Learn Osborn Preserve’s hiking trails, games to play with children on the trail and how to gain additional access to the preserve on your own! Are you curious about the flexible program requirements to become an Osborn Naturalist to gain amazing opportunities that SSU’s Osborn Preserve has to offer? This event is mandatory for those who would like to become an Osborn Naturalist and optional for those interested in learning more about becoming an Osborn Naturalist.

California grassland is a unique ecosystem which provides habitat to a highly diverse group of plants and animals. How can we manage our grasslands to maximize native species diversity? We will explore the Osborn Preserve grasslands and learn about management techniques which support native plants as well as native wildlife species including rare amphibians, mammals and reptiles.

Join us for a hands-on community trail work day at Galbreath Wildlands Preserve. Well-built trails protect habitat and species, and prevent erosion while keeping sedimentation from falling into waterways. Properly planned and maintained, trails can be interesting to hike, lead us to beautiful and inspiring spaces, and be sustainable year after year. You might come away with new ideas and skills for use on your property or another place. For Galbreath, this trail project day will help provide access for future guided outings so more people can learn from and experience our wonderful preserve. You get to experience the beauty of nature on the preserve while also contributing with volunteer service and practice trail maintenance skills.

Water is our life’s blood. We all know this, and realize we must take whatever steps we can to conserve and use it wisely. For landowners, the protection and storage of water can be vital. In this two-part series you will learn about effective approaches to preserving and enhancing the creeks and ponds vital for local ecosystems. This will include the role of maintaining stream flow, woody debris, restoring riparian vegetation and invasive species control (with a focus on bullfrogs and invasive plants). 

The first field day will be at the Hopland Research and Extension Center (HREC), the University of California's principal field research facility for agriculture and natural resources in the North Coast region. The following week we will meet at Sonoma State University’s 3,670-acre Galbreath Wildlands Preserve in the upper Navarro watershed in Yorkville. The properties are very different from each other and the approaches to restoration have been different. It is encouraged, but not necessary, to attend both sessions in order to to learn actionable skills.

Help control this destructive forest pathogen! Now in its 16^th year, this statewide citizen science project is vital to managing Sudden Oak Death. Sonoma County continues to be a hotbed of infection, and Osborn Preserve was the first location it was detected here back in 2001, so maintaining long-term research on site is particularly important. Join us to contribute to science while getting your own bay laurel or tanoak trees tested at no cost. This is a bilingual event (English and Spanish). 

¡Ayúdanos a controlar un patógeno destruyendo el bosque! Ahora en su decimosexto año, este proyecto de ciencia comunitaria, estatal, ha sido vital en controlar la Muerte Súbita Del Roble . Desafortunadamente, este patógeno continúa infectando a muchos árboles robles en el condado de Sonoma desde 2001, cuando primero detectaron el patógeno en la área natural protegida conocida como Fairfield Osborn Preserve. Debido a su estatus como epicentro del patógeno es importante continuar recolectando información para la investigación científica con propósito de ayudarnos a entender los efectos del patógeno en la comunidad del bosque a través del largo plazo. Aprenda cómo recolectar sus propias pruebas de los árboles robles, y mandar a que sean analizadas, sin costo alguno. Este es un evento bilingüe (Inglés y Español).

University students and community docents will be your guide. Our guides are trained in natural history of the mountain and interpretation of preserve programs. They will lead you on one of many trails into this 450-acre preserve on the shoulder of Sonoma Mountain. Hike options include visits to the headwaters of Copeland Creek and spectacular vistas of the Santa Rosa Valley and Valley of the Moon.