In the wake of the 2017 Sonoma Complex Fires, a group of conservation organizations and land management agencies has teamed up to collaboratively manage vegetation and fuel loads on properties in the Sonoma Valley region. Ag + Open Space is one of the participating organizations, along with Audubon Canyon Ranch, …
Have you seen the flock of sheep grazing along the Laguna de Santa Rosa Trail this summer? Our partners at Sonoma County Regional Parks (Regional Parks) are working with Sweetgrass Grazing to graze a portion of the Laguna Trail, which runs through our Balletto Ranch Conservation Easement and City of …
When Ag + Open Space acquired 461 acres of land from John McCullough in 2009, it came with an interesting old building known as the Pelm House. This was the previous home of the Pelm family, who had moved here from Russia around 1945. At the end of World War …
Our Mark West properties, slated to become part of the future Mark West Creek Regional Park & Open Space Preserve, burned in the first night of the Tubbs fire. Driven by fierce winds and hot, dry conditions, the fire ran up the forested slope above Mark West Creek, charring nearly every …
In March 2018, Ag + Open Space received a $90,000 grant from NASA as part of the Rapid Response and Novel Research in Earth Science Program. This grant funded the capture of aerial imagery of areas burned in the 2017 Sonoma Complex Fires, as well as a post-fire assessment of …
Given the increased risk of flash floods and debris flows resulting from last October’s wildfires, our partners at Sonoma County Water Agency sought the help of OneRain to implement an early flood warning system by more accurately tracking rainfall. Of the 22 rain and stream gages installed throughout the county, three …
Nearly 30 volunteers, including five young folks, joined us and our partners at LandPaths for a beautiful day of stewardship and cordage-making at the Dogbane Preserve located along Old Redwood Highway in Santa Rosa. With help from Tamara Wilder and Autumn Summers – naturalists, ancient living specialists, and all-around dogbane …
The District is thrilled to have received two grants from the Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation (SALC) Program – a component of the Strategic Growth Council’s Affordable Housing & Sustainable Communities Program, which supports the State’s greenhouse gas emission goals by investing in the protection of agricultural lands. The SALC Program, …
Serendipity often intervenes at the most critical times in our lives. This was the case with Richard Retecki, a Vietnam veteran whose first “real” job began in 1972 when – out of work and on the verge of returning to his native Pennsylvania – he was hired to write detailed …