Let’s Build Habitat! Naturalist-Led Walk and Hands-On Habitat Project

If we build it, wildlife will come. Help us create a wildlife habitat structure at an environmental restoration site within our very own wetland of international importance, the Laguna de Santa Rosa. We’ll meet at the Laguna Environmental Center for morning snacks and a brief overview, then we’ll carpool to the Joe Rodota Trail in Sebastopol for a fun 1-mile walk to the restoration site (2 miles round trip) with Regional Parks naturalist Shelly Spriggs and Laguna Foundation’s Anita Smith. We will go off the paved trail to Gravenstein Creek on a farm that is not open to the public but where the City of Santa Rosa has been working on restoration projects since 1996 and the Laguna Foundation since 2014. After learning about the farm, restoration efforts, and the wildlife coming back, we will work with Laguna Foundation’s restoration technician Asa Voight to build a multiple-layer habitat with something to do for all abilities. We’ll do a little digging to create a round depression, fill it with logs to create tunnels, burrows, and rotting decomposer habitat, then move and bury logs, mound up soil and install over- and under-story plantings. All tools and supplies including gloves will be provided. Fun for all ages!