[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 148 (Wednesday, October 31, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1965]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING THE DIXSON RANCH

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. LOIS CAPPS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, October 31, 2001

  Mrs. CAPPS. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to celebrate the 
consummation of placing the Dixson Ranch property in a Conservation 
Easement. This easement will ensure that the Dixson Ranch, which has 
been farmed for over a hundred years, will be in agricultural use in 
perpetuity.
  The Dixson Ranch was purchased by Mr. A.W. Dlxson on October 2, 1905, 
for $12,000 in gold coins. The property consisted of 41 acres, and a 
farmhouse that was built in 1894. The Dixson family grew row crops on 
the farm, including several different varieties of lettuce, and 
eventually leased the ranch to the Kingo Kawaoka family, who farmed it 
until they were removed to the Japanese internment camps during World 
War II. In 1941, A.W. Dixson's son Gordon, Gordon's wife, Wilma, and 
their two young daughters, Sara, age 6, and Molly, age 4, moved to the 
farm.
  After the war ended, Kingo Kawaoka's family moved back to continue 
farming in the area. A cousin of the Kawaokas, Noriharu ``Bill'' 
Kawaoka, managed the Dixson Ranch from 1954 until his death in 1992. In 
1975 the ranch was designated as an agricultural preserve through a 
land conservation contract with the City of Arroyo Grande. This 
contract stated that the land would be used for farming purposes rather 
than property development. Additionally, the Coastal San Luis 
Conservation Resource District awarded the first annual Soils 
Stewardship Award to Wilma Dixson at age 89.
  Today, the Ikeda Family leases and manages the farm, while Jim 
Dickens, the son of Sara Dixson, and his family live in the farmhouse, 
making them the 4th generation of Dixsons to live on the ranch.
  The Dixson family is committed to soil conservation and agricultural 
land stewardship as well as sound economic planning. In order to ensure 
that they would be able to permanently protect their productive 
farmland, the Dixsons were awarded a grant through the State of 
California's Farmland Conservancy Program. The program promotes 
cooperation between government, non-profit organizations, and 
individual landowners in order to purchase agricultural conservation 
easements. This was augmented by a federal grant from the Natural 
Resources Conservation Agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. I 
believe this easement is a prime example of the public and private 
sector working together to ensure agriculture remains viable while 
simultaneously preserving open space, I am honored to have the Dixson 
Ranch in my congressional district.

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