Highlights from a record-setting year

2025 was no easy year, but it reminded us just how much can happen when we work together to care for these lands, communities, and waters we call home.

With your support, we expanded protected habitats, strengthened wildlife corridors, restored wetlands and creeks, and brought more people into closer connection with the natural world, all across Sonoma County. Every acre conserved, seed planted, and outing hosted reflects the collective stewardship of thousands of people working together towards a shared vision of a future where we live in harmony with the natural world.

As we prepare for a big 2026 ahead, we’re taking a moment now to look back with gratitude. Keep reading for highlights from a remarkable year of conservation in action—and the accomplishments you made possible!

Land

Protecting Biodiversity

To understand how wildlife moves through a landscape carved by roads and development, we launched a 36-camera study along Highway 12 in the Sonoma Valley. The photos and footage captured on these cameras will help identify patterns of how and where animals are trying to cross this busy rural highway. This study is in partnership with Caltrans, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Pathways for Wildlife, and will help us improve habitat connectivity throughout the Sonoma Valley Wildlife Corridor and reduce fatal collisions. By helping us identify areas where mountain lions, deer, and other species are more likely to cross, this study will inform any work that can be done to ensure their safe crossing—for people and wildlife.

Statewide, our advocacy helped secure over $3.5 billion in funding for habitat connectivity, coastal resilience, and Bay shoreline restoration through the release of Proposition 4 funding that almost got left out of the State’s current budget. That victory carried real weight here at home in Sonoma County. For example, the State Coastal Conservancy received $62 million for coastal resilience and the SF Bay Restoration Authority received $40 million. This funding has been critical for our Baylands program, and we are relying on Prop. 4 funding for the 2026 Osprey Hill Ranch acquisition on the Sonoma coast. Another key partner, the Wildlife Conservation Board received $200 million in funds for protection and restoration of rivers and water resources and important habitat areas.

Living With Wildfire

This year, we completed more than 100 acres of prescribed burns across four preserves: Little Black Mountain, Pole Mountain, Glen Oaks Ranch, and Sonoma Mountain Vernal Pools. In total, we’ve treated 450 acres toward our 500-acre goal by 2028, and the difference on the ground—healthier grasslands, revived oak woodlands, resurgence of native plants—show that good fire is working.

People

Empowering Communities

The Conservation Council drove real impact this year, with 26 students in Cohort 5 completing two research projects on species populations and post-wildfire soil health, cataloging more than 8,000 wildlife-camera photos, and dedicating over 4,600 program hours. Our Youth Programs staff led SLIME field trips that brought 1,421 K–12 students into the Baylands to explore the ecology of tides, mud, and migratory birds.

Preserving Nature Close to Home

Our Nature Nearby program has turned under-used or vacant urban lots into parks and greenways where people live, bringing nature closer to home. Securing the land to create Mark West Area Community Park, the 47-acre Santa Rosa Southeast Greenway, and helping to catalyze the new Graton Town Square, are three examples of current projects that will bring accessible open space, recreation, and cooler, healthier neighborhoods directly into Sonoma County communities.

Water

Securing Freshwater Flows

In 2025, we had a big win for advancing our Freshwater Flows program. The acquisition of the Monte Rio Redwoods Expansion property added 1,517 acres of forest and tributaries to the Sonoma County park system and expanded a mosaic of protected lands that stretches across more than 22,000 acres from the redwoods to the coast. Protecting these upland streams helps keep water cold and clean as it travels through the watershed, supporting the salmonids and freshwater systems that anchor life downstream.

Adapting to Rising Waters

Along the San Pablo Baylands, our work preparing for rising sea levels hit a milestone. We’ve now secured key properties commonly referred to as Camps 3, 4, and 5—1,800 acres in total—completing the land base we need to move forward on the 10,000-acre Sonoma Creek Baylands Restoration Project. This is huge news as it moves this phase of the Baylands restoration from acquisition to restoration. This effort, supported by partners ranging from the Moore Foundation to the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority, State Coastal Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Board, Ducks Unlimited, USFWS, Sonoma Water, NRCS, and individual donors, lays the groundwork for one of the region’s most ambitious tidal restoration projects.

Nature Needs Us Now: Help Us Reach the $1.8 Million End of Year Challenge Goal

As 2025 draws to a close, Sonoma Land Trust’s $1.8 million End of Year Challenge is gaining strong momentum — and it’s all thanks to supporters like you who understand that nature needs us now. Your commitment is moving critical conservation projects forward at a time when the land, wildlife, and communities of Sonoma County depend on it more than ever.

First, we want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who came together for Giving Tuesday. With the participation of 210 donors, we reached our goal of raising $100,000, which was matched by longtime, Legacy League members Bob and Eva Martin. Your generosity made this Giving Tuesday one for the books and set the tone for what we can accomplish together this season.

Your support is helping advance the Santa Rosa Southeast Greenway, a transformative urban park that will connect neighborhoods, create safer routes for walking and biking, and bring nature closer to thousands of people right where they live. It’s the kind of project that proves just how urgently nature needs us, and how powerfully we can respond.

You’re also helping protect Osprey Hill Ranch in Bodega Bay, a spectacular coastal landscape that plays a vital role in linking more than 22,000 acres of conserved lands. Preserving this ranch ensures that wildlife can move freely, coastal ecosystems can thrive, and these breathtaking places remain whole for future generations. If protecting Sonoma County’s coast speaks to you, your support today moves us closer to permanently conserving this extraordinary place.

Community investments in the End of Year Challenge are also supporting our expanding youth programming, giving young people immersive, and physically active time in nature, and at the same time, equipping them with the knowledge, confidence, and passion to become tomorrow’s environmental champions.

If you weren’t able to participate in Giving Tuesday, there’s still another opportunity to make your gift go further. Between December 26 and 31, contributions will be matched up to $185,000, helping us close the gap on our End of Year $1.8 million Challenge goal and accelerate the work that simply cannot wait.

Thank you for standing with us. Nature needs us now, and together, we are rising to meet that call.

Language of the Land

Bring the nature of Sonoma County into your home this winter with our Language of the Land
library on YouTube.

Watch now / Ver ahora

Free Outings

Exciting adventures await! Stay tuned for a fresh lineup of walks and hikes coming your way in the new year.

LEARN MORE AND REGISTER

Many of our outings are in partnership with Sonoma County Ag + Open Space.

Staff recommendation

This winter, I’d like to offer different ways to explore and share your love for nature: