Meet LandPaths - Sharing Our Love Of Nature Every Step Of The Way

What an amazing summer for Owl Camp!  We’re back from three packed weeks of laughter, creativity, & outdoor adventure.  This was the second year for LandPaths nature based summer camp and it just keeps getting better.

“This was the greatest day ever!”  ~Ella Elk age 6

 We hiked to the top of “Buzzard’s Roost” exploring under rocks and logs, finding critters along the way.  We learned how to make walking sticks & birdhouses with volunteer Richard “Mapache” Baril, bows & arrows, gourd rattles and dream-catchers.  And what would camp be without fort building in the redwoods?  We had some budding architects at camp this year.

“I hope I’m not sick during Owl Camp! Can we do four weeks next year?” ~Mushroom-Bear Jack, age 6 

Each Wednesday was garden day.  With the help of our wonderful volunteer, Mountain-lion Megan, the campers harvested & cooked their own snack from our organic garden.  And of course, the weed pulling races were a blast! 

“How do I become an Owl Camp counselor-in-training?”  ~Brent age 10 

 Canoe day was a big favorite for all the kids. Many of the campers had never been in boats before and fell in love with the pond.  The highlights included canoe races, hundreds of beautifully colored dragonflies, and an otter sighting. 

“This is swimtastic!”  ~Riley Redwood age 7

 A new addition to Owl Camp this year was a weekly visit from the Bird Rescue Center. We met a Great-Horned owl named Jazz, a Red-tailed hawk named Star, a Barn Owl, and a screech owl with attitude. By the end of week three, those campers who had seen the birds before were experts, hands shooting into the air to answer the other camper's questions. Thank you Bird Rescue Center for visiting camp this year! 

A special thanks to:
Tina Hannon, J. Cochran , Nancy & Bob Aita , John Dolinsek & Kathy Kent, The Sunrise Rotary club, Patrick Emery, Gary Abreim, Wendy Born, Susan Head, Alicia Nourse, Iris Moore, Erin Moilanen, Patricia Currie, and Kay Ashbrook for donating to our Owl Camp Scholarship Fund allowing for many kids to attend camp - some for the first time! 

“Thank you for helping us come to camp.  I liked swimming in the creek and canoeing in the pond.  I made a dream-catcher and found turkey & goose feathers.”  ~Love, Dani age 5 

Thank you to the amazing volunteers who came to play with us at camp: Matt “Madrone” Lopez, Richard “Mapache” Baril, Randy “Raccoon” Urry, “Tall Dude” Jim Moir, “Lizard” Liz Landreth, Lani "Leaf", Samantha “Salamander”, “Mountain Lion” Megan Wilson, Wendy Quintana,  Kathy “Caterpillar” Laffan, “Jurassic” John Branscome, and Jim Weathers for his beautiful photographs!
 
And thank you to all of the parents & friends who donated crafting supplies, Linda & Tom Hauk for loaning us canoes, The Sunrise Rotary Club for the gift of compost, and Jim & Betty Doerksen for sharing your amazing land with us!

 

Again, thank you to everyone who made Owl Camp such an amazing experience this year! We're already looking forward to next year - hope you are too! 
-Justin, Bree, Meg, Heather and the rest of the LandPaths crew

p.s. Camp sessions filled up fast this year. If you'd like to be the first to know about Own Camp 2012 (and lots of other fun LandPaths activities), sign up for our weekly eNews here. 

Every Thursday in August, Fork Catering (along with a few others) have food trucks placed at O’Reilly Media’s parking lot in Sebastopol from 11:30 - 2:30 PM. 10% of the proceeds from the food sales go to a different non-profit organization. LandPaths has been chosen to be the lucky recipient each Thursday during the month of August.  Each Thursday, we’ll put the donations toward a different program:

Thursday, August 4^th - The Grove of Old Trees;

Thursday, August 11^th - Bayer Farm

Thursday, August 18^th – IooBY

Thursday, August 25^th – Willow Creek

 

More info:

http://sebastopol.towns.pressdemocrat.com/2011/05/news/food-truck-gathering-finds-new-home/

 

 

Wanna have some fun on Oct. 22nd? 

Celebrate changing seasons & the return of 27 native coho, listen to some great music, & learn how LandPaths is working to make the beautiful Ranchero Mark West accessible to Sonoma County forever.

WHERE: Ranchero Mark West, 7125 St. Helena Road just northeast of Santa Rosa (map and directions below)

Five smokin' hot live bands playing jazz, rock, bluegrass & more, easy creek & redwood hikes, fly fishing demos, tons of fun "LandPaths style" kids activities, Lagunitas beer, Barefoot wine, local food & much more.

Suggested donation: $20 adults ($5 kids over 7) - no one turned away for lack of funds.

Food and drinks available for purchase

RSVPs appreciated: outings@LandPaths.org or on our Facebook event page.

 

Performing On The Historic Barn Stage:

- Doug Lipton Trio
- Kunkel & Harris
- Mighty Chiplings
- Sweet Vintage Duo
- Cahoots

Fun For The Whole Family:

- Fly Fishing Demos led by Russian River Fly Fishers
- Hiking Tours
- Kids activities
- Food Trucks (Rosso's Pizzeria; Chicago Style Hot Dogs Ultimate Souvlaki; Foxy Cupcakes)
- Local libations by Lagunitas, Barefoot, and Sungo

WHERE: 7125 St. Helena Rd, Santa Rosa

 

Special Thanks to our Title Sponsor CALPINE

Tucked away in the hills just east of Sonoma State University is a 128 acre regional park that’s perfect for a quick afternoon escape. My wife and I headed out the other day for a quick afternoon hike. Getting to Crane Creek was easy as we travelled Petaluma Hill Road south past SSU and followed the signs to the park.

When we arrived we headed to the picnic tables to enjoy our lunch before heading out to check out the park. It was here that I had my only negative experience with the park. Within seconds of sitting down I felt something crawling up my leg. When I looked down I found a large tick climbing my calf. I quickly removed it and moved up onto the table to finish lunch. Happily it was the only tick we came across while we were out there though we heard from others on the trail they had all run into them as well.

After lunch we headed out into the park for our short hike. We decided to take the Fiddleneck trail and quickly found ourselves overlooking the south Santa Rosa plain. The park sits above the plain in the rolling hills so as you crest a hill it often opens to a spectacular view of the plain. On days like when we were there, you could also see the fog starting to fall over the hills in the distance filling in the valley below. It was because of that fog that a cool breeze chilled the air slightly but once we were hiking it was a refreshing feel.

From our view of the plain we descended into an oak grassland. The trail was well defined but the grass on either side has grown up waist high and changed to that California gold color I’ve come to love. We stopped briefly to watch a raptor hover above the adjacent field awaiting the small movement of the grass as a rodent moved through. We watched as he abruptly dropped from the sky and hit the ground only to come up empty and start the process over again.

There were still a few wildflowers growing along the sides of the trail but nothing compared to what the peak season is supposed to be like. We followed the Fiddleneck Trail to the Northern Loop cut off and through an old stand of Oak Trees. We then crossed a dried creek bed and headed up to the base of a hill where an ocean of grass swayed. You could watch as the breeze hit one end of the field and slowly pushed its way across to the other side.

We headed up the hill and to our best view of the hike. Sunset Trail overlook would be the perfect place to watch the sunset. It rises above the rest of the park and offers the best views west out onto Rohnert Park and north to Santa Rosa or south back across the park. We paused for a view at the top to enjoy the view with another couple and their large German Shepherd (yes dogs are allowed here). After our pause we headed back down the trail and finished our circuit around the park and to the car. All told it took us about an hour and was just over 2 miles.

If you are in the Rohnert Park area and need a quick connection with the land this is a great spot to head to. Oh, and I almost forgot, for those disc golfers out there it also offers a full 18 hole course. I’ve never tried the sport before so I can’t say what kind of difficulty it is, but the scenery doesn’t get much better. So head on out and enjoy Crane Creek Regional Park.

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Backyard Adventures are a series of posts written by LandPaths to encourage Sonoma County residents to explore their own backyards.

Hot on the heals of last weeks updates on Bayer Farm we got an email this morning about a AARP/KQED program that features the great work being done. Sonoma County Supervisor Valerie Brown talks about the actions the county is taking to transition health from a focus on sickness and disease to wellness and health.

You can jump to about 4:45 into the video to see the Sonoma County specific portion which features Bayer Farm. We want to thank the "Inside E Street" crew for coming out and showing how a focus on community and health can create amazing places.

    Ivan Chang is an indispensable volunteer for us here at LandPaths, and we appreciate all the ways in which he embraces and enhances our mission and community!  In the video below you have the opportunity to see him in action as the lead coordinator for the Summer Free Lunch Program, held at Bayer Farm throughout the summer in partnership with the Redwood Empire Food Bank and St. Joseph’s Neighborhood Services Department.  In it he talks about how he came to LandPaths, his interest in volunteering and his future goals, and also highlights some of the great aspects of this incredible program that is held five days a week all summer long at Bayer Farm!

    What there isn’t room to highlight in the video is all of the other ways in which Ivan supports LandPaths and the community by getting involved and – in the mark of a true leader – bringing others in to get involved as well.  It has been a true pleasure to work with this dynamic young man.  He doesn’t just volunteer, he brings others to volunteer with him.  He doesn’t just show up, he pitches in.  And he never is content to sit on his laurels, but is always looking for the next experience or challenge to tackle.  His volunteer work with LandPaths is extensive, ranging from coordinating teens on projects at Bayer Farm to serving on the Bayer Farm Park Planning Steering Committee, from helping with outreach and day-of logistics for Spanish-language Taylor Mountain Permit Orientations to helping to lead a campout in the pouring rain, and always with a sense of humor.  He is currently taking a week off of work to attend a National Leadership Training held by Gamaliel International, a community organizing foundation that we at LandPaths are affiliated with as part of the North Bay Organizing Project, in order to expand his skills and effectiveness at community organizing even further.

    We could not be more proud of this incredible volunteer, or more thrilled to have our work be one of his outlets for building a stronger community!  Thank you Ivan, for your help, your wisdom, your wit and your time.  Your impact on LandPaths, and the community at large, is significant and valued tremendously!

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   El joven Ivan Chang es un voluntario indispensable para nosotros aquí en LandPaths, y ¡le agradecemos por todas las maneras en que sus acciones personifican y aumentan nuestra misión y comunidad!  En el video que sale abajo, usted tiene la oportunidad de verlo en acción como el coordinador principal para el Programa de Almuerzos Gratis del Verano, que se realiza en Bayer Farm durante todo el verano, en sociedad con el Redwood Empire Food Bank y St. Joseph’s Neighborhood Services Department.  En el video Ivan habla sobre como llegó a nosotros en LandPaths, su interés en el voluntariado y sus metas futuras y también destaca algunas de los aspectos claves de este programa increíble que ¡toma lugar en Bayer Farm cinco días de la semana por todo el verano!

    Lo que no alcanza a incluir en el video son todas las otras maneras en que Ivan apoya a LandPaths y a la comunidad a través de involucrarse y – como hace un verdadero líder – llevar a otros para poder involucrarse también.  Ha sido un verdadero placer a trabajar con este joven dinámico.  No sólo se hace voluntario, lleva otros a ayudar también.  No sólo llega, pero es siempre echando una mano.  Y él nunca se siente satisfecho con lo que ya ha hecho, más bien es siempre en busca de la próxima experiencia o reto para enfrentar.  Sus trabajos voluntarios con LandPaths son extensos, extendiendo de ayudando a jóvenes con proyectos en Bayer Farm a sirviendo en la mesa directiva para la planificación del parque, de apoyando con el alcance y realización de una orientación para Taylor Mountain en español a ayudando con un campamento en la plena lluvia, y siempre con un sentido de humor.  Actualmente está tomando un descanso de su trabajo por una semana entera para asistir a un Entrenamiento de Liderazgo Nacional con Gamaliel Internacional, una fundación que se dedica a la organización de comunidades, y con quienes estamos afiliados a través del Proyecto Organizativo del Norte de la Bahia, para poder amplificar aun más sus habilidades y potencial para organizar en la comunidad.

    No podríamos sentir más orgullo de este voluntario increíble, o sentir más entusiasmados a que nuestro trabajo sirve como manera para que él pueda construir una comunidad más fuerte.  Gracias Ivan, por tu apoyo, tu sabiduría, tu humor y tu tiempo.  ¡Tu impacto en LandPaths, y en toda la comunidad, es significante y de gran valor!

It is summer again at Bayer Farm and we are once again thrilled to have awesome volunteer-run programs in partnership with great fellow community-serving organizations!

One example is the amazing new resource installed at Bayer by the Sonoma County Free Bookmobile, a mobile library stocked full of books!!  This mobile library is on a long-term loan from SCFB and is an amazing resource that is now available to our community.  We hope you will visit their website http://www.sonomacountybookmobile.org/ and help them out with their new matching grant!

We agree with ED Glen Weaver who states, “We are just thrilled that the families in this low-income neighborhood will have continual access to high quality free books, and that this long-term loan of facilities will essentially double our presence in the county.  It helps address one of the most serious problems created by recent cuts to education: access to literacy materials.  The Free Bookmobile will continue to seek creative solutions to this problem, and we welcome your support.” Thanks Sonoma County Free Bookmobile, the kids really love their new books!!

By working in collaboration with partner organizations we are able to maximize our impact!  None of it could happen, though, without the dedication of our amazing community volunteers.  Although too numerous to list here individually, our volunteers are amazing people who find time to make the world a better place for themselves and their neighbors by volunteering at LandPaths’ Bayer Farm.  We are so thankful for their participation and dedication to all that is positive and wonderful in the world!!

We would like to also thank partner organizations St. Joseph’s www.stjosephhealth.org/Services/Community-Outreach-Programs and Redwood Empire Food Bank www.refb.org for their work with the Free Lunch Program – we are honored to once again host the program at Bayer Farm and to amplify all of our impact by working together.  The coordination and delivery of the hot lunches to the children of the Roseland neighborhood by REFB, coupled with the volunteer support and coordination offered by the Neighborhood Care Staff of St. Joseph’s, makes this program stable and effective, and allows us at LandPaths to work with volunteers to program garden and outdoor activities that offer enrichment, education, access to open space, and community building.

Here’s to another summer of community, the outdoors, gardening, fun and health!!

This summer IOOBY is experiencing some changes. We welcome a new staff member Jackrabbit Justin, as LandPaths Assistant Education Director. Justin hails from Arkansas, and most recently from Tennessee. He brings years of teaching about the environment to various age groups, from elementary to high school students. He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and has enjoyed working with the Hispanic community in Tennessee as an interpreter. We are excited to have him join the LP team, bringing his knowledge and enthusiasm for kids and the outdoors to our beautiful county. Please welcome him to the LandPaths community.

Another change at IOOBY this summer is that Bree Bird is pregnant. Thanks right folks, I’m expecting my first baby in November. If you know me, you know I love kids and I am so excited about becoming a mom. My baby (and belly) are growing steadily and I look forward to introducing the little one to the LandPaths community in winter. My husband, baby-to-be, two joyous dogs, and I will be taking a road trip this summer to check out the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota, the 50th state for yours truly to visit; then I will have been to them all! Wishing you a fantastic summer filled with outdoor adventures.  –Bree Bird

 

IOOBY Summary 2010-11

Stewardship

IOOBY held 31 stewardship days this year. All kinds of projects were undertaken to help take care of the land. Students removed non-native plants, planted native plants, protected native tree saplings with tree protecting tubes, planted veggies and flowers at our farm, cleaned bird boxes and collected data on what they found inside, created and distributed fliers to neighbors detailing their stewardship project, created and hung up beautiful creek flags about their stewardship projects for neighbors to see.

Total results for the year from IOOBY students, parents, teachers, and volunteer stewardship include:

• 658 natives planted
• 200 farm veggies and flowers planted
• 140 education fliers distributed
• 91 Creek flags created and displayed
• 65 Native saplings protected
• 56 Bird boxes cleaned
• 55 Non-natives removed including fennel plants, dozens of teasel,
• 2 cubic yards each of lemon balm, English Ivy, and Himalayan Blackberry removed
• 1 cubic yard of French broom removed
• 1 new IOOBY staff member!

Program Highlights

• Alexander Valley students pulled a cubic yard of broom, removed 20 fennel plants and roots, dug out dozens of teasel roots, and distributed over 60 fliers to the neighbors informing them of their experiences at Healdsburg Ridge Open Space Preserve.
• Two classes of Brook Hill 6th graders planted 39 native riparian plants along Matanzas Creek across from their school and created more than a dozen creek flags to let neighbors know about the project.
• With Windsor High’s help Cali Calemecac 6th graders planted 150 native redwood understory plants and removed two cubic yards of non-native, invasive Lemon balm at Riverfront Park.
• Doyle Park planted 38 native plants, removed 2 cubic yards of English ivy, and created two dozen creek flags to let neighbors know about the project along Matanzas Creek.
• Flowery planted 199 native grass plugs at Glen Oaks Ranch!
• Helen Lehman cleaned out and recorded data on many of the 33 bird boxes at the Doerksen’s Ranchero Mark West. They also protected more than 35 native saplings on the property. While protecting the trees, they also took time to name them.
• Hidden Valley cleaned out and recorded data on many of the 33 bird boxes at the Doerksen’s Ranchero Mark West. They also protected more than 30 native saplings on the property. While protecting the trees, they also took time to name them.
• Kawana removed 35 non-native fennel plants along Colgan Creek. They also planted 8 native riparian plants and created 10 creek flags.
• Lincoln 3rd graders planted 50 redwood sorrel at the Doerksen’s Ranchero Mark West.
• Lincoln 4th graders removed 1 cubic yard of non-native blackberries and planted 21 native plants at Poppy Creek.
• Live Oak planted 60 native plants at Ellis Creek/Petaluma Marsh.
• River Montessori planted 40 native plants at Ellis Creek/Petaluma Marsh.
• Roseland and Sheppard stewarded Bayer Farm, planting hundreds of veggies, flowers and native plants, tending the compost, harvesting ripe food, and creating delicious farm cooked meals. “I hauled 22 wheelbarrows full of mulch. Now I’m tired and I want to take a nap.” –Jon Jay
• Steele Lane 3rd graders distributed more than 80 fliers to neighbors telling them about Poppy Creek and their planting project. They planted 23 native plants and removed 1 cubic yard of non-native blackberry. They also created 30 creek flags to share with the neighbors about their efforts to steward Poppy Creek.
• SunRidge 5th graders cleaned out 23 bird boxes at the Laguna Uplands and recorded data
• on what they found inside. They also created 15 creek flags to share with their school the work they did to help take care of the Laguna Uplands.

Volunteers

This year IOOBY had 516 volunteers come out on IOOBY field days. These volunteers donated more than 3,096 hours of their time to the IOOBY program, mentoring Sonoma County students about nature. This is 528 more volunteer hours for IOOBY than last year! We are so grateful to you all for your dedication to teaching students the wonders of the outdoors!  We would especially like to recognize our ever dedicated volunteers: Johnny Junco, Duck Dave, Dragonfly Dave, Lizard Liz, Kathy Caterpillar, Randy Raccoon, Matt Madrone, Mary Manzanita, Peregrine Pat, Laura Flora, Cougar Kyle, Puma Pat, Mountain Lion Marta, Ginger George, Dani Dirt, Eva Evergreen, Lani Leaf and Sean Scorpion! Thank you thank you thank you!

Quotes
“Thank you for taking us to Ranchero Mark West. It was so fun I though I was going to blow up. I like the parts when we went looking for fish and other lake animals and lizards”. Your friend, Jesse, IOOBY 3rd grader

“I’m really glad I chose to join LandPaths because I was able to learn about and see a variety of habitats I would have never known about.  I also think it’s really rewarding to see our new plants thriving and taking back the riparian habitat at Riverfront Park.  After working with and teaching younger students, I feel a lot better about public speaking and am more comfortable giving presentations.  Joining LandPaths was a very beneficial experience, and I can’t help but look after the environment more than ever.”
–Kevin Kingsnake, IOOBY high school student

‘This year in LandPaths was awesome.  Working with the kids was really fun.  I remember doing the same thing when I went to Cali.  Coming to Riverfront Park every other Friday was soothing, even if it was pouring rain outside.  I have learned a lot about the outdoors and this makes me want to travel and be outdoors all of the time.  This park is beautiful!”  -Tyler Tarantula, IOOBY high school student


Partners

IOOBY would like to thank our many partners, who make IOOBY possible. Partners include: the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, the Sonoma County Community Foundation, the Dean Witter Foundation, the Medtronic Foundation, the Sonoma Valley Fund, Calpine, Save the Redwoods League, donations from individual LandPaths supporters, the City of Santa Rosa Creek Stewardship Program, Sonoma County Regional Parks, Sonoma Land Trust, the City of Petaluma and the Ellis Creek Treatment Facility, STRAW of PRBO, the Laguna Foundation, the Doerksens, and all of the Sonoma County teachers and staff we work with.

 

LandPaths' View on the Ongoing Threat to Parks in Sonoma County

Parks are our most essential "commons" and we all simply cannot allow them to be closed and made off limits to our community.  Period, end of story.

NEW! LandPaths has joined the newly forming Parks Alliance for Sonoma County to discuss the crisis and to work toward creative solutions at the local level.

While the issue will continue to morph over the coming months and years with budget allotments, federal mandates and possible park-funding legislation or bond measures, the essential story line that parks are going continue to be underfunded – with resulting reduced programs for our people and stewardship for the land – requires of us to come up with new paradigms that are solution-oriented and imbued with an old fashioned can-do attitude. 

Why are parks so important?  Right now we must all consider that a) driving farther to recreate contributes to melting our planet’s ice caps, b) our kids are increasingly obese and many would stay indoors to be hypnotized by every manner of entertainment, and most importantly, c) we know that having a connection with nature close to where we live profoundly, and in so many ways, betters us as people and aids the natural world.  This happens in no small way by the choices we make because of knowing land, water, farming and the beauty and fragility of the wilds.  Plus, more parks now means more places for wildness to exist and watersheds to function as watersheds providing clean water to all living things! 

Please, continue to pay attention and lean into that act of participatory citizenry that makes our country, this state and in particular Sonoma County great.

LandPaths and the Promise

We are working closely on this issue with our sister nonprofits, public park and open space agencies and elected officials to advocate for fully funded parks at all levels: city, county and state.  LandPaths has joined the newly forming Parks Alliance for Sonoma County to discuss the crisis and to work toward creative solutions at the local level.

It is LandPaths opinion that it’s going to take more than funding to fix parks, and that we need to not just sustain parks at their current understaffed levels…but to recreate what parks truly should be with engaging interpretive programs, school groups using them daily and as places that are safe and welcoming for people of all ages and abilities.  

Ultimately, this provides an enormous opportunity for a close collaboration between public agencies and nonprofits such as LandPaths.  That is, we will all have to bring our core competencies to the table - public park agencies with their land management might and know how, law enforcement and fire management and response – and nonprofits with their ability to provide programs to thousands of residents, rally the community in creative ways and to be the eyes and ears on the trail and beyond.  

Since the announcements were made regarding the closure of Annadel, Jack London and Sugarloaf Ridge State Parks, I have met or spoken by phone with Santa Rosa City Parks Director Mark Richardson, three of our County supervisors, Assemblymembers Michael Allen and Jared Huffman, State Senator Noreen Evans and US Representative Lynn Woolsey’s  staff.  They all share the urgency of keeping our public lands open to our people and the natural systems that provide this incredible opportunity to connect with the land healthy!  

Through LandPaths combined volunteer and staff sweat equity investments (aka "People Power") we have been able to actually open new parks (Willow Creek, Grove of the Old Trees and others) and we are humbled by the fact that we currently manage public use – and in many places provide land stewardship – at parks at the city, county and state level.  Specifically, we work with our sister agencies in providing access and volunteer stewardship on over 6000 acres alone in Sonoma County – some of those being private lands that are funded solely by the community. 

In the past 10 years in particular we have piloted the new "free permit for use in exchange for your help in stewarding."  While all of us would rather these lands be fully funded and open as parks historically were, we realize that if we did not step up to provide for these people-powered-parks that a number of these parks would never have opened in the first place.  We stepped in originally in 1997 to manage otherwise closed parks – and the need has continued to grow.  

In fact, the 3400-acre "People Powered" Willow Creek addition to Sonoma Coast State Park – which LandPaths is proud to work closely with State Parks in managing – has never been considered for the closure list.  This is because Willow Creek is supported by the local community through donations and by physical work on the land.  This is the LandPaths Promise.  

There is an up side to LandPaths’ style of park management: it connects people to land in ways that improve the quality of life.  

We at LandPaths feel that we are doing what we can to connect our community with land by providing access for boots, bikes, horses and wheelchairs – and to do that for people in our region of all ages, ethnicities, interests and means.  Thank you for your support of LandPaths and its work in our community.  

Craig Anderson
Executive Director

Jonathan Glass
Field Programs Director

 

Here’s what you can do right now:

• Support local parks by visiting them, paying entrance fees and purchasing annual local parks passes.  
• Find local groups like LandPaths, Stewards of the Coast & Redwoods, and other partners to get involved as a volunteer and support us financially.  We put your money right to work – and locally – and leverage it mightily in doing the peoples work.
• Make your voice heard with your elected officials – contact your County Board of Supervisors, your State Assemblymembers and State Senator, in addition to US House of Representative.   
• Stay home this weekend, invest locally in businesses in and around parks!
• Support LandPaths model of "People Powered Parks"
• Stay positive and constructive during the coming months and years and let us know your ideas!
• Stay informed - join our enews list or find us on Facebook / Twitter.
• YOU are LandPaths – which is short for “land partners through stewardship”

If you’d like to read more on the topic:

• Richard Arendt’s challenge to us all in a recent editorial printed in the Press Democrat.  Richard is president of the Sonoma-Petaluma State Historic Parks Association. 
• Fall of the Wild - New York Times opinion by Timothy Egan

Also, check out our recent press coverage of a "Cure For Closed Park Blues":

• Press Democrat Close to Home
• Sonoma County Gazette, January front page
• Go Local Sonoma County - featured news item
• LandPaths People Power - blog on our site
  
• Pledging to Keep Annadel Open - blog on our site
  

By Jesse Froehlich, AmeriCorps Member 2010-2011, Conservation Corps North Bay

As the summer approaches and my AmeriCorps term with LandPaths' Bayer Farm Neighborhood Park & Gardens comes to and end, it's time to reflect and share my experiences with the greater LandPaths community.

It's been a year of learning in the garden, both for me and for the student's I've worked with! My assignment for the year was to work with LandPaths to increase the educational use of Bayer Farm.

Bayer Farm is a 6-acre gem in the heart of Roseland (southwest Santa Rosa), situated within walking distance of three schools. The farm blossoms and blooms in living color throughout the summer and fall, and boasts a stunning view of Taylor Mountain Open Space Preserve, another Sonoma County treasure that is accessible to the public because of LandPaths' programs.

With research to show that outdoor learning environments benefit students with increased amounts of physical activity, a greater ability to focus, and a heightened awareness of the wonders of nature and the value of stewardship, Bayer Farm is just screaming for students to hop across the street and visit!

Throughout the year I hosted classrooms, pre-school groups, and after-school programs at Bayer Farm to enjoy tours, planting, farm-fresh snacks, and other activities at the farm. My flagship project for the year-and the piece that will live on after my term with Bayer Farm ends-was the design and development of the Bayer Farm Independent Visit Program. This new program allows educators in the community to bring groups of kids to the farm as their own schedules permit, and chose from 20+ farm-based educational activities (all bilingual!), covering life sciences, math, arts & humanities, and observation & exploration.

In the last month of my term, I have been completing the activity packages and hosting orientation sessions to certify teachers for the Bayer Farm Independent Visit Program. I'll be excited to hear about the impacts of this program in the community!

The experience was made possible by a partnership between LandPaths and Conservation Corps North Bay (CCNB). CCNB hosts 22 AmeriCorps members each year, and disseminates them (us!) to environmental agencies (public and non-profit) throughout Marin and Sonoma counties. All CCNB AmeriCorps members work in the fields of land conservation and restoration, volunteer management, and environmental education.