Meet LandPaths - Sharing Our Love Of Nature Every Step Of The Way

PDF Version of Job Description

Position Summary
LandPaths seeks an energetic and creative person to serve as Program Assistant. The Program Assistant will assist in day-to-day operations of LandPaths public access and volunteer programs.

LandPaths is a Sonoma County-based nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering a love of the land through public access, stewardship and environmental education programs. LandPaths staff and volunteers work with public agencies, community groups, individuals and other nonprofits in order to accomplish this mission. LandPaths includes 10 staff and 7 board members.

Skills
The qualified applicant will have / exude the following:
• College degree or relevant work experience
• Detail oriented
• Well organized
• Strong computer skills, knowledge of Excel, Word, Email
• Strong people skills
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Desire for collaborative work environment, while able to work independently
• Ability to manage multiple variables, busy work environment
• Flexibility in scheduling, including weekends
• Interest in, and enthusiasm for, LandPaths mission
• Experience leading groups in outdoor environments a plus
• Mapping/GIS experience a plus
• Bilingual skills a plus

Specific Duties Include
• Assist with coordination and facilitation of public outings and stewardship workdays
• Process and track permit data and surveys
• Respond to public inquiries regarding access and volunteer programs
• Process volunteer communications, track volunteer reports, and summarize monthly property observations
• Respond to property stewardship needs as directed by project managers
• Assist with targeted outreach and advertising
• Potential for assisting with 1-2 public access orientations and hikes per month

Compensation: Salary commensurate with experience; minimum 20 hours per week.

To Apply: Interested applicants should send a BRIEF AND SPECIFIC cover letter and resume, postmarked by Friday, March 5 to: 

LandPaths ~ attn Linda, P.O. Box 4648, Santa Rosa, CA 95402-4648

Related Documents

Program Assistant 2010 Download (65Kb, pdf)

LandPaths, the Sonoma County Ag Preservation & Open Space District, and Sonoma County Regional Parks are offering an interim Permit Program at Taylor Mountain in Santa Rosa.

Hike, bike or horseback ride at the 1,000+ acre Taylor Mountain Regional Park & Open Space Preserve. Free permits are issued after a one-hour orientation on the property.

See our Taylor Mountain page for more details, including orientation dates & online sign up form.

Click Here to Donate Online & Support Willow Creek

As of Dec. 1, we have secured just over $100,000  toward our goal of $120,000 (15 month budget), including nearly $18,000 from park users like you - thank you! Thanks to these pledges, current (red) permits are valid through the end of 2009.  We will reissue 2010 permits in January.

Despite recent news that State Parks will avoid closing parks, the threat to some of our favorite outdoor destinations still exists. This makes innovative approaches like LandPaths' Willow Creek Permit Program even more critical. In fact, State Parks superintendent Liz Burko recently referred to these programs as "armor against the State budget axe."

LandPaths has two primary goals at Willow Creek:

1. Keep Willow Creek accessible and stewarded in 2010 and beyond by continuing the Willow Creek permit, Trail Watch, and volunteer stewardship programs.

LandPaths want to ensure that the unparalleled hiking, biking and horseback riding available on this beautiful property is not put at risk.

2. Build the foundation for a more sustainable "community-powered park" - one that will cost less over time and that can serve as a model for other budget-strapped parks.

Though volunteer trainings and in partnership with a new Willow Creek council, we anticipate reducing the annual budget for these programs from $90,000 in 2010 to $60,000 or less in subsequent years.

We need your help to build this program in 2010!

To those of you who have already donated, thank you! Your support is reflective of our Willow Creek Survey results which told us that over 80% of you would be willing to donate at least $20-$40 to keep Willow Creek open and stewarded.

In order to ensure continued access and stewardship programs and to allow us to reissue permits for 2010, we need your support to raise an additional $19,000. A permit holder put it this way in response to our Willow Creek survey:

"I really, really hope that we can keep it accessible-it is such a lovely spot to be able to visit. It makes me incredibly happy to be able to go there. There is no other spot that I've found that can quite match it."

If you have ideas to share, comments or questions, please contact me. 

Thank you for your support.  I look forward to seeing you on the trails at Willow Creek.

Jonathan Glass
Willow Creek Project Manager
LandPaths

** Challenge pledges received from the California Coastal Conservancy, the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation & Open Space District, and the Orbach Foundation.  

Click here to share your comments and ideas about Annadel.

Thanks for your interest in our beloved Annadel State Park!

Annadel is community treasure - a classic example of a public wildland park that functions not only as a place for destination-bound hikers, equestrians, and mountain bikers, but also as a place for daily respite. Before work or after work, it's close enough to downtown to provide access to nature within 15 minutes.

In the words of LandPaths' Executive Director, Craig Anderson, "given its proximity to an urban area, the wildness of its interior and the volume of its use, it's one of the most precious state parks in all of California!"

Naturally, LandPaths supports full funding for all public parks - State and Regional - so that both people and resources are safe and stewarded with the utmost care.

There are many groups working to steward Annadel as a place for both passive public use and for its natural values - including the Sonoma County Trails Council, the Mounted Assistance Unit, neighbors, and State Parks' dedicated staff. If Annadel were to become threatened with closure in either the coming weeks or years, we at LandPaths would wager that there would be strong and swift response from these groups and other volunteers in order to avoid total park closure.

That said, please know that a very similar situation: a state park threatened because of budget cuts - was why LandPaths was born in 1997. In fact, it is during these times that LandPaths begins to swim with broad tail strokes in order to provide for parks to stay open, creeks to be stewarded, and school groups to have access to the land outside their classroom walls. We do this in several ways:

1) Developing and running models for "interim public access management" so that new parks coming online can be opened for public use in a timely manner.

2) Enlisting volunteers to work with us in powering needed park improvements, ecological restoration projects and monitoring trail conditions for public safety.

3) Forming partnerships with local businesses, other nonprofits, the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation & Open Space District, California State Parks, Sonoma County Regional Parks and others to ensure that land protected for parks is accessible as soon as humanly possible.

Click here for more on 'Community-Powered Parks'- including Willow Creek, Bayer Farm, and the Grove of the Old Trees. 

Whether Annadel is ultimately threatened with immediate closure or not, we welcome your ideas, suggestions of partnerships and other input per how we can all do right by our State Parks in Sonoma County - so that they not only continue to be available to all - but actually thrive!

Click here to share your comments and ideas.  Let us know if you'd like to be added to a list for contact if Annadel truly becomes threatened with closure.

At its core, LandPaths is about connecting to people to the land. Our primary means of accomplishing that is to get all people outdoors, often and where they live. A community of people that acts with nature in mind is a community we want to live.  

LandPaths is a 501c3 nonprofit organization supported by community donations, foundation grants, fee-for-service work and the incredible network of volunteers and partnering organizations that enable us to live our mission.

Thanks again for your interest in Sonoma County's Big Outside!

Our goal: To provide all 700+ In Our Own Backyard (IOOBY) students with a new IOOBY tshirt for the 2009-2010 school year. With IOOBY tshirts, we hope to deepen the students' relationship to the outdoors by providing a tangible, take home reminder of their IOOBY experience. Every time they see and wear their IOOBY tshirt, it will bring back memories of their IOOBY fieldtrips and hopefully remind them how much they like to be outdoors.

We hope to raise a total of $15,000 for IOOBY to cover the cost of all the IOOBY tshirts and sponsor 2 classes (60 students) to participate in the IOOBY experience.

To sponsor an IOOBY student, class, or school you can:

Buy an IOOBY tshirt (click here to purchase online)

• for yourself - $25
• for one IOOBY student - $25
• for yourself and an IOOBY student - $40 ($20 each)
• for an entire IOOBY class (30 students) - $500 ($16.67 each)
• for an entire school (3 classes) - $1200 ($13.33 each)

To pay by credit card, click here for our secure online donation page.  If you prefer to pay by check, send mail to LandPaths c/o IOOBY T-shirts, PO Box 4648, Santa Rosa, CA  95402.  For questions or to specify adult t-shirt size, contact us at education@LandPaths.org.  

Volunteers contribute tens of thousands of hours each year to parks throughout Sonoma County—from inventories and trail building to habitat restoration.

LandPaths’ vision for "Community-Powered Parks" harnesses this desire to connect with the land and expands it beyond workdays and volunteer patrols— engaging volunteers as community leaders. In this economic climate, such volunteers can be the difference between closing parks and creating thriving park communities where both the visitor and the land benefit.

In these times of strained budgets, LandPaths supports full funding for our park agencies and 'Community Power' to extend resources further.

Three sites where you can see stages of Community-Powered Parks in action are the Grove of the Old Trees, Bayer Farm and the Willow Creek State Park addition/subunit where LandPaths manages both public access and land stewardship in partnership with public agencies and non-profits.

Bike to Work Day - May 14, 2009

Click here for more details from the Sonoma County Bike Coalition.  

"Energizer Stations" are located along Bay Area county commute routes where bicyclists can stop for refreshments, giveaways, and bicycling information or simply to be ‘cheered on' by fellow participants.

More than one million Bay Area residents live within five miles of their workplace, an ideal distance for bicycling. The work commute only represents 23% of all trips, so consider how you also may be able to bike to shop, to school, for errands, and for social events. In a world concerned with climate change, pollution, congestion and wasted time, the question is: Why not bike to work?

According to the 2007 American Community Survey 43,000 Bay Area residents use a bicycle as their primary means of getting to work every day. On Bike to Work Day, we expect hundreds of thousands of people to bike to work in the Bay Area, with many being first time bike commuters.

Come on by to explore Bayer Farm in Roseland.  Enjoy garden
activities, arts & crafts for the kids, and community fun.  Bring your friends and family.  All ages welcome. Open Gardens now every Friday from 2-6pm.

Bayer Neighborhood Park and Gardens is a unique collaboration between Santa Rosa Recreation & Parks and the local non-profit LandPaths. It is a 6 acre city park and urban farm in the heart of the Roseland neighborhood, with old barns, beautiful gardens, and plenty of ways to relax and have fun.

Garden Story Time & Family Fun
Every Saturday morning, 10am-noon
Dig into bilingual, nature inspired stories and enjoy the new park and community garden. Garden activities, arts & crafts, free play and more.

Garden Workdays
Every 3rd Sunday, weather permitting
Lend a hand with seed starting, mulching, composting, & more. All ages welcome-no experience necessary

WHERE: Bayer Farm- 1550 West Ave, Santa Rosa (across from Sheppard School) West Ave runs north/south between Hearn and Sebastopol Road in the Roseland neighborhood.