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. 

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

Sponsor an Owl Camper!

"I just want to say that my kids LOVE Owl Camp...nature is the BEST way to go! Thank you so much for making this happen and the sponsorship provided has helped so much! Please extend my gratitude to LandPaths, the landowners and the sponsor. I am one thrilled parent because my kids are SO stimulated when they come home, and they sleep like champs (eat like champs too!)! Thank you, thank you, thank you."

~Parent of two Owl Campers returning this year

Help send a child to Owl Camp this summer! Donate Today!

Donate today and keep Owl Camp - and summer - for all kids!

Scholarships are offered to campers on need, and first-come, first-serve basis. Parents apply for a scholarship by filling out a simple application (available in Spanish & English.) We rarely offer complete scholarships to Owl Camp; instead we ask parents to pay the maximum possible, and offer partial scholarships for one week of camp.

Parents are asked to also assist with car-pooling and other camp logistics. This is a simple way of entering into a real collaboration with families in order to make camp a meaningful and important experience for them.

With your support we will:

• Offer 32 scholarships to Owl Campers in 2011, out of a total of 84 camper slots (38% of all campers!)

• Keep Owl Camp open and available to ALL kids in Sonoma County, regardless of social background and/or financial hurdles

• Reserve 30% of all Owl Camp slots for kids from Spanish-speaking or other minority families

• Allow Owl Campers and their families to participate in a diverse, non-segregated program that reflects ALL of the people who live in Sonoma County

Thank you for helping to keep Owl Camp open and accessible to all kids!

Please donate today.

Owl Camp is a nature-based day camp open to young people aged 5-12. Camp is located at Ranchero Mark West in Northeast Santa Rosa, off St. Helena Road-- a 120-acre preserve with a pristine creek, pond, redwood forest and miles of trails all ready for exploring. Location is about 20 minutes from downtown Santa Rosa.Activities include: storytelling, tracking, creek exploration, archery, swimming, music, keeping a nature journal, building things from nature, music, nature games, learning bird calls, hiking, canoeing, exploring redwood & salmon habitat, woodworking and organic gardening.

Help make a rich, nature-based experience available to ALL children. Please donate today! $150.00 will allow one child to experience Owl Camp and time in nature this year.  Every little bit helps!

We rely on donors to help in creating a scholarship fund. This year's scholarship goal is $4800. We have already secured $3600 thanks to support from the Sunrise Rotary Club and the Tina Hannon Scholarship Fund. With your support, we can raise $1200 and meet our goal of 32 scholarships.

Oakland, Calif. – The State Coastal Conservancy board approved late Thursday a $750,000 grant to LandPaths to purchase an interest in the historic Doerksen Ranch, also known as "Ranchero Mark West," in order to insure public access to the site forever.

Continuing and building on the Doerksen's legacy with public access and nature education as a community initiative is a great opportunity for us and a thrill to be a part of.

~ Sam Schuchat, Executive Officer of the State Coastal Conservancy.

Ranchero Mark West could have a future as a vineyard or a private ranch or something else – with numerous offers of $4 million plus to Jim Doerksen, 72, it could be a lot of things. Instead, Doerksen says, “I imagine kids running through these meadows and following the creek and trails for generations to come, and not having these redwoods – many I’ve planted that now tower over us – cut and the land converted into more vineyards."

LandPaths' youth education program, "In Our Own Backyard," is an example of this vision with 10 schools currently using the site and visiting it 40 times during the school year. The 122-acre ranch just outside Santa Rosa has been used for over 40 years by a broad spectrum of groups, including the Audubon and Native Plant Societies, boy and girl scout troops, professional forestry groups, Junior College, Cal State and University of California classes, hiking clubs, local high and elementary schools and LandPaths. Its proximity to Santa Rosa and a wheel-chair accessible creek-side trail, give this property access for many traditionally "under-served."

___________________________________

"Land Preserved to Educate Kids", May 26 article in the Press Democrat

Photo at left: Leandro "Leaping Frog" Valadez, 10, a third-grader at Steele Lane Elementary School, writes about the animals and plants he discovered along the creek at Rancho Mark West on Monday morning. LandPaths sponsors 10 local schools who visit the site over the year with their "In Our Own Backyard" program. Press Democrat photo by John Burgess, article by Bob Norberg. 

___________________________________ 

"Since we first started allowing the public onto the property to hike, ride and look at everything from flowers and butterflies to mushrooms,” says Jim Doerksen, “I can safely say that over 150,000 people have hiked and enjoyed this part of the Mark West Creek valley.”

The $750,000 grant is a major milestone in the purchase process but LandPaths will be looking locally to raise the remaining $250,000 for the deal to be finalized.

“A beautiful, historic ranch with trails, creek, redwood forest, barns and meadows, and a commitment for it to be stewarded for public benefit forever all for the purchase price of 1 million dollars,” said LandPaths Executive Director Craig Anderson, “that’s a deal you embrace with the arms of a bear.”

After the Doerksens’ lifetimes the ranch will be transferred to LandPaths. The nonprofit will manage the property as a nature preserve and near-urban environmental education center for the tens of thousands of children in Sonoma County that currently have limited assess to similar facilities locally. The property is within a short distance of the Saddle Mountain Open Space Preserve, a county-owned property slated for future public access that could conveivably be, together with Doerksens’ land, part of a long-distance trail connecting several parks and protected lands in the Mayacamas Mountains.

Doerksen sold the development rights away initially in 1993 to the then new Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District. This additional funding ensures that the legacy of public hiking and nature education will continue. Additionally, this grant adds on theDistrict’s effort to protect the Mark West Creek watershed, and important salmon-bearing stream and one of the most bioligically diverse areas of the County.

“The Doerksens have allowed the public to use their property in a truly remarkable way,” says Amy Hutzel, Bay Program Head for the Coastal Conservancy, “and the Conservancy wants to see that continue forever. Having a partner like LandPaths that can provide for this stewardship and public use is the perfect fit.”

The purchase of a remainder interest in the property by the nonprofit LandPaths comes at an interesting time, given recent announcements of pending state park closures. “Continuing and building on the Doerksen’s legacy with public access and nature education as a community initiative is a great opportunity for us and a thrill to be a part of” says Sam Schuchat, Executive Officer of the State Coastal Conservancy.

After the vote was taken Coastal Conservancy Board Chair Douglas Bosco, a Santa Rosa attorney and former congressman from the north coast, said “the work at Bayer Farm piloted by LandPaths in connecting urban kids in meaningful ways to the land is truly extraordinary and we thank you. Ranchero Mark West and the vision for its use ensures that all of Sonoma County has access to the outdoors.”

LandPaths currently provides access to city, county and state-owned lands in Sonoma County that would otherwise be closed to public use – with more than half of the 6000 acres managed being funded by private donations, grants and business partnerships. In addition, LandPaths owns and stewards one of the only privately-owned, free and open to the public nature preserves in Sonoma County, the 35-acre Grove of Old Trees outside Occidental.

The folks from Calpine (you know the ones that run the Geysers renewable energy project up in the Mayacamas) recently reached out to us looking for an Earth Day event for their employees. We instantly thought of the Ranchero Mark West - a place where Calpine could continue the long running restoration efforts carried out by the owners, LandPaths IOOBY students, and others.  

They met us out at the Ranchero in the morning ready to get their hands dirty. We all spent some time planting rhododendrons and redwood sorrel near Mark West Creek before heading back to the barn for a lunch of salmon tacos. After lunch everyone headed out for a walking tour of the property. It was a great day and we really appreciate all the Calpine employees (especially Danielle, Brian, Jill and Bruce) who helped make this possible!  We're already looking forward to growing the effort next year!

If you have a business or an organization that would like to lend a hand stewarding one of our local parks, farms, or open spaces, please feel free to send an email to jonathan@landpaths.org. 

(thanks to Jim and Betty Doerksen for sharing their amazing property and to Justin Whitaker for this fantastic video!) 

A couple weeks ago Assemblymember Allen's staff came out to Ranchero Markwest to hear from Craig about LandPath's plans for the property and to take a little tour. We all jumped into the old pickup truck, a few in the front and the rest in the back and took off on a driving tour of the property.

We bumped around checking out the property finally getting out at the top to take in the vista from Buzzards Roost and talk to them about the dreams for the property. We really appreciate the interest and great conversations we had with Mr. Allen's staff and look forward to having you out to other properties in the future!

¡Después del gran éxito de nuestro campamento piloto del 2010, LandPaths espera con anticipado placer el Campamento Búho en 2011!

Campamento Búho es un campamento de día para niños entre 5-12 (¡que hayan completado el kinder!) Esta localizado en el noreste de Santa Rosa, por St. Helena Road (20 minutos del centro de Santa Rosa) en una preserva de 120 acres. La preserva tiene un arroyo, una lagunita, un bosque de secoya y millas de caminos para explorar.

Actividades incluyen: contar historias, aprender de las huellas de animales, explorar el arroyo, música, mantener un diario de la naturaleza, manualidades de la naturaleza, carpintería, aprender los cantos de los pájaros, caminar, ir en canoa, explorar los hábitats de la secoya y el salmón, hacer un jardín orgánico.

El campamento del verano puede ser una experiencia llena de la magia y transformación. Es nuestra esperanza en LandPaths, que la experiencia del Campamento Búho-que es completamente basada en la naturaleza-juntos con la gran belleza y diversidad de la tierra por el Rancho Mark West, resulte en una experiencia llena de magia, alegría, comunidad, y un amor profundo para el medioambiente.
 

Tres sesiones temáticas en 2011: (Haz click para más información y para inscribirse)

(Para español, haz click aquí)

After the grand success of our pilot camp in 2010, LandPaths is eagerly looking forward to Owl Camp 2011!

Owl Camp is a nature-based day camp open to young people aged 5-12 (must have gone through Kindergarten). Camp is located at Ranchero Mark West in Northeast Santa Rosa, off St. Helena Road-- a 120-acre preserve with a pristine creek, pond, redwood forest and miles of trails all ready for exploring. Location is about 20 minutes from downtown Santa Rosa.

Activities include: storytelling, tracking, creek exploration, archery, swimming, music, keeping a nature journal, building things from nature, music, nature games, learning bird calls, hiking, canoeing, exploring redwood & salmon habitat, woodworking and organic gardening.

Most of us remember from our own childhoods, how magical and transformative an experience summer camp can be, and how many life-long memories are formed there. Our hope at LandPaths is that the nature-immersion experience of Owl Camp, married with the stunning beauty and diversity of the land itself at Ranchero Mark West, results in a summer camp experience that is full of magic, joy, education, community-building and an even-more-deeply-felt love of the land.

Three themed sessions for summer 2011: (click the links below for more details and to register)

- July 11-15: "Nature Skills & Secrets" IS FULL.  PLEASE CALL 544-7284 EXT. 15 (or e-mail meg@landpaths.org) TO BE ADDED TO THE WAITLIST. 

- July 18-22: "Native Eyes" JUST A FEW SPACES LEFT! PLEASE CHECK IN BEFORE REGISTERING!

- July 25-29: "Ecology camp" JUST A FEW SPACES LEFT!  PLEASE CHECK IN BEFORE REGISTERING!

Monday thru Friday 9:00AM to 3:00PM. There will be 28 student maximum per week.

SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE!

$200-$300 per child, sliding scale. Please choose a fee within the sliding scale that fits your budget. We depend upon some families paying more in order to assist others who are not able to pay the full tuition.

LandPaths Owl Camp is partnering with PACEAPP to offer the summer camp experience to even more kids.  If you currently receive childcare subsidy through PACEAPP, or qualify to do so, Owl Camp could be accessible to you for a much reduced weekly fee. 

For more information and to sign up, contact: Meg Hamill, Camp Director meg@landpaths.org, 707-544-7284 ext. 15

Here's what parents are saying:

"I really want to thank you and every one of the Owl Camp staff for running such a great program. Yours is the only camp I've found that mirrors my values so closely: to connect and interact with nature, natural crafts, mythology, and the opportunity to learn about many different beings from raccoons by their prints or scat......to faries!" Juliana Holstrom

"I just want to say that my kids LOVE Owl Camp. They hope that they can go again next year! I'm so thrilled that Owl Camp was even an option in the pool of various camps (nature is the BEST way to go)! Thank you so much for making this happen and the sponsorship provided has helped so much! Please extend my gratitude to Landpaths, the landowners, the sponsor, and your staff. I am one thrilled parent because my kids are SO stimulated when they come home, and they sleep like champs (eat like champs too!)! Thank you, thank you, thank you." Julianne Odell

"I also wanted to thank you and your fabulous staff for putting together such an innovative extension to IOOBY. I was so excited that our children would have such an opportunity to subsidize their science education this summer. As our education system continues to be eroded, we really yearn to find these types of fun opportunities to get the kids engaged in non-traditional environmental education.  Great stuff!"  Kim Batchelder

Owl Camp Wish List 2011

Please contact Meg Hamill, Summer Camp Director, if you have materials to donate:  meg@landpaths.org

• Coping Saw
• Large plastic storage containers-14 gallons & up
• Small plastic storage containers-3 gallons (ish)
• Small, needle files for filing wood(set of 6 or 12)
• Larger files for filing wood
• Turkey feathers
• Owl pellets for dissection
• Yarn made from natural materials
• Beads
• Scissors
• Gourds
• Sandpaper
• Elmer’s Glue
• Markers
• Spools of thread
• Musical Tuner
• Small screw-eyes
• Small hooks
• Pencils
• Small nails
• Hammer
• Nylon string
• Thin, wooden dowels
• Fabric of any pattern cut into 7” squares
• Screws for woodworking projects
• Someone to cut patterns out of wood
• Native animal costumes & masks
• Canoe & paddles to borrow for the month of July
• Child-sized PFD's (life jackets)
• Watering cans