Restoration Program

. Banner Image by Jerry Dodrill

Restoration and Stewardship Program

We have the opportunity to decide as a community how to restore and steward the habitats of the Laguna de Santa Rosa together. We hope you will be as inspired by the Laguna as we are and become involved.

Restoring the Laguna

We recently completed the Restoration Plan for the Laguna de Santa Rosa in collaboration with the San Francisco Estuary Institute and Sonoma Water with funding from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and input from a variety of stakeholders including technical experts, tribal representatives, and landowners. When implemented, this comprehensive strategy will breathe new life into the diverse matrix of habitats spanning the Laguna de Santa Rosa's 22-mile floodplain.

The Plan and its companion Vision Report builds on many foundational plans and reports prepared over the past few decades and provides an overview of how the Laguna’s floodplain and its associated ecosystem functions have changed dramatically over the past 150 years. It then highlights opportunities that exist today to re-create well-connected and biologically diverse areas of open water, freshwater marsh, wet meadow, and woody riparian areas within an altered landscape that remains vulnerable to continued land uses and climate change.

The hundreds of acres of habitat that we plan to restore would greatly benefit native fish and wildlife species which live in the Laguna de Santa Rosa during their lifecycle. The restored areas would help improve water quality by reducing the amount of fine sediment and decrease conditions favorable for certain invasive plants.

Healthy Streams And Riparian Forests - Preparing For Climate Change

The consensus of Bay Area scientists and environmental experts is that enhancing the function of our creeks and waterways and restoring riparian forests throughout Sonoma County is one of the most important things we can do to minimize the predicted impacts of climate change and the associated increase in floods, droughts, wildfires and species extinctions. We now know that restoring the Laguna is not just something we would like to do, it is something we must do! Restoring riparian forests along the Laguna and tributary creek channels throughout Sonoma County will help decrease erosion, increase water quality, provide shade and cooler water temperatures to benefit fish, and enhance habitat connectivity to facilitate wildlife movement under changing conditions.

Why We Are Restoring Oak Woodlands

The Laguna de Santa Rosa, like most areas of California, has lost a very large percentage of its oak woodlands and the benefits they provide. Oaks are a keystone species in the Laguna, offering wildlife nesting, feeding, hiding and hunting sites. They also host the largest species diversity of any habitat in California. At least 100 bird species use oaks for food and domicile, and mammals use oak habitat for shelter and food. More than 80 species of reptiles and amphibians are found in oak communities, many using the rich leaf litter to stay concealed or find prey.

A typical valley oak lives about 300 years. They take up to 50 years to reach reproductive maturity, and slowly die over the last 100 years of their life. Many of the oaks in the Laguna are in their last 100 years, but alterations in flood regimes and surrounding land uses have limited their reproduction. The result is hundreds of majestic old trees dying without offspring. If we want oaks in the future, we must plant more now.

Oaks are effective "carbon sinks" because they have a long life-span, grow large, and each tree can produce many more trees with acorns which are transported by birds, mammals and floodwater to new locations. Oak woodlands slow floodwaters, and their root systems help recharge groundwater. As a result, planting oaks is a way to mitigate climate change.

The Big Ludwigia Problem We Need To Solve

A serious mosquito abatement challenge and threat to wildlife habitat is posed by the non-native invasive water primrose, also known as Ludwigia. This aquatic plant, which originates from South America, grows mainly along shallow areas of the Laguna’s main channel and tributary creeks. Large mats of this plant pose a barrier to migrating steelhead and other fish, and its bacterial decomposition threatens oxygen-dependent wildlife in the water. The Foundation is working with USDA-ARS researchers and local agencies to find a long-term solution to the problem, such as deepening channels and adding tree cover to shade and cool the water to prevent Ludwigia from spreading.

Sourcing Plants

The Laguna Foundation’s Native Plant Nursery grows thousands of locally sourced trees, shrubs, and herbaceous perennial plants for restoration projects within the Laguna de Santa Rosa watershed and beyond. The nursery was originally built in the early 2000s by volunteers using scrap wood and donated items. Through a partnership with the California Native Plant Society’s Milo Baker Chapter (CNPS), the nursery has transformed into the state-of-the-art plant propagation center it is today. While we continue to grow plants for our restoration projects and for CNPS plant sales, we also now grow plants on a contract basis for our partners’ impactful projects that align with our goals of restoring native biodiversity. Our nursery is certified by the Accreditation to Improve Restoration (AIR) program through improving our Nursery Best Management Practices (NBMPs) to exclude Phytophthora and other pathogensfrom nursery plants. Phytophthora species are soil-borne plant pathogens that cause diseases such as Sudden Oak Death (SOD). Find out more on our Native Plant Nursery webage.

Our Restoration Projects in the News

Land for Nature + Wildlife: Laguna de Santa Rosa
Sonoma County Ag + Open Space District
Laguna de Santa Rosa Workshop Presentations
41st CA Salmon Restoration Conference

North Bay Bountiful: Groundwater
KRCB TV, Channel 22

Wetlands Restoration IS working in the Laguna de Santa Rosa
San Francisco Bay Joint Venture

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For more information, contact Brent Reed, Stewardship Director
by email or calling (707) 527-9277 x 101

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Restoring the Laguna
We recently completed the Restoration Plan for the Laguna de Santa Rosa in collaboration with the San Francisco Estuary Institute and Sonoma Water with funding from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and input from a variety of stakeholders including technical experts, tribal representatives, and landowners. When implemented, this comprehensive strategy will breathe new life into the diverse matrix of habitats spanning the Laguna de Santa Rosa's 22-mile floodplain. The Plan and its companion Vision Report builds on many foundational plans and reports prepared over the past few decades and provides an overview of how the Laguna’s floodplain and its associated ecosystem functions have changed dramatically over the past 150 years. It then highlights opportunities that exist today to re-create well-connected and biologically diverse areas of open water, freshwater marsh, wet meadow, and woody riparian areas within an altered landscape that remains vulnerable to continued land uses and climate change. The hundreds of acres of habitat that we plan to restore would greatly benefit native fish and wildlife species which live in the Laguna de Santa Rosa during their lifecycle. The restored areas would help improve water quality by reducing the amount of fine sediment and decrease conditions favorable for certain invasive plants.
Healthy Streams And Riparian Forests - Preparing For Climate Change

The consensus of Bay Area scientists and environmental experts is that enhancing the function of our creeks and waterways and restoring riparian forests throughout Sonoma County is one of the most important things we can do to minimize the predicted impacts of climate change and the associated increase in floods, droughts, wildfires and species extinctions. We now know that restoring the Laguna is not just something we would like to do, it is something we must do! Restoring riparian forests along the Laguna and tributary creek channels throughout Sonoma County will help decrease erosion, increase water quality, provide shade and cooler water temperatures to benefit fish, and enhance habitat connectivity to facilitate wildlife movement under changing conditions.
Why We Are Restoring Oak Woodlands

The Laguna de Santa Rosa, like most areas of California, has lost a very large percentage of its oak woodlands and the benefits they provide. Oaks are a keystone species in the Laguna, offering wildlife nesting, feeding, hiding and hunting sites. They also host the largest species diversity of any habitat in California. At least 100 bird species use oaks for food and domicile, and mammals use oak habitat for shelter and food. More than 80 species of reptiles and amphibians are found in oak communities, many using the rich leaf litter to stay concealed or find prey. A typical valley oak lives about 300 years. They take up to 50 years to reach reproductive maturity, and slowly die over the last 100 years of their life. Many of the oaks in the Laguna are in their last 100 years, but alterations in flood regimes and surrounding land uses have limited their reproduction. The result is hundreds of majestic old trees dying without offspring. If we want oaks in the future, we must plant more now. Oaks are effective "carbon sinks" because they have a long life-span, grow large, and each tree can produce many more trees with acorns which are transported by birds, mammals and floodwater to new locations. Oak woodlands slow floodwaters, and their root systems help recharge groundwater. As a result, planting oaks is a way to mitigate climate change.
The Big Ludwigia Problem We Need To Solve

A serious mosquito abatement challenge and threat to wildlife habitat is posed by the non-native invasive water primrose, also known as Ludwigia. This aquatic plant, which originates from South America, grows mainly along shallow areas of the Laguna’s main channel and tributary creeks. Large mats of this plant pose a barrier to migrating steelhead and other fish, and its bacterial decomposition threatens oxygen-dependent wildlife in the water. The Foundation is working with USDA-ARS researchers and local agencies to find a long-term solution to the problem, such as deepening channels and adding tree cover to shade and cool the water to prevent Ludwigia from spreading.
Sourcing Plants

The Laguna Foundation’s Native Plant Nursery grows thousands of locally sourced trees, shrubs, and herbaceous perennial plants for restoration projects within the Laguna de Santa Rosa watershed and beyond. The nursery was originally built in the early 2000s by volunteers using scrap wood and donated items. Through a partnership with the California Native Plant Society’s Milo Baker Chapter (CNPS), the nursery has transformed into the state-of-the-art plant propagation center it is today. While we continue to grow plants for our restoration projects and for CNPS plant sales, we also now grow plants on a contract basis for our partners’ impactful projects that align with our goals of restoring native biodiversity. Our nursery is certified by the Accreditation to Improve Restoration (AIR) program through improving our Nursery Best Management Practices (NBMPs) to exclude Phytophthora and other pathogensfrom nursery plants. Phytophthora species are soil-borne plant pathogens that cause diseases such as Sudden Oak Death (SOD). Find out more on our Native Plant Nursery webage.
Our Restoration Projects in the News

	Land for Nature + Wildlife: Laguna de Santa Rosa Sonoma County Ag + Open Space District Laguna de Santa Rosa Workshop Presentations 41st CA Salmon Restoration Conference North Bay Bountiful: Groundwater KRCB TV, Channel 22 Wetlands Restoration IS working in the Laguna de Santa Rosa San Francisco Bay Joint Venture
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