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By admin, February 25, 2010 1:57 pm

Hundreds of runners hit the trails at Annadel on Feb. 7 to raise money for the park.  The 13.1 mile race was organized by the staff of Santa Rosa’s Fleet Feet Sports to support Annadel State Park in the attempt to “thwart partial and/or full park closure.” The looping course through the western portion of the park brought in about $20,000 that will go to the park through the Valley of the Moon Natural Natural History Association, a nonprofit set up to raise funds for Sonoma County parks.

Hikers on a fundraising 5-mile hike from the start at Spring Lake to Lake Ilsanjo followed the runners, traveling by way of the recent Trails Council project on Spring Creek trail.

The organizers have posted many photos and other information on the race website.

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By admin, February 23, 2010 6:49 pm

District acquisitions totaling $12 million to connect to Jack London State Historic Park

Today, Feb. 23, 2010, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, acting as the District’s Board of Directors, approved five contracts totaling $391,360 to prepare for the construction of the North Slope Ridge trail on Sonoma Mountain, and to assist the District with other trail development projects at the Montini and Healdsburg Ridge Open Space Preserves.

Continue reading 'North Slope Sonoma Mountain Ridge Trail Project Kicks-Off'»

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By admin, January 7, 2010 1:30 pm

Sonoma County Regional Parks is pleased to announce the kickoff of expanded public access at Tolay Lake Regional Park with the new Interim Plan (IP) Day-Use Permit Program.

The new IP Day-Use Permit Program allows the public to visit the park during posted hours once they’ve completed an hour-long orientation and obtained a permit. Regional Parks is offering these mandatory one-hour orientations, free of charge, which cover permit procedures, and rules & regulations. After the orientation, participants receive Tolay IP Day-Use Permits, along with maps, park rules & regulations, and gate access cards. Permit holders may use the park for a variety of activities, including hiking, bicycling, picnicking, or horseback riding. Regular day-use parking fees apply.

Orientation sessions:

ORIENTATIONS START PROMPTLY – LATE ARRIVALS WILL NOT BE ADMITTED

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By admin, January 7, 2010 1:24 pm

LandPaths, the Sonoma County Ag Preservation & Open Space District, and Sonoma County Regional Parks are offering an interim Permit Program at Taylor Mountain in Santa Rosa, similar to the one in place at Willow Creek and Tolay Lake. After a one-hour orientation on the property, you will receive a free permit allowing biking, hiking and horseback riding on the 1000+ acre preserve. Contact LandPaths to make a reservation (RSVP required). Orientations will be be held on the following dates:

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By admin, December 4, 2009 6:34 am

Completed causeway

Thanks to the great efforts of Tim Mayer and the State Parks staff, we successfully repaired a portion of the Spring Creek Trail located about one half mile up from the Spring Creek/Canyon trail intersection. For this project, completed the weekend of Oct. 31/Nov. 1, we built two sections of causeway to elevate the trail through particularly muddy spots. Over the course of the two days, a dozen volunteers prepared the trail bed with McLeods and mattocks, laid down geotextile to prevent materials from sinking into the muck, and moved rock and tread mix in wheelbarrows to create the raised surface before a final compaction.

A few large boulders hid under the tread with only a small portion cropping out — a few volunteers valiantly excavated and moved them out of the way. The other challenge was the amount of traffic on the trail while we worked, which had the benefit of forcing the crew to take frequent breaks.

Check out the rest of Tim’s photos from the project, then take a ride, hike or run to see the finished project. The causeways are located about 1/2 mi. south of the intersection of Spring Creek and Canyon trails; they are roughly 100 yards north of the Ilsanjo spillway drainage.

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By admin, October 20, 2009 4:15 pm

Now that we have had some rain and the soil is workable we want to begin the long-awaited Spring Creek Trail project.  The site, which is about half a mile up the trail from the intersection of the Spring Creek and Canyon trails, is a wet muddy mess in the winter, and we hope to build a long-lasting repair with short sections of causeways.

This summer we hauled rock and tread mix up to the project site, so some of the heavy work has already been done.  Now we would like to get together a crew of 6 or 8 to actually build the project.   The work will consist of preparing the trail bed with McLeods and mattocks, moving rock and tread mix in wheelbarrows for a short distance (50 to 100 feet, generally downhill), placing materials (fabric, border rocks, drain rock, and tread mix), and finally compacting the surface.  We plan to begin work on Saturday, October 31.  This trail is gets a lot of use, and we don’t want to leave the project unfinished, so those who can will work on Sunday, Nov 1 as well.

If the weather doesn’t cooperate for the 31st or 1st, we’ll try again the following weekend, Nov. 7th and/or 8th.

Leader for this project is Tim Mayer. Please contact Tim directly to sign up for either (or both) days.

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By admin, September 25, 2009 5:29 pm

Sonoma County Regional Park recently announced a new day-use permit program to increase access to Tolay Lake Regional Park. The program, similar to that implemented at the Willow Creek addition to Sonoma Coast State Park, allows the public to visit the park during posted hours once they’ve completed an hour-long orientation and obtained a permit. Tolay Lake Re­gional Park will be open to permit holders for hiking, bicycling, horseback riding and picnicking starting September 18th. See below for a list of upcoming orientations For information on these and future orientations visit the Regional Parks Tolay Interim Plan page.  Hats-off to the park staff, volunteers and community mem­bers who supported the access planning for this south-county jewel.

Orientation sessions:

ORIENTATIONS START PROMPTLY – LATE ARRIVALS WILL NOT BE ADMITTED

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By admin, September 6, 2009 10:33 pm

On July 13, at the site of the future Taylor Mountain Park, Sonoma County Open Space District and Regional Parks staff and Third District Supervisor Shirlee Zane introduced a revised Interim Access Plan to allow public access while a Master Plan for the property is prepared. The revised Access Plan will allow hikers, cyclists and equestrians to use the existing ranch road to get to the top of the mountain. Access will be limited to those with a permit obtained by participating in an orientation meeting. This access program, similar to the current program at Willow Creek, will be managed by LandPaths.  The access program is proposed to start this fall, after the CEQA documentation is completed. The SCTC will stay involved with the Interim Access Plan and the Master Plan process.

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By admin, September 6, 2009 10:30 pm

Tim Mayer led the way in moving several tons of materials to the site of our causeway project on  Spring Creek Trail at Annadel State Park We’re now entering the design phase and expect to construct the causeway in October and early November, though the planned State Park closures may affect the schedule. Stay tuned for volunteer opportunities for this much needed project.