Local Organizations

Sonoma County Board of Supervisors adopts new policy for meetings streamed online

Emma Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT

In a matter of weeks, members of the public will once again be able to provide comment online during Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meetings.

The shift comes under a new state requirement that takes effect in July and is aimed at bolstering meeting access and public participation in government. It ends a yearslong hiatus that was meant to address a rash of so-called Zoom bombers and hatemongers who disrupted many local government meetings during and after the Covid 19 pandemic.

Going forward, Senate Bill 707 requires cities and counties with a population of at least 30,000 or cities located in a county with more than 600,000 residents provide options for remote participation during board meetings.

To prepare, the board on Thursday, June 11, adopted a policy, effective July 1, outlining procedures guiding how to respond if a meeting’s virtual service is somehow disrupted.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/06/11/sonoma-county-board-of-supervisors-adopts-new-policy-for-meetings-streamed-online/

Local Organizations,

Camp for environmental learning, inclusivity this summer in Guerneville

Janet Perry, PRESS DEMOCRAT

School Garden Network’s new summer camp to be held at Solar Punk Farms

Schoolyards across Sonoma County have become places of bounty, learning and healing through the advent of school gardens. Teachers take classes out into those gardens where they incorporate the beautiful space into an outdoor learning lab for math and science as well as writing, art and more. Students who are anxious are able to find peace and solace there that helps them to regulate their nervous systems. Many of those gardens were started with the help of the School Garden Network.

There are now around 150 school gardens in the School Garden Network. Once those gardens are established the network helps teachers by providing resources such as plants and seeds as well as hosting helpful workshops throughout the school year.

Since 2021 the School Garden Network has also been hosting weeklong summer day camps where students learn new skills, make new friends and enjoy time in the garden. The team behind the network includes Sue Davis, executive director; Jesse Schmieg, Summer Garden Camp manager; and Hayley Dougan, farm manager at Solar Punk Farms where the newest camp takes place.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/05/21/a-garden-of-environmental-learning-inclusivity-this-summer-in-guerneville/

Agriculture/Food System, Local Organizations, Sustainable Living, , ,

Bulletin: The Press Democrat Guild needs your support!

PACIFIC MEDIA WORKERS GUILD

Less than two months after Darius Anderson and Sonoma Media Investments sold The Press Democrat and its sister publications to Media News Group/hedge fund Alden Global Capital, our new owners have already started layoffs.

We are losing two Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers and an award-winning business reporter – all exceptional journalists who bring passion, talent and expertise to their work covering our community every day.

One of those photographers is also our Guild unit leader, who has fought tirelessly for years to protect our newsroom and the very rights and protections we now fear are under threat.

We have not been told why these cuts are necessary.

We love this community and are passionate about covering it thoroughly, but doing so becomes harder when our newsroom loses the dedicated professionals who have expertly covered our community for years.

We need the support of our community now more than ever. If you appreciate our work, don’t cancel your subscriptions, but consider sharing our message and calling for our newsroom to be preserved.

Read more at https://mediaworkers.org/22894-2/

Local Organizations,

Mendocino museum highlights injustices, resilience of Pomo people

Karen Misuraca, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The Kelley House Museum showcases the history and resilience of the Northern Pomo people through artifacts and contemporary art.

Thousands of years before Russian fur trappers, Spanish missionaries and American settlers arrived to the Northern California coast, the Northern Pomo Indians called area from the Noyo River to the southern part of Mendocino County home.

With the influx of immigrants in the 1800s, the lives of the indigenous tribes were forever changed, and their population decimated.

Today, there are about 5,000 Pomo people living in several rancherias and reservations, comprising 11 Pomo bands in Mendocino County, according to Visit Mendocino County’s Land Acknowledgement.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/kelley-house-museum-pomo-tribes/

Local Organizations,

Marty Griffin dies at 103, leaving legacy of land conservation, environmental leadership

Mary Callahan, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Marty Griffin was among a generation of pioneering conservationists who fought off development pressure and paved the way for protection of large swaths of the Marin-Sonoma Coast.

He didn’t do it alone. But the vast, open landscape of rolling hills and coastal waterways that draws nature lovers to the Marin-Sonoma coast might have looked a whole lot different had Marty Griffin not been around.

Imagine a freeway, whole communities, housing for tens of thousands, a mall, coastal villas, even a nuclear plant on the huge swath of coastline now dominated by nature preserves, public parks and agriculture.

Griffin and other early conservationists mobilized during the 1960s and ‘70s―as intense development pressures threatened to alter the North Bay landscape profoundly―and fought to thwart that outcome, shifting the region’s culture in ways that are evident in the lands now protected.

Since his death at home in Belvedere on May 22 at the impressive age of 103, Griffin has been remembered not just for his commitment to the cause but for his passion and leadership, the “clever,” “wily” manner in which he approached each challenge and his refusal to back down.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/marty-griffin-conservation-leader-environmentalist/?pupeml=202864

Local Organizations, Sonoma Coast, Sustainable Living, ,

Lisa Micheli named as Sonoma County’s Climate Crisis Champion

Maggie Fusek, PETALUMA PATCH

Dr. Lisa Micheli, former president & CEO of Pepperwood Foundation, is a “dedicated mentor shaping the next generation of climate leaders.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson recognized Dr. Lisa Micheli, former president & CEO of the Pepperwood Foundation, as Sonoma County’s 2024 Climate Crisis Champion.

Micheli was honored during a ceremony Monday to celebrate climate crisis champions from the five counties of the 4th Congressional District.

“Dr. Micheli is a tireless advocate for climate change adaptation and environmental protection as well as a dedicated mentor shaping the next generation of climate leaders,” Thompson said. “Dr. Micheli has put her doctorate in energy and resources from UC Berkeley to good use, serving as the Sonoma Community Services and Environment Commissioner, directing the Rutherford Reach Restoration of the Napa River, and founding the Pepperwood Foundation, which has become a leading institute for regional climate resilience in Northern California. She is exceptionally deserving of this award, and I am proud to recognize all that Dr. Micheli has accomplished.”

Read more at https://patch.com/california/petaluma/thompson-names-micheli-sonoma-countys-climate-crisis-champion

Climate Change & Energy, Habitats, Local Organizations, ,

Gilroy receives lifetime environmental achievement award

SONOMA VALLEY SUN

Sonoma County Conservation Council has announced that Sonoma Valley resident Norman Gilroy will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his dedication and action in in support of environmental, planning and conservation work in the Valley and Sonoma County.

Gilroy, trained as an architect in England, formed his first architectural office after moving a Willis Polk house from Franklin Street in San Francisco to Belvedere, where it still stands proudly on the waterfront.

“After decades of experience as an architect and planner, leading projects from design to completion, Norman has a brilliant capacity for synthesis of concepts and finding breakthrough solutions to complex issues,” reads the award letter. “He is a team player who can gracefully bring people together by focusing on common goals and long-term impacts.”

In private practice in the 70’s, Gilroy worked in his Land-use Planning capacity to reclaim the worked-out quarry where Larkspur Landing now stands on the bay in Larkspur. As a part of the Master Plan, he negotiated the location for the Golden Gate Ferry terminal that connects Marin County with San Francisco and planned for the rail connection that is now a part of the SMART network in Marin and Sonoma Counties.

Read more at https://sonomasun.com/2023/11/30/gilroy-receives-lifetime-environmental-achievement-award/

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