Partnerships

Sonoma Valley Collaborative

(formerly Sustainable Sonoma)

25 years after Sonoma Ecology Center was founded, we realized the need to engage the whole community in our vision of a Sonoma Valley where people, land, water, and wildlife thrive. We saw challenges in our community that no one organization could solve alone, but affect all of us. We saw that environmental, equity and economic issues intersect in ways that invite coordination and collaboration across those sectors.

Just weeks after the October 2017 fires, we convened a group of 30 community leaders across the broadest range of interests in Sonoma Valley to form the Sonoma Valley Collaborative Council, a coalition committed to working together around issues like emergency response, housing affordability and structural inequity.

Since its formation, Sonoma Valley Collaborative has played a critical role in the Valley’s emergency response coordination, helped our community understand its greatest hopes and challenges, and fostered new ways of approaching community challenges. Learn more about Sonoma Valley Collaborative.

Team Sugarloaf

When the State closed Sugarloaf Ridge State Park in late 2011, Sonoma Ecology Center and four partners came together to reopen it. Team Sugarloaf is now celebrated around the state as an innovative partnership combining strengths of several groups to larger public purpose. The park is headwaters to important watersheds and protects over 40 rare plants, offers over 25 miles of trails and one of the best views in the North Bay, contains a large family campground, and has one of the largest amateur observatories in the world open to the public. Visit our Sugarloaf website to learn more.

UC Master Gardeners of Sonoma County

The UC Master Gardeners of Sonoma County developed and maintain the Water-wise Demonstration garden at Sonoma Garden Park. These Water-wise features show how plants with low water needs could be planted within a garden setting, thus giving the garden visitors a chance to see how they might have a planted garden space without the need to water often.

The UC Master Gardeners of Sonoma County and their young gardening visitors also created the Children’s Garden, a special place where families can come to play, taste and learn about gardens. Learn more about their projects and workshops at Sonoma Garden Park.

Resilient Landscapes Coalition

We are proud to be a part of the Resilient Landscapes Coalition, a partnership among Sonoma Ecology Center, Habitat Corridor Project, the UC Master Gardener Program of Sonoma County, and FireSafe Sonoma. The goal of the Resilient Landscapes Coalition is to simultaneously encourage fire-wise landscape design and management in the defensible space zone, enhance biodiversity and wildlife habitat, and conserve resources. Learn more about Resilient Landscapes Coalition.

Sonoma Overlook Trail Stewards

Together with the City of Sonoma, we partner with Sonoma Overlook Trail Stewards, an all-volunteer group to manage Montini Open Space Preserve. Sonoma Overlook Trail Stewards maintains the trails, provides information focusing on the trail’s flora, fauna and history, and raise money to maintain the trail and support services. Learn more about Sonoma Overlook Trail Stewards on their website.

Programa de Participación Comunitaria

The Community Involvement Program, funded by Proposition 1 in 2014, is being managed by Environmental Justice Coalition for Water (EJCW) and is a key element of the California Department of Water Resources’ Integrated Regional Water Managements (IRWM) planning process. We are working on this project in collaboration with EJCW, Sonoma Water, and Valley of the Moon Water District, as well as La Luz and the Family Resource Center. Click here to learn more / aquí para saber más en Español.

North Bay Climate Adaptation Initiative (NBCAI)

In 2009, a group of scientists and experts working in resource management and public policy came together to discuss how our region could better prepare for a changing climate. This group, NBCAI, has since conducted research on what is likely to happen here, and is helping Sonoma County and its neighbors create strategies that will minimize the challenges ahead. Sonoma Ecology Center is a founding member of NBCAI, and continues to support this nationally-recognized work. Learn more about NBCAI.

Sonoma Environmental Education Collaborative (SEEC)

One of the most important gifts we can give to our children and their future is a connection to the natural world. Sonoma Ecology Center helped found SEEC in 2010, with the goals of bringing environmental educators together to share ideas and resources, and assuring that all children in Sonoma County have the chance to learn about where they live and to be outdoors. Read more about SEEC’s work.

We Work with Many Partners Throughout Sonoma Valley and Sonoma County