Notice of North Sonoma Mountain Park Master Plan Public Outreach Meeting

DATE: April 3, 2017

TO: Interested Parties

FROM: Sonoma County Regional Parks 2300 County Center Drive, Santa Rosa, CA 95403

MEETING DATE and LOCATION: Thursday April 27th, 6:00PM – 8:00PM at the Bennett Valley Guild Hall (4145 Grange Road, Santa Rosa, CA)

Sonoma County Regional Parks (RP) is beginning the development of a Master Plan for the enhancement of the North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve (Park and Preserve). The Master Plan is intended to serve as the guiding vision to protect conservation values, direct land use and management, provide strategies for natural resource enhancement, and plan for the development of facilities integrated with the Park and Preserve. The Master Plan provides an opportunity to develop a long-range vision for the Park and Preserve while protecting the significant conservation values of the land.

The approximately 820 acre Park and Preserve is located on Sonoma Mountain southeast of Santa Rosa, CA and northwest of Jack London State Historic Park, which shares most of its western boundary with the Park and Preserve. The Park and Preserve is comprised of six properties, commonly called: Jacobs Ranch, Cooper’s Grove, Sonoma Mountain Woodland, Wilroth, Skiles, and Walsh (Figure 1). The Park and Preserve opened to the public in 2015 (excluding Walsh), and includes a four-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail connection to the Jack London State Historic Park, a wheelchair-accessible trail to an overlook, and the Umbrella Tree Trail. All trails are open to hikers, cyclists (bikes are limited to the first two miles of the Bay Area Ridge Trail), and equestrians. One staging area is also available for parking and can accommodate horse trailers.

April 2017 1 North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve March 2017

Development of the Master Plan will consider how existing amenities or structures in the Park and Preserve are used, whether new features (i.e. additional trails, camp sites, cabins, or various types of public uses, such as the re-opening of the stables for day use) are developed, and how natural and cultural resources are managed, to ensure long-term protection consistent with compatible uses. Four separate building envelopes and five environmental camping envelopes were previously established for potential use on Jacobs Ranch and Walsh (Figure 2 and 3). Building envelopes may be used to develop or improve existing structures such as educational centers, barns, storage structures, or other features. Environmental camping envelopes may be developed to support hike-in camping, group campsites, picnic areas, or other camping related recreation. A cell tower envelope also exists on Walsh Ranch and includes the existing cell tower for use by Sonoma County, PG&E, and AT&T. No further development is to occur within this envelope.

All lands outside of the designated development envelopes are designated as “Forever Wild Areas” and are not being considered for further development, except for the possible addition of trails to enhance public use while protecting natural and/or cultural resources. Of particular interest to RP is the potential design of a trail to the peak of Sonoma Mountain on the Walsh Property that provides access to identified camping envelopes and connects to the existing ridge trail.

RP will be concurrently preparing an Initial Study Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process to facilitate the eventual adoption and implementation of the Master Plan. The CEQA document will assess potential environmental effects associated with identified enhancements to the Park and Preserve and will provide recommended mitigation to reduce identified effects to less-than-significant levels. The baseline documents prepared by the Open Space District will serve as the baseline documents for both the master planning process and the CEQA process. This public outreach meeting for the initiation of the master planning process will serve as initial community input for the Master Plan.

We invite you to join us to discuss future planning options for the long term management of the Park and Preserve. We are particularly interested in obtaining comments on, and suggestions for allowable uses within the identified development envelopes, as well as locations for future trails. Background information and baseline documents can be downloaded and reviewed at http://parks.sonomacounty.ca.gov/

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S o F O U no d TH m a Mountai n R FO RK M n AT Cooper's Grove M ANZ L A A y S C ar RE T h E A c K a N Z Z A Bu kj S rn C h kj R am E R E anch Rd K Jacobs Ranch Sonoma Mountain Woodland

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Skiles FAIRFIELD OSBORNE PRESERVE Q u Pepperwood Lna w a F n i K lb L r JACK LONDON E o n E o Walsh HISTORIC R k C E L STATE PARK AN n d CR R ge id le R a g E K LEGEND E E R G C RA M Park Boundary CE K C E A R E H A kj Existing Ranch Buildings R Lichau Rd G n Existing Staging and Trailhead L kj To m a Existing Park & Preserve Trails S oldi er L n RE Feet C E CO P ELAND K NORTH ¢Ð ! 0 1,000 2,000

North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve Master Plan / 217500 SOURCE: Sonoma County Regional Parks, 9/2016; Sonoma County Orthophotograph, 2013; AES, 3/22/2017 Figure 1 Park and Preserve LEGEND

Jacobs Property Sonoma Mountain Rd kj Existing Ranch Buildings Primary Building Envelope kj Existing Staging and Trailhead Environmental Camping Envelope Feet Unpaved Roads Existing Park & Preserve Trail NORTH !¢Ð 0 250 500

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North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve Master Plan / 217500 SOURCE: Sonoma County Regional Parks, 9/2016; Sonoma County Orthophotograph, 2013; AES, 3/22/2017 Figure 2 Jacobs Ranch NORTH SONOMA MOUNTAIN PARK & PRESERVE

FAIRFIELD OSBORNE PRESERVE

JACK LONDON HISTORIC STATE PARK

GR ACE C R E EK

LEGEND Walsh Ranch

Existing Regional Park or Preserve

Cell Tower Envelope

Environmental Camping Envelope

Primary Building Envelope

Summit Knoll

Unpaved Roads

Paved Roads

Existing Trail Feet H T R O N ¢Ð ! 0 400 800

North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve Master Plan / 217500 SOURCE: Sonoma County Regional Parks, 9/2016; Sonoma County Orthophotograph, 2013; AES, 4/3/2017 Figure 3 Walsh Ranch