News + Features

group of people hiking to the ocean

The General Plan to Vital Lands: Looking Back (and Forward) with Richard Retecki

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 …

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330 Acres of Local Farmland Protected Forever!

Ag & Open Space Board Approves $1.88 million to Conserve Two Rock Valley Ranch SANTA ROSA, CA (October 4, 2017) – Yesterday the Board of Directors for the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation & Open Space District (District) approved $1.88 million in public funds to purchase a conservation easement over Hansen …

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Santa Rosa park honoring Andy Lopez on track for early 2018 completion

J.D. Morris | The Press Democrat | October 3, 2017 The northwestern corner of Moorland and West Robles avenues used to be home to a grassy lot containing little more than some makeshift park equipment and a temporary memorial to Andy Lopez, the 13-year old Santa Rosa teenager fatally shot …

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Agricultural Preservation & Open Space District Receives $216,000 Legacy Gift from Don Bradley Trust

SANTA ROSA, CA (July 19, 2017) – The Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation & Open Space District (District) is deeply honored to have received a $216,000 legacy gift from Donald Charles Bradley, a 67-year-old resident of Forestville who passed away June 20, 2016. The District was humbled to receive this gift …

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At Jenner Headlands Preserve, work begins to provide public access

Mary Callahan | The Press Democrat | June 28, 2017 Construction work is beginning next week on a parking lot, trailhead and other amenities needed to provide public access to the 5,630-acre Jenner Headlands Preserve, putting exploration of the coastal hillsides overlooking the Pacific Ocean nearly within reach of the …

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Towering, remote Sonoma County forest preserved with $4.5 million from local taxpayers

J.D. Morris | The Press Democrat | May 7, 2017 ANNAPOLIS – Deep in northwestern Sonoma County’s thickly forested mountains, about 10 miles from the coast and a world away from the bustle of any population center, Mike Young walked beneath a towering canopy of redwood and Douglas fir trees …

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Sonoma County open space planners launch broadest, most extensive planning effort ever

J.D. Morris | The Press Democrat | March 6, 2017 Hoping to set a commanding agenda for conserving its landscapes, Sonoma County’s taxpayer-funded Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District is launching its broadest, most extensive planning effort ever to guide its work for the next 15 years. The open space …

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Sonoma Land Trust donation doubles size of Tolay Lake Regional Park

Nick Rahaim | The Press Democrat | March 3, 2017 Tolay Lake Regional Park doubled in size Friday with the gift of an adjoining 1,665-acre protected ranch from the Sonoma Land Trust, a transfer envisioned for years and coming less than a year before the expansive, grass-covered preserve is set to …

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Calabazas Preserve OK’d to be part of county parks system

Alec Peters | The Kenwood Press | March 1, 2017 In the maybe not so distant future, the public will have access to close to 1,300 stunning acres that make up the Calabazas Creek Open Space Preserve in the Mayacamas above Glen Ellen. At its Feb. 21 meeting the Sonoma …

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The state of Sonoma County’s forests

Arthur Dawson | For the Press Democrat | March 1, 2017 Editor’s Note: This is part two of a series about the indigenous forests that blanket Sonoma County — their past, present and threats to their future. Our forests “are undergoing a sea change,” observes Mark Tukman, founder of Tukman …

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