About LandPaths

LandPaths is an environmental education and conservation leader with the mission to foster a love of the land in Sonoma County. We believe everyone should have access to the awe and inspiration of nature.

Annually, we engage thousands of participants like you in joyful, caring, and transformative relationship with the land. We do this mainly through creative outings led in both English and Spanish, environmental education, nature camps, and people-powered land stewardship of local open spaces.

Land Acknowledgement

Our community gardens, office, and preserves throughout Sonoma County are located on the ancestral homelands of the Pomo, Coast Miwok, Kashia Band of Pomo Indians, Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians, and Wappo people, past, present, and future. We recognize them as the first people and the first stewards of this land.

Initiatives

Rooting Youth in Nature

LandPaths significantly reduces the barriers and expands opportunities to get outside so that more youth are able to experience wonder, joy, awe, belonging, and connection in nature.

Branching Out Conservation for Everyone

LandPaths expands the amount of people in Sonoma County who benefit from healthy land, understand the value of nature, and cultivate a sense of wanting to care for the land that gives so much back to us.

Community Care

Growing Community with Nature

Wildfires, flooding, and other challenges have dramatically increased globally and locally because of human-caused climate change. Reciprocal and joyful relationships between people and the land is a solution to climate disruption. From volunteer land stewardship days to community gatherings in local open spaces, you’ll find a range of creative, impactful opportunities to participate with LandPaths and make a difference.

Featured Outings

Let's do a Patch Burn at Bohemia Ecological Preserve

Day: Friday, February 28

Time: 8:30am – 4pm

Place: Bohemia Ecological Preserve, Occidental

 

LandPaths is pleased to announce the first season of our new Good Fire Program.  The Good Fire Program seeks to return fire to the land in a safe, respectful, and meaningful community-oriented way. We do this through a variety of burning techniques, from pile burning to prescribed fire, but also through an intermediate method of ‘patch burns’.  Whether you are brand new to fire or are an experienced fire tender, the LandPaths Good Fire Program offers you a way to deepen your relationship with the land through fire.

It’s wildfire fuels reduction time on the preserve! Now that we’ve pulled tons of French Broom and lopped Douglas Firs, it’s time to minimize the woody debris while it’s okay to do burn piles. The more people we have, the more we can do! Come join us and help us return good fire to the land!

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Self-Guided Exploration at Rancho Mark West

Day: Saturday, March 1
Time: 9am – 2pm
Place: Rancho Mark West, Santa Rosa
Cost: Free

Join LandPaths and our partner at Sonoma County Ag + Open Space for a free, self-guided adventure at Rancho Mark West. The first Saturday and Sunday of the month, Rancho Mark West will be open to the public from 9am to 2pm, please arrive by 2pm latest and return to your cars by no later than 3:30pm. Explore the trails that meander through a redwood forest, trek across open hillsides with views of oaks, madrones, and doug firs, and picnic along the pristine Mark West Creek as it flows towards the Laguna de Santa Rosa.
This is a self guided tour, but registration is required to attend.

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Garden Day at Ocean Song Preserve

  • Day: Sunday, March 16
  • Time: 10:30am – 3:30pm
  • Place: Ocean Song Preserve, Occidental
  • Led by garden volunteer Jan Lochner

The pollinator and habitat garden at Ocean Song/Myers is a truly magical place. You are invited to experience the land as you help tend the garden, which is home to dozens of plant and animal species!
Activities depend on the season, and might include pruning, mulching, mowing or other seasonal needs. Your abilities will guide the task!  Volunteer land stewardship days like this are the best way to experience Ocean Song Preserve, which is closed to public access. The day will be led by LandPaths’ wonderful volunteer garden steward Jan Lochner.

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Broomapullooza! Evento bilingue! at Fitch Mountain

  • Day/Día: Saturday, March 8; sábado, 8 de marzo
  • Time/Hora: 10am – 2pm
  • Place/Lugar: Fitch Mountain, Healdsburg

The season of broom stewardship is here! Come on out for a day of forest stewardship centered on getting rid of French broom (see why below), delicious snacks, and community!

Thank you to our friends at Sonoma County Ag + Open Space and City of Healdsburg for helping to make this stewardship event possible! There is no charge for this outing, which is made possible by the taxpayers of
Sonoma County who fund the work of Ag + Open Space with a quarter-cent sales tax.

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Stories + News

Stories of Impact

Reflections from Jim & Betty Doerksen, Land Partners at Rancho Mark West

February 14, 2025

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Jim and Betty Doerksen purchased Rancho Mark West in 1967. The Doerksens have worked tirelessly, planting upwards of “one million trees,” according to Jim. They also started […]

Volunteer Spotlight: Carol Carr, Wildlife Corridor Project

February 10, 2025

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After the Glass fire in 2020, Carol Carr was looking for ways to make a difference in her community by helping out with fire recovery efforts. Her […]

A group of teens and adults stand in front of a beautiful stand of redwood trees.

Introducing Stand for the Land!

February 6, 2025

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On a Wednesday afternoon in January, a group of teens and adults from Santa Rosa headed to the Grove of Old Trees for an afternoon of respite and connection. After chatting and […]

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