Sonoma Valley Wildlands Collaborative

About the collaborative

The Sonoma Valley Wildlands Collaborative is a group of six conservation organizations and land management agencies that coordinate the management of 20,000 acres of natural lands in the Sonoma Valley region in Northern California. Together we aim to maintain and improve ecosystem health, increase resilience to wildfires and climate change, and reduce future impacts of wildfire to communities in the Sonoma Valley.

The collaborative came together in the wake of the 2017 Nuns Fire that had devastating consequences for the communities of the Sonoma Valley and surrounding hills. Now we are working closely with CAL FIRE to develop a long term strategy on a landscape scale. By managing our own lands for ecological health and resilience, the Collaborative is doing our part to help protect the communities of the Sonoma Valley in the event of future wildfires.

Our lands

The lands of the Sonoma Valley Wildlands Collaborative comprise over 20,000 acres in 16 individual parks and preserves. Together these properties make up a significant portion of the wildlands that burned in the 2017 Nuns Fire and previous high-intensity wildfires in the region. Managed by our partners for ecological benefit, open space, outdoor education, and recreation, these properties share Sonoma Valley with the communities of Oakmont, Kenwood, Glen Ellen, Bennett Valley, Eldridge, El Verano, Fetters Hot Springs, Agua Caliente, and Sonoma.

Download the Map

Fire’s Role in California’s Ecosystems

For thousands of years, fire was a regular part of life in the land now known as California. Through lightning ignitions and intentional burning by indigenous residents, plants, animals, and landscapes evolved with and became dependent on regular fire. Over the last 200 years, we have disrupted that historic balance, so when wildfires do occur, they burn at the hottest and driest part of the year. Through the following strategies, we are working to limit the most destructive effects of wind and climate-driven wildfires, building resiliency into the forest and woodlands of Sonoma Valley.

Our approach

Sunlight streaming through a grove of trees in Monte Rio Redwoods

Forest health

We are using proven strategies to achieve forest health and to help reduce the impacts of wildfires. These include ecologically-appropriate thinning in forests and woodlands, reducing ladder fuels, installing shaded fuel breaks, clearing roads to improve access for emergency personnel and providing safer evacuation routes in the event of wildfire.

A firefighter executes a prescribed burn

Prescribed burning

The use of prescribed burning restores fire to its historic role in wildland ecosystems, reduces hazardous fuels, combats invasive species, and enhances community and firefighter safety. By choosing the time of year we burn and techniques to lower the fire’s intensity, far less smoke is emitted than would occur during a major wildfire.

Landscape scale planning

Ecological challenges like wildfire and climate change know no property boundaries or jurisdictional lines. This is why a growing number of public-private partnerships throughout California and the world are embracing a cooperative landscape-based approach to land management.

Sonoma Land Trust board members hold out a map at Laufenburg Ranch

Engaging community members

Public outreach and education are core values of the collaborative. Through this website and other media, we notify the community of upcoming projects and public meetings and provide updates on project milestones. In addition, several of our members offer regular educational opportunities such as fire ecology outings, site tours, and workshops that focus on how our lands are responding to fire.