Workshops & Courses

Our workshops and courses offer practical skills, local knowledge, and hands-on tools that help the community be better stewards of Sonoma Valley.

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WORKSHOPS ON

Gardening and Stewarding Open Space

Whether you’re a renter, managing a small property or larger acreage, you can learn to create fire-wise, water-wise, wildlife-friendly landscapes.

Upcoming Workshops

Online Resources

  • Tending the Land for Fire Resilience in Sonoma County is a website guide for anyone who plays a role in stewarding land in Sonoma County to achieve a variety of goals, from fire resilience to conserving water, enhancing wildlife habitat, and more.

    → Visit

  • The Resilient Landscapes Coalition provides practical information to homeowners, landscape professionals, and defensible space inspectors about implementing defensible and resilient landscapes in the 0-100 foot zone around the home, based on the best scientific research and gardening expertise.

    → Visit

SONOMA ECOLOGY CENTER

California Naturalist Program

“California is an incredible place to be a naturalist.” So begins “The California Naturalist Handbook,” the standard textbook for a rigorous UC-approved course designed to turn local nature lovers into trained California Naturalists. These knowledge keepers act as park docents and as key leaders in the “community science” movement, helping to shape California’s future.

  • Sonoma Ecology Center has teamed up with the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources to offer this accredited, hybrid format 4-6 week course locally. The course results in real college credits, and it turns nature lovers into certified graduates of the UC California Naturalist Program, making them valuable authorities on California’s plants and animals, geology and soils, water, climate, biodiversity and more. Recent classes have featured a special emphasis on the wildfires in Sonoma Valley and how they have affected our forests and wildlife communities.

    CalNat courses are only available at certain locations throughout the state. Now, thanks to Sonoma Ecology Center’s educators, the course is being offered at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, with students meeting for lectures in a virtual format, supplemented by field trips in person at the park. Sonoma and Napa county residents interested in joining the elite and venerable league of California Naturalists are encouraged to register for the next course!

    The course combines a science curriculum with guest lectures, field trips and project-based learning to explore the unique ecology and natural history of the Inner Coastal Range of Sonoma and Napa. As their final project for the program, each naturalist-in-training will complete an eight-hour volunteer service project for a local community organization. Participants will graduate with a specialized knowledge of the oak woodlands indigenous to the Mayacamas Mountains.

  • Registration for the Spring 2026 Cohort has closed. Sign up for our email newsletter to learn about future California Naturalist courses!

    Classes meet on Zoom, Wednesday evenings 6:00-8:30 pm. In addition, participants will attend Saturday field trips from 8:00 am-12:30 pm, held at locations around Sonoma Valley including Sonoma Garden Park and Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, and an optional overnight campout at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park.

    Registration is $500, with need-based scholarships available. Students also must purchase their own copy of “The California Naturalist Handbook.” Click here to access the scholarship application form.

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