About LandPaths

LandPaths is an environmental education and conservation leader with the mission to foster a love of the land in Sonoma County. We believe everyone should have access to the awe and inspiration of nature.

Annually, we engage thousands of participants like you in joyful, caring, and transformative relationship with the land. We do this mainly through creative outings led in both English and Spanish, environmental education, nature camps, and people-powered land stewardship of local open spaces.

Learn More about the 2025 Harvest Festival at Bayer Farm 

Land Acknowledgement

Our community gardens, office, and preserves throughout Sonoma County are located on the ancestral homelands of the Pomo, Coast Miwok, Kashia Band of Pomo Indians, Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians, and the Wappo people, past, present, and future. We recognize them as the First Peoples and the First Stewards of this land.

 

Initiatives

Rooting Youth in Nature

LandPaths significantly reduces the barriers and expands opportunities to get outside so that more youth are able to experience wonder, joy, awe, belonging, and connection in nature.

Branching Out Conservation for Everyone

LandPaths expands the amount of people in Sonoma County who benefit from healthy land, understand the value of nature, and cultivate a sense of wanting to care for the land that gives so much back to us.

Community Care

Growing Community with Nature

Wildfires, flooding, and other challenges have dramatically increased globally and locally because of human-caused climate change. Reciprocal and joyful relationships between people and the land is a solution to climate disruption. From volunteer land stewardship days to community gatherings in local open spaces, you’ll find a range of creative, impactful opportunities to participate with LandPaths and make a difference.

Featured Outings

Self Guided Adventure at Rancho Mark West

  • Day: Sunday, August 3
  • Time: 9am – 2pm
  • Place: Rancho Mark West, Santa Rosa
  • Cost: Free!

 

Join LandPaths and our partner at Sonoma County Ag + Open Space for a free, self-guided adventure at Rancho Mark West. The first Saturday and Sunday of the month, Rancho Mark West will be open to the public from 9am to 2pm, please arrive by 2pm latest and return to your cars by no later than 3:30pm.

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Volunteer Forestry and Plants Out of Place Removal Day at Riddell Preserve

  • Day: Saturday, August 9
  • Time: 9am – 1pm
  • Place: Riddell Preserve, Healdsburg

Please join us for light forestry, removal of “plants out of place,” and burn unit prep at Riddell Preserve!  This 400-acre preserve above Healdsburg’s Dry Creek Valley teems with madrones, redwoods, bays, native wildflowers and other plants, birds, and so much more! Together, we can steward the land to help it be resilient in the face of the impacts of climate change, especially wildfire. Plus, it’s fun to get outside with like-minded people, giving back to the land that gives so much to us.

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Golden Hour Hike at Lafferty Ranch

  • Day: Sunday, August 17
  • Time: 6pm – 8:30pm
  • Place: Lafferty Ranch, Petaluma

Come enjoy Golden Hour atop Sonoma Mountain with Docent Lily Roberts and fellow outdoor enthusiasts. This time of the day brings peacefulness and a different perspective as the light shines over the Petaluma Valley in a golden essence. We will hike up to the oaks with bright light but travel down as the sun descends and drops behind the mountains to the west, hopefully exposing some unique plant or animal activity. Bring your cameras because golden hour is known to produce beautiful photography! This is a family friendly event and all are welcome to join. We will be taking it slow to enjoy the beauty.

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Volunteer Burn Unit Prep at Ocean Song-Myers Preserve

  • Day: Saturday, August 23
  • Time: 9am – 1pm
  • Place: Ocean Song-Myers Preserve, Occidental

Come on out to beautiful Ocean Song/Myers Preserve and help us tend the land! Volunteer land stewardship days are the best opportunity to experience the land at Ocean Song as it remains closed to public access. In stewarding the land in common purpose, we help to maintain healthy habitats, reduce the chances of catastrophic fire, and build a community connected with place. We have tasks for all skill levels and abilities.

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Stories + News

Stories of Impact

A Heartwarming and Powerful Safe Space in Nature for LGBTQ+ Youth and Allies

July 24, 2025

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It’s the fourth day of Camp Trillium at LandPaths’ Bohemia Ecological Preserve in Sonoma County, California and the sun is shining in a clear, blue sky. Camp Trillium was […]

Why Do We Conduct Prescribed Burns?

May 29, 2025

Reflections from Jim & Betty Doerksen, Land Partners at Rancho Mark West

February 14, 2025

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Jim and Betty Doerksen purchased Rancho Mark West in 1967. The Doerksens have worked tirelessly, planting upwards of “one million trees,” according to Jim. They also started […]

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