Fun in the Mud

Rain or shine, trees still need to be planted and weeds still need to be wacked. The Laguna holds more wildlife than you could imagine and protecting and restoring this is of great importance to Sonoma County. On a cold, rainy and gray day the Laguna De Santa Rosa Foundation pressed on in their work. I guess they figured that some mud would make the work more fun!

The Laguna De Santa Rosa Foundation’s mission is to preserve, restore and enhance the Laguna, and to inspire greater public understanding and appreciation of this magnificent natural area (lagunadesantarosa.org). Not only are they out in the Laguna restoring wildlife habitat but they are also bringing lifelong lessons into children’s classrooms and conducting research. The Laguna de Santa Rosa is home to 200 different bird species and its watershed is home to almost everyone in Sonoma County. Instead of just trying to root out invasive plant species like the Cotati Creek Critters, the Laguna De Santa Rosa Foundation is trying to restore this area for animal species and humans.

When I stepped out of my car with my boots and gloves, the most beautiful sight was directly ahead of me! The rain had revealed bright green grass and mustard fields. The marsh land we were working on, right on the outskirts of Sebastopol, looked all the way out to Santa Rosa. It was so beautiful! They had an awesome show-up with about 30 volunteers. Before getting to work, our leaders gave us an educational introduction to the marshland and what work we would be doing, along with hot chocolate and delicious mini muffins! We broke off in groups in which I jumped straight into the tree planting group, a bit anxious to get away from the weed whacking considering my weed and mulching work I did at Bayer Farm a few days previous. I worked three hours straight through; digging, pulling weeds, planting down a plastic weed cover and then putting in the baby plants. We would finish every plant off by staking down the water pipe close to the base of the plant. It was hard work but very satisfying.

Volunteers are the heart and soul for the Laguna De Santa Rosa Foundation. Volunteers assist in exotic plant removal, native plant and tree planting, trails construction and maintenance and restoration project monitoring (lagunadesantarosa.org). It is organizations like this that bring people in the community together. I met so many interesting and kind-hearted volunteers and learned more about the work that Sonoma County does to their natural, ecological sites. In a time when the economy is bad and the GREEN movement is kicking off, volunteering with organizations like this is a great way to get involved and learn about issues at a local level.
And the thing that people forget is that it if fun!

Go help, Go volunteer, Go GREEN!