From the walking trails at 3295 Mayberry Drive, the back pasture looks a little unkempt this fall. The grass is taller and looser than it was when cattle kept it short. Washoe County describes Betsy Caughlin Donnelly Park as a 30-acre park with six acres of landscaped grounds, walking trails and a 20-acre irrigated pasture. Most of that acreage is open ground. Its new caretaker has a plan for it, and the plan starts with leaving the grass alone.
Thirty acres with conditions attached
The parcel carries rules that most Reno parks don't have. The Caughlin Ranch HOA's September/October 2026 newsletter explains that most of the original 6,000-acre Caughlin Ranch became the master-planned community. Betsy Caughlin Donnelly held back the 30 acres at Mayberry and McCarran so that part of the ranch would stay undeveloped, open to the public and protected for farming. She gave the land to Washoe County in the early 1990s on the condition that those terms be kept.
Those terms explain everything happening there now. In 2017 the county gave the nonprofit Polygrarian Institute a five-year lease to run the property day to day. The group later renamed itself Reno Food Systems and started farming in 2018 on a five-acre demonstration plot with a farm stand. For years, that five-acre farm was all most people knew of Reno Food Systems. The pasture behind it was a separate arrangement.
From cattle to a year off
That arrangement has changed. Edible Reno-Tahoe reported in its Summer 2026 issue that Reno Food Systems now also manages 15 acres of back pasture that had been used for conventional cattle grazing. The county chose the nonprofit based on a stewardship proposal from executive director and farm manager Lyndsey Langsdale. That proposal included letting the meadow regrow for a year to restore its health.
This is where the shaggy look comes from. A pasture that has been grazed hard needs time with no animals on it before it can recover. The HOA newsletter calls the land "previously overgrazed."
The organization is careful about what the lease is and isn't. Its homepage puts it this way:
"It's important to note that this additional 15 acres is a pasture preservation project, not an expansion of our working farmland."
So the rows of vegetables won't spread south. Reno Food Systems says the pasture "will operate as working grazing lands just as it has for generations with continued access for the community as a Washoe County Park." According to the HOA newsletter, Caughlin Ranch residents often use this land as a public park for walking dogs and riding bikes, and Langsdale wants the community to know it will stay open.
The project took a while to arrive. At the January 22, 2025 meeting of the Washoe County Open Space and Regional Parks Commission, Reno Food Systems presented a regenerative grazing proposal. Commissioners asked county staff to discuss a possible lease and come back with options.
The pasture's real job is water
Where the pasture sits shapes how it has to be managed. Edible Reno-Tahoe notes that the property borders Alum Creek and sits a short distance from the Truckee River, and quotes Langsdale: "Whatever happens on the land impacts the river."
The pasture is flood irrigated, meaning it is watered with Truckee River water. Reno Food Systems says it takes that responsibility seriously. Its plan is to keep chemicals off the land and graze animals in rotation so that less sediment and polluted runoff reach Alum Creek and the Truckee River watershed, which the organization calls "our region's sole water source."
The plan's main pieces come from a few sources, and each describes them a little differently:
| What's planned | Where it's described | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|
| Letting the meadow regrow for a year | Edible Reno-Tahoe, Summer 2026 | Part of the proposal the county selected |
| New irrigation gates paid for by the Natural Resources Conservation Service | Edible Reno-Tahoe, Summer 2026 | Planned |
| Reseeding with native Nevada grasses | Reno Food Systems homepage | Planned |
| A riparian buffer of native plants | Caughlin Ranch HOA newsletter | Planned |
| Rotational grazing | Reno Food Systems homepage, HOA newsletter | Animals to come "eventually" |
| Native seed production and irrigation-ditch reconstruction | Truckee River Fund project page | Listed in the project description |
None of the published material says which animals will graze the pasture or when they will arrive. Reno Food Systems' own site still says to "watch this space for more updates as the project comes together." The acreage figures also differ by source. The county's park directory still describes a five-acre farm and a 20-acre irrigated pasture, while Reno Food Systems counts 20 acres under its care: five farmed and 15 in pasture.
A crop grown for its seed
Part of the new acreage will grow a native grass called squirrel tail. Edible Reno-Tahoe reports that the grass is in short supply across Nevada, and that Reno Food Systems will grow its seed under contract with the Nevada Department of Agriculture for replanting elsewhere in the state.
The labor comes from several local groups:
- University of Nevada, Reno's Desert Farming Initiative. Apprentices from the program will help carry out the new work, according to Edible Reno-Tahoe.
- Cooperative Extension, FFA and 4-H. All three are named as partners on the Truckee River Fund project page.
- One Truckee River. The group is supporting a planned Rain Smart Garden at the farm, which will work as a natural water filter.
- Community volunteers. The HOA newsletter says volunteers working with partner organizations hold three community cleanups a year on the land.
What's on at the farm and the Ranch through December
The pasture's quiet year matches the farm's own shift into the off-season. The Sunday farm stand, open 3 to 7 p.m. during its three-season run, shows November 1 as its final date on the events calendar, so it will have wrapped up by the time you read this. The farm itself stays open. In the HOA newsletter, Langsdale says the farm keeps its gate unlocked because it is a public space. The rest of the year's events on the Reno Food Systems events page are about soil and slowing down rather than harvest, and the Caughlin Ranch HOA has its own November dates:
- Through November 30, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Caughlin Ranch HOA's Angel Tree is at the CRHA office.
- Saturday, November 7, 10:30 a.m. to noon. A Compost Workshop at the farm, where you'll learn to build and manage a hot compost pile. RSVP through the events page.
- Wednesday, November 18. The CRHA Annual Homeowner Dinner runs from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., followed at 6:30 p.m. by the 42nd Annual Members Meeting and the vote on the 2027 budget. The newsletter lists the venue as Pinocchio's Reno but calls it tentative, so check the annual meeting notice homeowners receive in late October.
- Sunday, November 22, 9 to 10:30 a.m. Climate Cafe and Walking Meditation at the farm.
- Sunday, December 20, 9 to 10:30 a.m. The same Climate Cafe and Walking Meditation, held again.
None of the listed events is a cleanup or planting day on the pasture. Until Reno Food Systems posts one, the main way to follow the project is to watch the grass come back from the trail around the park.
Patty DuHamel has watched Caughlin Ranch change for years, and the Donnelly pasture is one of the clearest reminders of why it feels the way it does. If you have questions about the open space around your street or want to talk through what it means for your home, Patty DuHamel is happy to walk the trail with you. Let's Connect.