Stewardship Archives

Reflections on the Queer Forestry and Fire Program

November 26, 2024 / community care, forestry, growing community with nature, queer fire and forestry, riddell preserve, stewardship, Volunteer

The closest sound to me is my handsaw cutting through the wood of a small Douglas fir tree, the next sound the wind bustling in the canopy overhead and through the tall dried grasses surrounding me, more distant the sounds of laughter and conversation from those working around me, beyond that the consistent call of the foghorn from the bay. These sounds surround me as I work in the Ocean Song grassland, homeland of the southern Pomo, alongside the twenty-five other individuals who participated in the Queer Forestry and Fire Program. These are the sounds of community, connection, and care for the land and each other that we created in this program.

Reflections on the Queer Forestry and Fire Program Read Article

Caring for the Land at Ya-Ka-Ama Indian Educational Center

September 12, 2024 / 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.

Caring for the Land at Ya-Ka-Ama Indian Educational Center Read Article

Community Partnership: Worker Leaders with North Bay Jobs with Justice Create Fuel Breaks at a LandPaths’ Preserve

June 18, 2024 / growing community with nature, stewardship

Community partnerships lie at the heart of LandPaths’ mission to foster a love of the land in Sonoma County. In March, we collaborated with worker leaders with

Community Partnership: Worker Leaders with North Bay Jobs with Justice Create Fuel Breaks at a LandPaths’ Preserve Read Article

Discover the World of Native California Grasslands!

April 25, 2024 / grassblast, grasslands, growing community with nature, oceansong, stewardship

Story by Lara O’Herlihy, Stewardship Field Specialist I’m sitting on a grassy hillside in the Coleman Valley Creek drainage that overlooks the ocean, pulling the invasive bracypodium

Discover the World of Native California Grasslands! Read Article

Enter the Big Tree Month Photo Contest – January 2024

January 2, 2024 / big tree, big tree photo contest, growing community with nature, stewardship

It’s time for the Big Tree Month Photo Contest! Large and big old-growth trees in Sonoma County captivate LandPaths participants with their immense size and complex network

Enter the Big Tree Month Photo Contest – January 2024 Read Article

Reflections: Slow Restoration Community Forestry Project for Women and Nonbinary Participants

November 20, 2023 / forestry, growing community with nature, riddell preserve, slow restoration, stewardship, wildfirefuelreduction

By Lara O’Herlihy, Stewardship Field Specialist This past October, fourteen strangers met for the first time at Riddell Preserve, LandPaths’ 400-acre protected open space preserve in the

Reflections: Slow Restoration Community Forestry Project for Women and Nonbinary Participants Read Article

What’s It Like to Participate in a Prescribed Burn?

October 17, 2023 / growing community with nature, stewardship

by Miles Sarvis-Wilburn, Stewardship Field Specialist at LandPaths I arrived at LandPaths’ Ocean Song/Myers Preserve at 7:30am, the sun rising over a thick ocean of fog, and

What’s It Like to Participate in a Prescribed Burn? Read Article

Six nature campers walk on a trail through the grasslands at Bohemia Ecological Preserve. There is a forest in the background and a blue sky above.

Reflections on Interconnection in a California Coastal Prairie

August 7, 2023 / growing community with nature, stewardship, Volunteer

by Miles Sarvis-Wilburn Stewardship Field Specialist The grasslands at Bohemia Ecological Preserve are California coastal prairie, a protected and unique habitat that contains an incredible amount of species

Reflections on Interconnection in a California Coastal Prairie Read Article

A person in a green t-shirt pulls French broom, a woody, long plant, from the ground.

Fostering a Love of the Land as a LandPaths’ Intern: An Interview with Andrew Magdaleno

May 26, 2023 / intern, internship, participate, stewardship, Volunteer, young stewards

An internship is an excellent way to gain experience in the field of community conservation in Sonoma County. In the second installment of a new interview series

Fostering a Love of the Land as a LandPaths’ Intern: An Interview with Andrew Magdaleno Read Article

Fostering a Love of the Land as a LandPaths’ Intern – An Interview with Calvin Howell

May 23, 2023 / intern, internship, participate, stewardship, Volunteer

Photo by Emmaline Jones – Willowflower Photography An internship is an excellent way to get involved with LandPaths in diverse ways. In this first installation of a

Fostering a Love of the Land as a LandPaths’ Intern – An Interview with Calvin Howell Read Article