California couple restored 136-acre farm into thriving wildlife habitat

Peter Hunter kneels beside a clump of young willows clinging to the edge of Dry Creek. The slender shoots are leafless but supple, a faint tinge of red promising spring growth. On the bank above him, Hunter eyes hundreds of seedlings, cottonwoods, redbud, and other shrubs pushing up through protective plastic tubes into the pale winter sun. Native grass seeds rest under a layer of mulch, waiting for the rains to release them. This scene, captured in a story originally published by Audubon magazine, is the result of decades of patient work by Peter and his wife, Debbie. In 1988, the couple began restoring vegetation to their 136-acre family farm near Davis, California.