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Community Education
Walks, Talks & Classes

March | April | May


The Laguna Foundation is proud to collaborate with local biologists, artists, educators, naturalists, and partner organizations to offer a wide range of natural and cultural history online programs, presentations, and outings all year long. Whether you’d like to learn a new skill, enjoy the beautiful Laguna scenery, or attend a fun event with your family, the Laguna Foundation has a variety of offerings to deepen your appreciation for the Laguna de Santa Rosa, connect with nature, and inspire a vibrant community dedicated to lifelong learning.

Please note that all in-person outings follow current Sonoma County health orders and guidelines for group activities to keep everyone safe during COVID-19. Heavy smoke, excessive heat or heavy rain cancels outdoor programs. Lastly, please let us know in advance if you can no longer attend an outing so we can offer a spot to someone on the wait-list.

Select webinar recordings can be found on our Educational Resources page or on our YouTube channel.

March



Intro to Insect Identification
With Kandis Gilmore
Saturday, March 23, 2024, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
$35. Registration required.

Location: Heron Hall, Laguna Environmental Center, 900 Sanford Road, Santa Rosa, CA

Are you a gardener, naturalist, or budding scientist who would like to know more about how to identify insects? Join us for a whirlwind tour through the major groups of insects and learn how to use key characteristics to identify insects to order. This workshop will cover the use of dichotomous keys, catch and release methods for viewing insects, best practices for photography and using apps to help with identification. The morning will be spent in the classroom and the second half of the day will be outdoors, observing insects we find at the wonderful native plant habitat garden on the Laguna Foundation grounds.

Instructor Bio: Kandis Gilmore is broadly trained in organismal biology and ecology. She has worked as a field assistant in the rocky intertidal, oak woodlands, and vernal pool grassland ecosystems. She received her Master's of Science degree from Sonoma State Biology Department in 2017. Her master's thesis research focused on pollinators of three of Sonoma County's endemic and endangered vernal pool plant species Blennosperma bakeri (Sonoma sunshine), Limnanthes vinculans (Sebastopol meadowfoam), and Lasthenia burkei (Burke's Goldfields). Kandis serves on the Board of Directors of Conservation Works, and served as president of the Pacific Coast Entomological Society during 2020-2021.


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April



Sonoma County Wildfire Resilience Strategy
Webinar with Kim Batchelder
Thursday, April 4, 2024. 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Free!

Location: Online

Sonoma County experienced some of the most devastating wildfires in its recent history starting on October 8, 2017 with the Tubbs, Nuns, and Pocket Fires, and then subsequently by the Kincade Fire in 2019, Walbridge, then the Myers and Glass Fires in 2020. In 2020, Sonoma County won a lawsuit against PG&E for the impacts of the Tubbs Fire for the amount of $149.2M. The Board of Supervisors set aside $25M of the settlement funds for Vegetation Management and Wildfire Resilience. Kim Batchelder was selected by Ag + Open Space to guide this program, managing the vegetation management grant program and helping the County determine the most efficient and effective way to implement a comprehensive strategic plan adopted by the Board of Supervisors in 2021.

This plan has great ambitions but limited details, so Kim has leaned heavily on an impressive array of wildfire experts, professional firefighters, ecologists, resource managers, and regulatory and policy specialist in forming the Vegetation Management Technical Advisory Committee. Together, this group helped design a means by which the County could help vulnerable communities become more wildfire resilient, work with multiple landowners in fuel treatments, and ideally move our collective forests and watersheds into a healthier condition while protecting communities from large wildfire events. This presentation will share the work in progress and share key lessons learned and current strategies in action.

Instructor Bio: Kim Batchelder, Vegetation Management Coordinator. Kim has managed Wilderness Areas in Colorado, reforestation projects in Costa Rica, a forest management certification program from Mexico to Chile, before working in sustainable forest management for The Nature Conservancy – Mexico. He has been in Sonoma County since 2005 helping to protect and manage fee lands and create trails like the North Sonoma Mountain and Healdsburg Ridge Open Space Preserves for Ag + Open Space. Kim is most recently the Vegetation Management Coordinator to assist the County to develop tools and treatments to improve the health and resiliency of the county’s landscapes while protecting communities from large scale fire events. He is managing the Vegetation Management Grant Program and collaborating with County agencies, local non-profits, and fire services agencies to determine the best way to use the funds from a PG&E Settlement with the County after the 2017 fires.



Saving Endangered Species in Sonoma County
Wednesday, April 17, 2024. 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Sliding Scale $10 - $15 - $25

Location: Heron Hall, Laguna Environmental Center, 900 Sanford Road, Santa Rosa, CA

Join the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation for a talk focused on the work it takes to conserve endangered plants in Sonoma County. Led by our Nursery Program Manager, Ayla Mills, the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation has successfully propagated wild collected seeds. She will discuss what it takes to establish successful propagation protocols and rare plant restoration methods. Betty Young (California Native Plant Society - Milo Baker Chapter) will be highlighting CNPS’ work in saving our local Vine Hill Manzanita, which has been affected by Phytophthora sp. root rot in its last remaining habitat. Her work has pushed the Vine Hill Manzanita to two new sites (soon to be three) in Sonoma County and seven Botanical Gardens from Santa Cruz to Eureka.

This talk is a glimpse into the complex world of botany and all the intrinsic work that comes with it. Don’t miss your chance to join in on the conversation!

Presenter's Bio:
Ayla Mills works with the Laguna Foundation as our Nursery Program Manager. She has worked in the native plant propagation field for over twelve years. Prior to joining the Foundation, she worked at Floral Native Nursery and managed the nursery operations at Central Coast Wilds and the Sonoma Ecology Center’s native plant nursery. In the last three years, she has developed propagation protocols and carried out seed amplification projects for four endangered wetlands plants in Sonoma County. She is passionate about conserving California’s native plant diversity and inspiring others to do the same.

Betty Young has managed native plant nurseries for 40 years since graduating from UC Davis. Seventeen of those years were with the Golden Gate National Parks and the last ten as our CNPS chapter nursery chair. During that time, she worked to support the viability of many endangered species including the listed Raven's, Franciscan, and Vine Hill manzanitas. She is the author of 2 books: "The Nursery Manual: the Science and Art of Growing Plants for Habitat Restoration" and "Sonoma County Native Plant Gardener".



Art Walk - Gallery and Garden Open at the Laguna Environmental Center
Saturday, April 20, 2024. 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Free! No RSVP necessary. Garden tours at 1:15 pm and 2:15 pm.

Location: Laguna Environmental Center, 900 Sanford Road, Santa Rosa, CA

Happy Earth Day! Enjoy our current exhibit, "Water and Dreams,” Photography by Robin Dintiman, then walk around the native plant demonstration garden. Dintiman’s work is characterized by a deep connection to nature. Whether she is working directly with objects found in nature or taking nature as her subject, Dintiman strives to capture the intimate, emotional quality of certain natural settings, suffused as they are with time, change, and personal memory.

The Heron Hall Gallery & Gift Shop at the Laguna Environmental Center exhibits multiple shows per year of nature-themed art. Proceeds benefit the educational and conservation efforts of the Laguna Foundation. The Laguna Environmental Center includes a 2-acre native plant garden, featuring plants that are important to the Laguna de Santa Rosa watershed. The site also has spots to have a picnic, a children’s play area with a living willow tunnel, a bridge over a swale, a pond surrounded by wetland plants, and an observation deck suitable for bird watching, photography, or just enjoying the quiet vistas.


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May



Opening Reception for Kaare Iverson Art Exhibit
Saturday, May 4, 2024. 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Free! No RSVP necessary. Light refreshments provided.

Location: Heron Hall, Laguna Environmental Center, 900 Sanford Road, Santa Rosa, CA

Join us in welcoming artist Kaare Iverson and his remarkable photographs of local Coho Salmon in this new art exhibit, “The Last Coho” on display at the Laguna Environmental Center, May 4 – August 30, 2024.

Exhibit Overview
“The Last Coho” is a photography exhibit combining large-scale portraiture of endangered salmon with editorial excerpts that collectively illustrate the incredible effort to rehabilitate Coho in the Russian River Watershed. The salmon portraits place our native fish on a stage level with the charismatic megafauna of the Western identity (i.e. Bison, Grizzly Bear, etc.), illustrating them as a species worthy of our admiration, empathy, and reciprocity. Many of the portraits were shot on large format film using an heirloom land camera which the photographer inherited through a connection to Ansel Adams.

About the Artist
Kaare Iverson is an award-winning photographer based in Santa Rosa, California.  His perspective, rooted in a history of natural resource extraction, explores our dependency on the natural world and how we can restore our relationship with it. He pronounces his name “Kory” and you can see more of his work at www.studioiverson.com.

The Gallery
The Heron Hall Gallery & Gift Shop exhibits three shows per year of local, nature-themed art. Sales support the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation and its mission to restore and conserve this Wetland of International Importance. Due to the multiple uses of Heron Hall, the gallery is open by appointment only. Please schedule a time to see the exhibit: gallery@lagunafoundation.org 



Willow Tutza
Workshop with Charlie Kennard
Saturday, May 11, 2024. 9:30 am – 3:30 pm
$120. Registration required.

Location: Heron Hall, Laguna Environmental Center, 900 Sanford Road, Santa Rosa, CA

Join our upcoming class for a perfect blend of knowledge and spring vibes! We will make this elegant and unusual plaited-weave basket that is found in the Netherlands, France and Poland. “Tatza” (properly spelled taca) is a Polish term for breadbasket, for which use this basket is well-suited. In this class, experience in working with willow is helpful, but not essential.

Participants must bring: garden clippers, large pliers, as well as lunch.

Instructor Bio: Charlie Kennard of San Anselmo is a long-time basket weaver and student of California Indian and other traditional basketry techniques. He has taught for the Point Reyes Field Institute, East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden, the Laguna Environmental Center in Santa Rosa and in many schools and at teacher trainings. Tule boats made in his workshops can be seen at the Bay Model in Sausalito, Lake County Museum, and another is in the collection of the Oakland Museum. You can also visit a basketry plant garden Charlie has created at the Marin Art and Garden Center in Ross. Charlie is active in native habitat restoration in Marin, managing several projects for Friends of Corte Madera Creek Watershed.


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For more information, contact Carlos Barragan, Environmental Educator
(707) 527-9277 xt. 110 or by email at Carlos.Barragan@LagunaFoundation.org