall River Ranch took the Butlers through the city of Winters in Yolo County. In 1990, through pure happenstance, Lew met Craig McNamara, successful walnut rancher and founder of the Center for Land Based Learning (CLBL). Lew connected with the CLBL’s mission of teaching young farmers how sustainable agriculture practices contribute to a healthier ecosystem, and create connections to agricultural, environmental, and food system careers. Lew also met Rick Rominger, son of YLT co-founder, Richard Rominger, of the prominent Yolo County agriculture family. Through his friendship with Rick, Lew became friends with the entire Rominger family. Inspired by the Rominger’s, Lew and Sheana made the decision to purchase farmland in Yolo County. After five years of searching, in 1995 the Butlers purchased a 150-acre holding near the town of Madison in Yolo County. The property, located adjacent to cottonwood slough, boasts nearly 100% Class I-1 soils which support a mix of row and field crops. Rominger Brother Farms have been leasing the land ever since.
Not long after they purchased the farm, the Butlers partnered with CLBL, the Yolo County Resource Conservation District and the Natural Resource Conservation Service to plant about 2.5 miles of hedgerows consisting of native grasses, shrubs and valley oak on what was previously bare soil. They also installed a tail-water return pond to attract wildlife and migratory waterfowl. Lew crowns these achievements as his fondest and proudest moments on the farm.
Lew had been aware of Yolo Land Trust’s conservation work for a while and in 2004 approached YLT about establishing a conservation easement on the farm. Sheana’s family had sold its San Diego farm due to nearby development pressure, subdivision, and depletion of water supplies. The Butlers wanted to be certain their Yolo County farm did not suffer the same fate. Funding for YLT’s purchase of the Butler conservation easement came through a grant from the California Department of Conservation Farmland Conservancy Program, and mitigation funds from a housing project in Esparto. The project was completed in August 2006.
Proceeds from the sale of the conservation easement were used to build a 900-square foot farmhouse and a 20-foot-high water tower. Both structures were designed by Lew’s son, Lewis H. Butler, principal of San Francisco’s Butler Armsden Architects. The buildings were awarded the 2010 CA Home + Design Award for Residential Architecture (Less than 3,000 SQ. FT.).
The Butler family farm continues to flourish under the thoughtful care of Rominger Brother Farms with a crop and field rotation that includes barley, sunflower and tomatoes. In 2012, Lew and Sheana hosted YLT’s spring event – “Bees, Berries & Bouquets” – where participants learned about important pollinators and tasted locally sourced Yolo County wines and a variety of honey. Lew and Sheana led tours of the farm.
Sheana Wohlford Butler passed peacefully in her home in June of 2016. She had been by Lew’s side for all their adventures. Lew still visits the farm on occasion and YLT staff cherishes any opportunity to connect with him. YLT is honored to hold an easement on the Butler family farm and to share the story of this inspiring family.
