License plates to protect Bay Area open space

The new Nature Within Reach license plate project will protect open space and natural lands around the Bay Area. Buying the license plate will enable the California Coastal Conservancy to fund projects in Sonoma, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. When the goal of 7,500 plates sold is reached, the state DMV will issue the plates. Buying the plate is easy: Go to www.bayarealicenseplate.org, enter your current plate number and mailing address, and pay $50 with a credit card. By sporting a Nature Within Reach license plate, you will help ensure that the natural lands of the Bay Area are protected for generations to come!

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Double the Value of Your Year-end Donation!

Jean Schulz has pledged a $2 million matching gift toward our Redwoods to the Bay: Saving Sonoma County’s Signature Landscapes campaign. Her gift must be matched, dollar for dollar, thus doubling the impact of each gift. So far we have raised $1.1 million — we’re more than half way there! Help us raise the remaining $900,000 by December 31 to secure this additional
$2 million. Your special year-end gift will help to:

• accelerate the pace of land conservation in Sonoma County
• protect our remaining large, at-risk open spaces
• enhance public access
• add miles of networked trails
• pass on a legacy of natural lands for future generations.

Redwoods to the Bay will enable us to protect the landscapes we love — the landscapes that define Sonoma County. For information, please call (707) 526-6930, ext. 108 or email Beverly@sonomalandtrust.org.

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Rally ho!

Last month, SLT staff members Dale Carroll, Tenley Wurglitz, Brook Edwards, Georgiana Hale and Paul DeMarco attended the National Land Conservation Conference in Portland, Oregon. This year’s conference brought together more than 2,000 land conservation specialists from throughout the country. Attendees participated in workshops, seminars and field visits. Included in the conference line-up was a presentation by Georgiana, our conservation easement/stewardship program manager, on SLT’s stellar volunteer conservation easement monitoring program.

Fêting and recognizing our volunteers

SLT recently hosted an evening of wine and festivities with our community of volunteers in the backyard of our Bolton House office. Attendees included conservation monitors, “Go-To Gang” members, stewardship volunteers, botanists, birders and partner organizations. Collectively, these volunteers contribute thousands of hours toward the success of SLT’s projects and properties — protecting and supporting some of the county’s most ecologically rich and beautiful places.

SSU students conduct “RDM” monitoring at Estero Americano Preserve

Dr. Caroline Christian’s Restoration Ecology class visited SLT’s Estero Americano Preserve this fall to learn about ongoing coastal prairie grassland management and monitoring activities — and to support the project through data collection efforts. Students measured “residual dry matter” (RDM) or old plant material left at the beginning of a new growing season at 28 permanent sampling plots throughout the preserve. RDM monitoring is used as a tool to target grazing use and indicates rangeland productivity and watershed health.

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An afternoon at Glen Oaks Ranch for
Evergreen donors

Professor Timothy Ferris spoke at an outdoor reception at Glen Oaks Ranch the afternoon of Saturday, October 3, and afterwards, attendees hiked the new trails. Members of SLT’s Evergreen Club, Legacy League and Leadership Council enjoyed Ferris’s reflections from his forthcoming book, The Science of Liberty: Democracy, Reason and the Laws of Nature, which challenges readers to abandon conventional conceptions of conservatism and liberalism. Ferris has been hailed as “the best popular science writer in the English language” by The Christian Science Monitor.

November 2009

Supervisors vote to fund Jenner Headlands

Earlier this week, our county supervisors approved $11.1 million in Open Space funds for the Jenner Headlands. We’re almost there!

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Remembering George Ellman

We mourn the loss this year of a longtime Land Trust supporter and key member of the environmental community, George Ellman. A celebration of George’s life is planned for Saturday, November 14 from 3–5:30 pm at Burlingame Hall, Congregational Church, located at 252 W. Spain St. in Sonoma. The formal hour of the celebration from 3–4 pm will afford friends an informal opportunity to say a few words about George. Cards and remembrances may be sent to his daughter Judy Ellman, 240 11th St., Apt A,  San Francisco, CA 94103. The Land Trust has named the two new trails at Glen Oaks Ranch after George and his wife, Phyllis, who passed away earlier this year.

Repairing the cabin at Little Black Mountain

Thanks to generous assistance from the “Go-To Gang,” the caretaker’s cabin at Little Black Mountain Preserve will survive another winter of heavy Cazadero rain. This fall, a dozen volunteers with the Gang worked under the direction of retired electrician Bill Daniel to replace an old toolshed at the back end of the cabin with a covered porch. The project greatly improved cabin aesthetics — and extended the life of the cabin. Hats off to Bill and the Gang!

New Baylands program manager hired

Julian Meisler, formerly the restoration program manager for the Laguna Foundation, is joining SLT as the Baylands program manager. Julian has also worked for the Solano Land Trust and brings a great combination of skills and experience. He will replace John Brosnan, who will be leaving SLT in early December to attend graduate school in Minnesota. Best wishes, John! Welcome, Julian!

When you gotta go, you gotta go

Keeping the Jenner parks restroom open is no small matter if you’re hiking along the coast. With the advent of reduced state park services, Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods is raising the funds needed to keep the State Park Visitor Center and public restrooms in Jenner open. The Sonoma Land Trust has contributed $2,500 toward the $5,000 needed to accomplish this. We hope you’ll also consider contributing toward this goal.

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If you’re not yet a Facebook fan …

… of the Sonoma Land Trust, you missed out on free concert tickets and a sunset hike along the Bay Trail last week. Facebook is the only way we can communicate breaking news and opportunities to our members. Please join now!