- Support Our Work this Giving Tuesday
- Planning for a Resilient Future
- We are Recruiting Associate Directors
- Fond Farewell to Tom Hammond
- Hiring an Engineer and Accounting Technician
- FARMS Advanced Cohort Kickoff
- Tracking Soil Health with a Little Help from the Herd
- CalCAN Summit Panel Highlights Agricultural Conservation Efforts
- Voluntary Well Monitoring Program: A Look Back at October's Data Collection
- LandPath's Season Celebration
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Support Our Work this Giving Tuesday
As we approach the end of fall, we want to take a moment to share our appreciation for the network that supports us in accomplishing our goals. We couldn’t do our work without our incredible staff and community members. This eNewsletter is particularly special as we celebrate the work we have accomplished and ask for your financial support as part of Giving Tuesday.
We also want to thank our amazing donors, who have helped support us financially in furthering our mission. We could not do this critical work without your partnership and voluntary conservation action. Together, we are forging a more resilient future.
Today, we ask that you consider contributing financially to the RCD at whatever level you’re able. Local support is essential to the RCD’s operations and programs, and your donations truly make a difference. With your support we can accelerate boots on the ground solutions to achieve impactful results in our watersheds
Our work would be impossible without you. Thank you for investing in us today for a more resilient tomorrow.
With gratitude,
Your RCD Team
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Planning for a Resilient Future
Stewarding Sonoma County’s forests and building climate-resilient landscapes and communities demands collaborative and integrated natural resource management. “Sonoma County boasts over half a million acres of forest land; however, this land is largely privately held with 30% of our total forest land held under 100 acres and 68% of our coniferous forest land held in parcels of 50 acres or less,” Sonoma County Forest Working Group, 2024. Our team of forestry professionals works alongside landowners and managers to walk them through the Forest Management Plan (FMP) process. Though the development of an FMP can be a long process, it provides extensive and comprehensive information to guide future management decisions.
While sampling a property, our team hikes to a pre-determined plot where they record information like tree species, tree size (diameter at breast height or DBH), fuel types and distribution, and forest health indicators. They also gather information about watercourse and road conditions throughout the property. All this information is used in the development of the FMP and ultimately supports landowners and managers in identifying treatments to meet their individual management goals. FMPs also document best management practices already implemented. An FMP not only guides sustainable land stewardship but also empowers landowners and managers with the tools and resources needed to achieve their conservation and management goals. To date, our forestry team has written five FMPs this year and expects to finish three more by the end of the calendar year.
Our partnership with local land managers also provides opportunities for our team to explore some of our county’s most beautiful landscapes. The photos to the left were taken by Forestry Project Manager Genevieve Tarino while conducting a forest inventory on a private ranch last month.
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We are Recruiting Associate Directors!
We are recruiting to add Associate (non-voting) Directors to our Board to build a pipeline of Directors (voting) and diversify our Board to reflect the communities we serve. Volunteering as an Associate Director with the RCD is an opportunity to help make conservation happen on the ground by supporting an organization with a proven track record in the community.
You can view the Board of Directors Volunteer Position Description here. We encourage you to attend an RCD Board meeting to get to know us better. Meetings are generally held on the fourth Thursday of the month at 10:30 am, currently, Zoom attendance is an option, but in-person attendance is preferred for Associate Directors (voting Director’s must attend in person). Meeting information, including agenda and Zoom link, is posted on our website at least 72 hours prior to each meeting.
Download the Associate Director Application Form and submit it by email to ckuehn@sonomarcd.org or by mail to 1221 Farmers Lane, Suite F, Santa Rosa, CA 95405.
To be eligible to fill a future Director (voting) vacancy, applicants must (1) reside within the district and either own real property in the district or have served, under the district’s rules, for two years or more as an associate director providing advisory or other assistance to the board of directors, or (2) be a designated agent of a resident landowner within the district.
The Board anticipates reviewing Associate Director applicants at its January 23, 2025, board meeting, which will be held at 10:30 am. To ensure consideration at that meeting, interested applicants must apply by January 10th, 2025 at 11:59 pm. If you have questions, please contact Christine Kuehn, Executive Director at ckuehn@sonomarcd.org.
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Fond Farewell to Tom Hammond
We are bidding a fond farewell to Partner Engineer Tom Hammond. Tom has dedicated the past three years to supporting engineering services to the Sonoma County RCDs, Marin RCD, and our local NRCS field office. With a passion for agricultural engineering, he contributed significantly to projects on our working landscapes. As Tom embarks on a new journey, we are confident he will continue making a positive impact in the field. While we’ll miss his humor, expertise, and recommendations for the best biking spots in Sonoma County, we’re excited to see where this next chapter takes him!
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Be Part of the Future of Conservation in Sonoma County!
Engineer
The engineer position offers an exciting opportunity to apply engineering and project management skills to a meaningful and impactful work setting. The individual will work with a dynamic team of professionals, with a variety of projects in pursuit of multiple resource goals such as water quality, drought and fire resilience, soil health, and climate-beneficial farming. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
Accounting Technician
The Accounting Technician position is a great opportunity to gain accounting experience in a mission-driven organization. The Accounting Technician will perform accounts payable and other accounting duties in support of month-end and year-end fiscal closes. The ideal candidate will be highly dependable, possess a positive attitude, and have a desire to grow and learn. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
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FARMS Advanced Cohort Kickoff
We officially kicked off our FARMS Advanced program for the school year! At the beginning of November, we gathered with our Advanced cohort on the beautiful Windsor Town Green for orientation. This year we have a total of five students from several different high schools across Sonoma County. Our students heard from Irma Cuevas, Community Relations Assistant at Sonoma Ag + Open Space District, who is a key supporter of this program and helps fund FARMS. Through this presentation students were able to better understand and connect our open lands and field trip sites with the work of Sonoma Ag + Open Space. After enjoying lunch and talking with Irma, students participated in a collective brainstorm session to consider current agricultural and natural resource issues and potential solutions. Through this process, students chose this year’s program theme. They landed on “agricultural impacts on others” with a focus on maintaining healthy ecosystems and relationships. Our education team is excited to plan a fruitful year ahead for our FARMS Advanced students. Stay tuned to get the latest updates on our student experiences and findings!
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Tracking Soil Health with a Little Help from the Herd
The Sonoma RCD Ag Team recently collected baseline soil samples at a dairy property, with some curious cows lending their company! This dairy received funding for compost application through a California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Healthy Soils Block Grant, coordinated by Zero Foodprint and a network of RCDs.
Soil sampling is a vital tool for understanding and improving soil health. It provides critical data on soil organic matter, nutrient levels, and overall fertility, helping landowners make informed management decisions. By tracking changes over time, farmers and ranchers can evaluate the effectiveness of practices like compost application and refine their approaches to maximizing soil productivity and sustainability.
These baseline samples will help monitor changes in soil organic matter resulting from the compost application. Over the course of this three-year project, the landowner will also track forage growth in the treated fields. Future soil sampling will provide valuable insights into how compost enhances soil health, contributing to a more resilient and productive agricultural landscape.
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CalCAN Summit Panel Highlights Our Agricultural Conservation Efforts
Our Agricultural Program Director Anya Starovoytov attended the Climate & Agriculture Summit hosted by our partner California Climate Action Network’s (CalCAN). This annual event brings together California’s farmers and ranchers, allied organizations, agricultural professionals, scientists, and policy advocates to discuss the most pressing climate issues facing California agricultural producers. This year’s program featured talks focused on soil health, state and federal funding opportunities, regional and state-wide coordination efforts, and programs to improve land access for farmers access and farmworker housing. The summit provided knowledge sharing and optimism for tackling climate-related issues, such as ongoing field research by UC Davis on agrovoltaics - installing solar panels above farm fields to capture energy while shading crops and farmworkers.
Anya participated in a panel highlighting seven ongoing projects funded by USDA’s new Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities program, including the Sonoma-Marin Ag & County Climate Coalition effort underway in our district. California received 37 grants and about 1/3 of the total $3 billion allocated through this new USDA grant program established to accelerate adoption of climate beneficial farming practices. The panelists shared similar challenges in supporting producers through necessary USDA enrollment steps and collecting required farm and agribusiness data metrics.
Sonoma RCD, along with several local partners, is using this funding to support Sonoma and Marin producers with implementing practices such as compost application, improved dairy manure management, and installing agroforestry practices like hedgerows or windbreaks. You can learn more about the SMACCC opportunity here.
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Voluntary Well Monitoring Program: an Update on October's Data Collection
In October, we launched the first round of community data collection for the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies’ (GSA) Voluntary Well Monitoring Program. Across all three groundwater basins, community members used sonic well level meters to monitor groundwater levels. The effort provided valuable data and sparked meaningful conversations about sustaining our local groundwater resources.
One participant shared, “It was a reminder of the interconnectivity of this resource…showing my neighbors that their wells are at the exact same level as mine is a powerful reminder that we are all tapped into a shared asset.” We are looking forward to the next phase of data collection that will happen in April 2025. You can learn more about this program here.
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Buy-Protect-Sell Kickoff Workshop
Sonoma Ag + Open Space recently launched its new Buy-Protect-Sell program, to explore a new way to help make agricultural land more accessible to producers. Ag + Open Space will purchase land from an interested landowner, protect it with a conservation easement, and then sell it to a qualified farmer or rancher.
There will be a workshop on Monday December 9th on Zoom to go over the program, walk through Stage 1 of the Application Process, and answer questions. Live Spanish interpretation will be provided.
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GSAs are Looking for Applicants for Agricultural Interest Seats
The Santa Rosa Plain, Petaluma Valley, and Sonoma Valley GSAs are all taking applications for the Agricultural Interest seat on their Advisory Boards. Anyone working in or with an agricultural interest can apply! In this role, you will work alongside other Advisory Committee members to provide input and feedback on policies, programs, and projects to each individual board.
The term will go from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2026 with the option to apply for additional terms. The deadline to apply is December 6, 2024!
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LandPaths Seasonal Celebration
Saturday, December 14th
11 am - 3 pm
FREE
Rancho Mark West
7125 St. Helena Road, Santa Rosa, CA, 95404
Join LandPaths and Ag + Open Space with a celebration to start the holiday season! Enjoy a potluck style gathering, wreath making, and an educational hike around forested land.
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Conservation at Work with LandSmart®
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