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 Southern Pomo, Coast Miwok, Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians, and Mishewal people, past, present, and future. We recognize them as the first people and the first stewards of this land.
Initiatives
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
"The Day After the Feast" Hike at Lafferty Ranch
- Day: Friday, November 29
- Time: 9:30am – 12:30pm
- Place: Lafferty Ranch, Petaluma
Stretch your legs and work off that delicious Thanksgiving feast with a beautiful hike through the stunning Lafferty Ranch. Enjoy breathtaking views of the valley, crisp autumn air, and the peaceful sounds of nature. It’s the perfect way to start your holiday weekend. All fitness levels are welcome. The approximate distance is 2 miles and the elevation gain/loss is 500 ft. Wear layers, pack a light rain jacket and a hat to be prepared for whatever the day brings, and be sure to wear sturdy walking shoes or boots (and bring hiking poles if you use them) to navigate the steeper sections.
SIGN UPSelf-Guided Adventures/Autoexploración @ Rancho Mark West
- Day: Saturday, December 7
- Time: 9am – 2pm
- Place: Rancho Mark West, Santa Rosa
Seasonal Celebration ~ Celebración de temporada @ Rancho Mark West
- Day/Día: Saturday, December 14; sábado, 14 de diciembre
- Time/Hora: 11am – 3pm (open-house style; puertas abiertas)
- Place/Lugar: Rancho Mark West, Santa Rosa
- Pre-registration is required; por favor inscríbete
LandPaths and our friends at Ag & Open Space and the Friends of the Mark West Watershed invite you to join us for the annual Seasonal Celebration at Rancho Mark West! Relax with friends, new and old, and enjoy the forests and creeks of Rancho Mark West, just twenty minutes up the hill from Santa Rosa!
¡LandPaths y nuestros amigos de Ag & Open Space, Parques Estatales de California y Friends of the Mark West Watershed lo invitan a unirse a nosotros para la celebración de temporada anual en Rancho Mark West! Relájese con amigos, nuevos y viejos, y disfrute de los bosques y arroyos de Rancho Mark West, ¡a solo veinte minutos cuesta arriba desde Santa Rosa!
Sign Up Here/ Inscribáse aquiWinter Hike at Lafferty Ranch
- Day: Saturday, December 28
- Time: 9am – 11:30am
- Place: Lafferty Ranch, Petaluma
Take a break from holiday craziness with a calming walk at the Lafferty Ranch Open Space on upper Sonoma Mountain. It should be cool and wet with low-angled sunlight in this week following the solstice. Join docent Larry Modell, a long-time advocate for public open space, to explore this unique property and discuss its future.
SIGN UPStories + News
Stories of Impact
What Happens Now? A Letter from Executive Director Craig Anderson to Friends of LandPaths
November 14, 2024
Tags: executive director, letter from craig, outdoorequity
The results of the U.S. presidential election, one week ago, sent shockwaves through our community, neighborhoods, and families. It makes a person pause, and it certainly should. At a time when it seemed there was momentum to move ahead, for many people what seems a U-turn has emerged, surrounding us. Click one of the tags above to read the entire post.
Community Gardens Internship
November 11, 2024
Tags: Bayer Farm, Community Garden, internship
Are you interested in learning all about what it takes to run a successful community garden? Consider becoming a community garden intern with LandPaths! Bayer Farm, Santa Rosa’s Roseland neighborhood, and Jeff Bodwin Community Garden, in southwest Santa Rosa, together contain 120 garden plots adopted out to community members in addition to a teaching garden for students to learn about growing food and nutrition. The internship is offered on a part-time basis, unpaid, up to 20 hours per week, with an option of work in exchange for course credit. Click on one of the tags above to learn more.
Caring for the Land at Ya-Ka-Ama Indian Educational Center
September 12, 2024
Tags: growing community with nature, right relations, slow restoration, stewardship, wildfirefuelreduction
Stewardship is a strengthening of the relationship between person and land. When we steward, we connect directly with the plants and animals, fungi and watersheds, but we also connect with history. This is because for tens of thousands of years people have lived on this land and cared for it, as we try to now.
In Sonoma County, these people are the Pomo, Coast Miwok, and Mishewal Wappo. They are represented through various federally recognized and unrecognized tribes. On August 31, we had the privilege of joining community stewards and Sonoma Earth School in an amazing day of stewardship at Ya-Ka-Ama Indian Education and Development, Inc. Click one the tags above to read the entire story.
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