BATW August Meeting – Saturday, August 17
10 a.m. to early afternoon
“Climate Change & San Francisco Bay”
(Speaker: Bob Neale of Sonoma Land Trust)
A picnic and museum tour at Cline Cellars
Location: Baylands Center at historic Sears Point Ranch and Cline Cellars (both located on the southernmost end of Sonoma County, near intersection of Highways 37 and 121)
This meeting has been arranged by BATW members Suzie Rodriguez & Lee Daley
As climate change advances, how far will the Bay’s waters rise? What’s going to happen to land and infrastructure edging the Bay, or to Baylands plants and wildlife? How will these changes affect our own way of life? The world of future generations?
You’ll learn answers to these questions and more on August 17 from Bob Neale, Stewardship Director of the Sonoma Land Trust, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting significant lands in and around Sonoma County. To date SLT has protected more than 25,000 acres, including the Jenner Headlands and the Baylands at Sears Point.
We’ll meet at the small, modern Baylands Center at historic 2,327-acre Sears Point Ranch (directions below), which edges the miles-long expanse of tidal marsh, grasslands, seasonal ponds and riparian drainage you’ve seen when driving on Highway 37.
Designed pro bono by architect Olle Lundberg, the Center isn’t open to the public; it’s used only for meetings, presentations and special events—like ours. Expect awesome views from the deck and our excursion into the marshland. Learn more about the Center.
We’ll also hear about the ongoing restoration work here, one of 14 high-priority national infrastructure projects undertaken by the Obama administration, for which Sonoma Land Trust has partnered with more than 40 individual stakeholders, including both the U. S. and California Fish & Wildlife Services, Ducks Unlimited, and the S. F. Regional Water Board. Basically, this huge project is rebuilding the marshlands. We’ll then leave the Baylands Center to explore, on foot, parts of the Baylands not yet open to the public.
We’ll then continue on to Cline Cellars, about two miles away in the Carneros, for a bring-your-own picnic lunch. We’ll have a tour—perhaps led by co-owner Nancy Cline (also a creator of unique hotels in the U. S. and Italy)—of the on-site Missions Museum. It’s home to exquisite reproductions of all 21 California missions made for the 1939 World’s Fair at Treasure Island by a team of German cabinetmakers (and rescued from oblivion by the Clines). Read Suzie’s 2012 Santa Rosa Press Democrat article about Nancy Cline.
This promises to be a fun, informative and relaxing summer day – hope you can join us!
A limit of 35 members and guests can attend this meeting. To RSVP, click here. New RSVP Policy: submit your RSVP on the website, then print out the email confirmation that you receive and bring to the meeting for check-in (or bring your smartphone). To cancel your reservation, contact Programs Chair (erin.caslavka@gmail.com).
For more information:
Contact: Suzie Rodriguez (suzierod@gmail.com) or Lee Daley (literalee@yahoo.com)
Directions to Sears Point Ranch:
Sears Point Ranch and the Carneros are in the southernmost end of Sonoma County, a 45-minute jaunt from the Golden Gate Bridge.
FROM NORTH/PETALUMA
- Travel South on Hwy 101 to Petaluma. Exit at Hwy 116/Lakeville Hwy. Continue South on Lakeville until you arrive at the stoplight at Hwy 37.
- Turn left onto Hwy 37 and stay in the right lane. Proceed about ¾ mile and look for the barns on your right.
- Use your right turn signal and pull off onto the right shoulder to slow down. Turn right at the first driveway (with gate); the address is 2100. There is plenty of parking around the ranch.
FROM EAST/VALLEJO:
- Proceed west on Highway 37 to the stoplight at Lakeville Highway; make a U-turn there and head east on Highway 37.
- Stay in the right lane. Proceed about ¾ mile and look for the barns on your right.
- Use your right turn signal and pull off onto the right shoulder to slow down. Turn right at the first driveway (with gate); the address is 2100. There is plenty of parking around the ranch.
FROM WEST/MARIN:
- Exit U.S. 101 onto Highway 37, east toward Vallejo.
- The first stoplight you encounter is at Lakeville Highway; proceed through the light. Stay in the right lane. Travel about ¾ mile and look for the barns on your right.
- Use your right turn signal and pull off onto the right shoulder to slow down. Turn right at the first driveway (with gate); the address is 2100. There is plenty of parking around the ranch.