Conserving Sonoma County
Protecting biodiversity across thousands of acres
Conservation is at the heart of our work—it’s how we protect biodiversity, preserving the rare spaces and species that sustain life and cannot be replaced.
What is land conservation?
Life depends on healthy, functioning ecosystems. Sonoma Land Trust conserves intact landscapes—through land acquisitions, conservation easements, and strategic transfers to land management agencies and partners—to protect the species, habitats, and natural systems that sustain Sonoma County.
WAYS SONOMA LAND TRUST CONSERVES LAND
Sonoma Land Trust owns and maintains 22 preserves to ensure lasting protection and care for Sonoma County’s most vital landscapes. These lands serve as living laboratories for restoration, stewardship, and climate resilience—places where we can heal ecosystems, protect wildlife corridors, and safeguard biodiversity.
Anchor Preserves are hubs for restoration, research, and community engagement, demonstrating exemplary stewardship and sustainable land management. Ecological Preserves prioritize resource protection, focusing on sensitive habitats and working lands, with carefully managed access to ensure long-term ecological health.
A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and Sonoma Land Trust that keeps the land in private ownership and provides an incentive to protect nature. A conservation easement is recorded in the form of an enforceable grant deed that is binding on future owners of the property, ensuring it will remain a benefit to the environment for future generations. Sonoma Land Trust cares for more than 9,000 acres across its conservation easement network.
Access and long-term stewardship are core to our mission. We acquire strategically important lands, care for them during a transitional period, and then transfer them to conservation partners or park agencies for permanent protection, public access, and ongoing management.
Project Assistance is when Sonoma Land Trust helps make a conservation project possible without being the long-term landowner or easement holder. By providing technical expertise, coordination, and fundraising support, we partner with other organizations to bring important land protection and stewardship efforts to life.
Sonoma Land Trust is focused on the health of our communities, and prioritizes access to nature for all, especially in our urban spaces. By transforming an abandoned highway into a greenway, for example, we help cool neighborhoods, improve air and water quality, and provide places for people to connect—with each other and with nature. This is a key tenet of our Nature Nearby strategy, and reflects our belief that nature is for everyone.
Current Opportunity!
Help protect Osprey Hill Ranch
The iconic 365-acre Osprey Hill Ranch sits at the center of several other protected lands, offering a historic opportunity to connect the Coastal Trail all the way from Bodega Bay to Jenner. Its coastal prairie, streams, and riparian habitat make it a top priority for conservation and many species call it home, including steelhead and coho salmon, bobcats, badgers, falcons and osprey. With your help, we can secure the health of plants, wildlife, and our communities, now and for generations to come.
Please join us in protecting this special place.
CONSERVATION IN ACTION
McCormick Ranch
McCormick Ranch is a 654-acre property spanning the Sonoma–Napa border, acquired and transferred to the Sonoma County Regional Parks agency and the Napa Land Trust in 2024. The property was acquired for public recreation and to expand the Hood Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve. Located within a critical wildlife corridor, it connects to more than 12,000 acres of protected land and provides new opportunities for recreation and habitat conservation.
Monte Rio Redwoods Expansion
A rare opportunity to purchase 1,517-acres from a lumber company was facilitated with the help of Save the Redwoods League, Sonoma Ag + Open Space, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and state agency funders. The forest land was purchased in 2025 and then transferred to Sonoma County Regional Parks to expand the Monte Rio Redwoods Regional Park, while protecting creeks and the last of the old growth forest.
Estero Americano
Largely undeveloped, the Estero Americano is one of the few estuaries in the state to have escaped development, and with the help of land conservation efforts, it will remain that way. This 127-acre preserve along the Estero Americano was purchased in 1997 and 2001 with assistance from the State Coastal Conservancy and Sonoma County Ag + Open Space. Adjacent to the preserve is the 547-acre Estero Ranch, which we purchased in 2016 and transferred to The Wildlands Conservancy.
Jenner Headlands
The 5,630-acre Jenner Headlands encompasses where the Russian River meets the Pacific Ocean, and extends two-and-a-half miles along Highway 1 and inland toward Cazadero. Acquired by Sonoma Land Trust in 2009, this coastal treasure has it all–a rich habitat for fish and wildlife, dramatic views, extensive recreation opportunities, and a spectacular segment of the California Coastal Trail. In 2013, we transferred the property to The Wildlands Conservancy, which manages the preserve.
Conservation Momentum
1976: Nearly 5% of Sonoma County’s landscapes were conserved. 2025: 23% of Sonoma County’s landscapes are conserved.
By advancing California’s 30×30 goals to protect 30% of our lands and coastal waters by 2030, these conservation efforts strengthen our resilience to a changing climate—reducing the risks of fire, drought, and extreme heat.
