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Velvet grass studied at Estero Americano Preserve
Congratulations to rancher Joe Pozzi, who grazes his cattle at SLT’s Estero Americano Preserve and is also district manager of the Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District. Joe was recently honored with the Farm Bureau’s first Luther Burbank Conservation Award for his protection of the county’s natural resources.
The long-awaited Sonoma Baylands Pavilion is well on its way to reality! Renowned architect Olle Lundberg, of Lundberg Design in San Francisco, volunteered his services to design this beautiful new structure at the Baylands. Now that the designs are finished, project permitting has begun. Construction of the pavilion is slated for completion next summer. SLT hosts youth ecology project
Transit and Trails — a new resource The Bay Area Open Space Council has created a wonderful new Web site for the Bay Area community that allows you to search for trailheads, campgrounds and featured trips, and then get live interactive transit directions to those locations via 511.org or Google Transit. Included are hundreds of the best trailheads and almost all of the campgrounds in the nine-county Bay Area. Development of the site is ongoing — among other features, it will soon include a carbon calculator to measure the positive impact you can have by taking transit and reducing your carbon footprint!
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August 2009
Hear Soprano Ruth Ann Swenson sing
Check out our new & improved Facebook page!  We have moved and enhanced the Sonoma Land Trust Facebook page and it is better than ever! If you have already made the move with us, thank you! If you have not yet migrated to the new page or you weren’t an SLT Facebook member to begin with, please click here now and become a “fan” of your Land Trust. If you aren’t yet on Facebook, becoming a fan is a great way to get up-to-the minute news from SLT. Please note that our former page will be discontinued shortly.
Check out our full schedule of hikes and workdays and join in the fun.
Got tools?
If you can donate any of the above, please contact Shanti Wright. Thanks!
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| Questions or comments? Email Sheri Cardo, managing editor. Copyright 2009 Sonoma Land Trust. All Rights Reserved. Newsletter produced by Athena Design Group. |
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The Estero Americano Preserve is one of four sites around Sonoma County being utilized for a velvet grass study designed to examine the ability of velvet grass to self-pollinate. Velvet grass (Holcus lanatus) is a perennial bunchgrass that is native to Europe and was likely brought to California as a forage crop. Ironically, it provides very poor forage compared with many native grasses and herbs. Velvet grass is now a pervasive invader of California’s coastal grasslands. It produces seeds prolifically, grows rapidly and is capable of producing dense monocultures. The success of velvet grass is peculiar because, as a perennial grass, it competes heavily with the suite of native perennial grasses that used to dominate California’s coastal grasslands. What factors have allowed velvet grass to be so wildly successful?
Estero livestock operator wins conservation award
Baylands Pavilion is on track
Thanks to a donation to KRCB Radio that Healdsburg resident Sally Weed made in memory of her late husband David, KRCB created a 60-second radio announcement for SLT to promote the upcoming benefit with Ruth Ann Swenson. The announcement features excerpts from performances by Ms. Swenson, one of the world’s leading sopranos. Tickets for this Sept. 20 event are still available. For more information, 
Get out and enjoy the land 
Our volunteer program is expanding and we could use more tools and supplies to outfit our volunteers for workday projects. Do you have any of these items gathering dust in your garage or shed?