With warmer weather the wildflowers are starting to come out! In the last couple weeks we have seen Calypso Orchids, Trillium, Fetid Adders Tongue , Douglas Iris, Milk Maids, Indian Warrior, Shooting Stars and Manzanita in Bloom.
Stay tuned for our spring outings, including wildflower walks, to be posted soon.
Let us know what you find out there! You can also visit the California Wildflower Hotsheet for state-wide reports.
Winter Calendar of Outings: (PDF link
| online calendar)
The winter rains are here - a perfect time to Get Outside in Sonoma County! LandPaths makes it easy - whether you're looking for vigorous hikes, family explorations, or opportunities to steward some of our beautiful open spaces, you'll find it in LandPaths' Calendar of Outings.
Due to press coverage about the new Taylor Mountain Permit Program, many of our winter outings are already full. Please note that we will be adding more outings soon, so please check back with us!
Cow grazing on Taylor Mountain-the view from my ‘sit-spot.' Watercolor by In Our Own Backyard student Lupita Guzman, Lincoln Elementary
If you prefer, you can now download a printable PDF version of our Calendar. Please note that due to space limitations, the PDF / print version is not a complete list of our outings. For the most current offerings, check our website.
Our Calendar highlights outings from at the end of September and contains something for just about everybody. Many outings are sponsored by the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District. Other outings are made possible through the generous donations of supporters like you.
Field Notes:
Mailing List Updates:
If you are also on our "snail mail" list, you should have received the paper version of our Outings Calendar in the mail. For the sake of saving paper, let us know if you'd prefer to receive only emails. To be added to our paper mail list, or if you have questions or comments, let us know.
Thanks for your continued interest and support as we work to connect people with the land in Sonoma County.
~Your Friends at LandPaths
Make a difference with your everyday shopping. With a Community Smart card your money works double. Participating stores donate a portion of your purchases to LandPaths. Locally owned stores get your business, LandPaths gets a donation.
To order a card or for more details, including a list of participating merchants, visit: www.communitysmart.com or contact outings@LandPaths.org.
On October 24, join people all over the world for a day of action to take a stand for a safe climate future. Visit 350.org or our own Climate Protection Campaign to find out about actions in Sonoma County - some of the over 4000 actions expected to take place in over 170 countries.
Big news for us at LandPaths, including those of you who have followed our work since 1997! On Tuesday, an eight year-old legal stalemate over the McCrea trail on Sonoma Mountain was resolved. Here you can find details about this future section of Bay Area Ridge Trail, including comments prepared by LandPaths Executive Director Craig Anderson to the County Board of Supervisors and the Press Democrat article covering the deal.
Thank you Chairman Kelly, Supervisors for this opportunity to speak. I'd like to focus my comments on a series of acknowledgements regarding this trail, both as a 4-year project on the ground and as the legal matter that it has become for the past 8 years.
First, I'd like to acknowledge the passing of time and in many ways a sea change. In 1997 when Tom McCrea signed an agreement with LandPaths that gave us the opportunity to begin working with our key partners to build and steward a new segment of Bay Area Ridge Trail on the top of Sonoma Mountain - it was at a time where, to paraphrase the musical Oklahoma, "oh the farmer and the hiker were not necessarily the best of friends." From my perspective, there were deep divisions between the recreational users and the farming community. End goals seemed anything but convergent.
In these 12 years we've seen the County Ag Preservation and Open Space District focused on balancing the needs of our whole community - evidenced by more parks and funding for their operation, habitat and watershed, greenbelts between cities and projects focusing on our local agricultural operators. I would go as far to say that hikers and horsefolk, bikers and urban walkers are all feeling the benefit of the Ag & Open Space District's work...and part of that benefit being the protection of habitat and watershed in places that have no trails, and support for our local agricultural operators so that they can thrive and grow local food...which is vital to our quality of life.
We must acknowledge members of our community that have helped bring this matter to where it is today:
· Eliot families - both generations - that have donated easements across their property for the betterment of habitat protection and passive public use by providing a place to complete this trai
· Other private land owners - including some key to this settlement in the Valley of the Moon that have been willing to consider viewing the public as volunteer land stewards and good neighbors willing to keep an eye out for them
· The Bay Area Ridge Trail Council - Dee Swanhuyser in particular - in partnering with LandPaths and State Parks and the private landowners on the mountain to get this thing done
· Sonoma County Counsel under Steven Woodside's leadership, without whom the Ridge Trail Council and LandPaths in all likelihood would have been unable to address the issue of our almost finished trail being taken from us in 2001
· Supervisor Valerie Brown and her staff for working with County Counsel to listen to the neighbors within the direct area of the trail
· Les Perry and his team in being open and fair to consider the compromise that provides benefits to habitat, public use and private property security
· The hundreds of people from around the VOM and Sonoma County that came to build the sections of trail in Jack London State Park that lead up to the Sonoma Mountain Trail...hikers, equestrian groups, mountain bikers, birders, and local HS students.
I don't want to shy away from the hard issue here...as I want to acknowledge you all on the Board and the decision you are making that includes removing some acres towards the bottom of the property from the conservation easement. Leaning on my pre-LandPaths life as an ecologist - I would like to state emphatically that what's being given up in terms of removing a set number of acres from the easement in exchange for granting ownership of a new trail parcel at the top of the mountain is good for the public in terms of access, I believe good for private landowners in terms of their privacy and property values, and good for habitat and watershed alike.
My colleague and our friend Adina Merenlender of UC Berkeley authored a report in 2005 to weigh this balance, and in her executive summary she writes ...
"The proposed change provides added protection to the higher elevation portion of the property and to Sonoma Mountain by preventing the expansion of exurban development into the existing core habitat of Sonoma Mountain, and protects a designated greenbelt which provides an important viewshed for Sonoma Valley. In addition, the length of roads and related environmental impacts associated with impervious surfaces would be reduced by developing less steep terrain at lower elevation. "
I would also acknowledge LandPaths community supporters -- who have continued to fund our various programs and projects throughout the county that connect people to land...and at the same time being forgiving to both LandPaths and its partners for the time it has taken for this matter to be settled seemingly without any public word from us.
I acknowledge the nearly 30 families that made up LandPaths' "Sonoma Mountain Volunteer Patrol" in 2000 and early 2001. They kept an eye on the trail as it was being built; and in many ways they became LandPaths first experience in piloting a concept we call "community-powered parks" - a concept that has led to the management of the Willow Creek addition to Sonoma Coast State Park and soon other parks in this budget-lean time when we must rely on our citizenry.
Last, I want to acknowledge the trust and partnership placed in us nonprofits by our Ag Preservation and Open Space District, California State Parks and the State Coastal Conservancy...as these public agencies recognize our role as capacity builders. In the past twelve years LandPaths has brought over 4 million dollars to the Ag Preservation and Open Space District's properties in the form of state, national, local foundation and individual donations...4 million for trail and park development and programs...and those dollars being above and beyond county contracts or county tax dollars and not including volunteer time. Adding up the combined total of these non-public dollars from our nonprofit siblings Sonoma Land Trust, Bay Ridge Trail, Laguna Foundation, Sonoma Ecology Center and others, there is hope that we can continue to protect and steward our lands by working with our community!
This trail has taken a village to get to this point...and my hope is that the many fine individuals and organizations that have supported the effort will be here to work with the county and state to see it through. Thank you.
Dear Friends,
LandPaths urges your IMMEDIATE ACTION to address a recent state budget proposal that will have significant impacts on State Parks locally and throughout California. The proposed cuts are very deep and will mean park closures if enacted by the legislature.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Visit www.savestateparks.org to find out the latest updates on the budget situation and how you can help.
Thank you for taking the time to support our State Parks.
Your Friends at LandPaths
Save a bag and support LandPaths at the same time!
Now through early July, Whole Foods Markets in both Sebastopol and Santa Rosa will donate a nickel to LandPaths every time you Bring Your Own Shopping Bag.
Whole Foods Market is extremely proud of our community involvement and the relationships that we make within our local organizations! One popular community giving program is the 5¢ Bag Refund program. When customers bring in their own bags for groceries they have the option of receiving five cents credit (per bag) or donating the money to a selected charity. Up to three organizations are selected each quarter, or about four times a year.
This program has been enormously successful and generates much needed revenues for the area's nonprofit community. In Santa Rosa alone, over 20,000 bags were reused in the first quarter of this year and the bag refunds donated to local organizations!!
This quarter (ending July 5th), both the Santa Rosa and Sebastopol Whole Foods Market stores chose LandPaths as a beneficiary of the 5¢ Bag Refund program. LandPaths fills a vital role within Sonoma County's environmental community and we are proud to lend our support to this organization. We encourage you to support LandPaths by reusing your shopping bags each time you visit the Whole Foods Market in either Sebastopol or Santa Rosa and identifying LandPaths to the cashiers when asked about donating your bag refund. You can also donate to LandPaths through the Sebastopol Whole Foods Market's Change for Change program (ask a cashier for details).
Thank you for re-using your shopping bags, honoring the environment and supporting both LandPaths and your local Whole Foods Market!
- Community volunteers prepared Bayer Farm for spring planting and activities, built a greenhouse, weeded garden beds, repaired fences, and more. Lend a hand at an upcoming workday or just stop by the farm to visit.
- March 20 was the Spring Equinox, "Equinox" meaning "equal night" -the sun is positioned above the equator, day and night are about equal in length all over the world during the Spring and Fall equinoxes.
- Sixteen committed volunteers will help LandPaths manage and steward the community-powered Grove of the Old Trees through a new Grove ‘Chapter' called Friends of the Grove (FOG).
- Hikers on a rainy day tour of the Cooley Ranch had to divert their gaze from the cascading falls to avoid red-bellied newts making their annual breeding migration along the banks of Galloway Creek.
- LandPaths' In Our Own Backyard students planted over 300 native plants and cleared over 4 cubic yards of invasive broom and ivy along urban creeks.
- Hikers spotted over 30 species on a tour of the Laguna de Santa Rosa , nearly 40 species at the Poff Ranch, and a bald eagle soaring above the Russian River near Duncans Mills.
- MLK Day at LandPaths was "a day on, not a day off" with 25 volunteers at our Riddell Preserve. Exotic french broom was cleared, the solar barn got closer to completion and an old trail was brought back to life.
VOTE EARTH - YOUR LIGHT SWITCH IS YOUR VOTE
This year, Earth Hour has been transformed into the world's first global election, between Earth and global warming.
For the first time in history, on Saturday, March 28, from 8:30-9:30pm, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote - Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming. We are urging the world to VOTE EARTH and reach the target of 1 billion votes, which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.
VOTE EARTH by simply switching off your lights for one hour, and join the world for Earth Hour.
Saturday, March 28, 8:30-9:30pm - visit http://www.earthhour.org/ for more detailsThis meeting will determine official government policies to take action against global warming, which will replace the Kyoto Protocol. It is the chance for the people of the world to make their voice heard.
Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008 the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome's Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all stood in darkness.
In 2009, Earth Hour is being taken to the next level, with the goal of 1 billion people switching off their lights as part of a global vote. Unlike any election in history, it is not about what country you're from, but instead, what planet you're from. VOTE EARTH is a global call to action for every individual, every business, and every community. A call to stand up and take control over the future of our planet. Over 74 countries and territories have pledged their support to VOTE EARTH during Earth Hour 2009, and this number is growing everyday.
We all have a vote, and every single vote counts. Together we can take control of the future of our planet, for future generations.
VOTE EARTH by simply switching off your lights for one hour, and join the world for Earth Hour.
Saturday, March 28, 8:30-9:30pm.
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