Sonoma Overlook and Montini Preserve Trails

Sorry, the title is a bit over the top, but titles should be dramatic, or at least evocative, I assert. In reality, it is the end of invasive broom this season. We will likely need to return to the big patch I removed recently in subsequent years, with vigilance and due diligence. But at least, for now, it's gone. [ 301 more words ] http://overlookmontini.org///15/the-end-of-invasive-broom/

Yesterday I welcomed a new steward to the group: Jessica Misuraca. She can frequently be seen out on the trail, and she has for years picked up trash on the trail and performed similar tasks to help maintain our trails, so this is kind of like making official what has been reality for quite some time. When I met her at the trail this morning, she had already carried out a rusty bedspring that had somehow been deposited near the trail between the trailhead and the Rattlesnake Cutoff junction. [ 256 more words ] http://overlookmontini.org//a-new-steward-with-the-right-/

This year I've decided to make our invasive species removal program extend all year. Thistle season can begin as early as late January and extend into August, until it can no longer be usefully pulled. But you can pull Scotch broom virtually any time of year, so I am turning to it now at the end of thistle season. We have a large patch of it on the Overlook Trail property, at the edge of the cemetery. [ 87 more words ] http://overlookmontini.org//the-beginning-of-scotch-broom/

I'm calling it. Recently I finished clearing one of the last two meadows left with Yellow Star thistle (along Norrbom Road), and since it is drying out and becoming difficult to remove completely, I'm giving it up for this year. We started in mid-January. That means I've spent over 8 months going out nearly every day for an hour each day to clear first Italian thistle, then Yellow Star, except for the few "vacations" we've had in this time of shelter in place (to be clear, I was going out to pull thistle even during the shutdown of public properties, as I had permission to do so). [ 372 more words ] http://overlookmontini.org//the-end-of-the-8-month-2020-t/

Today Lynn Clary and I installed several of the new permanent trail signs on the Sonoma Overlook Trail, and tomorrow we will install the rest. This is the result of a few years of collective work led by Lynn Clary, from designing the signs and the wording, to creating drafts to put on the trail for testing and getting feedback, to working with a designer and production company, to having the signs produced after a COVID-19 delay, to working with our design company to create a new logo for the trail, and finally getting the signs produced, delivered, and installed. [ 141 more words ] http://overlookmontini.org///19/new-permanent-trail-signs/

Today I changed the display of our "Hikers Gallery," which we try to do every now and then. I put up a display to advertise our new trail movie, The Sonoma Overlook Trail and Montini Preserve. I also created a Moo card advertising the movie, putting some of them in a small plastic dispenser at the main trailheads and at the Hikers Gallery. [ 134 more words ] http://overlookmontini.org///a-new-hikers-gallery-display/

Long about now, I get a little frenzied, as I know that the "thistle season" is drawing to a close. To be specific, as we slouch toward August, our chance to pull invasive thistle begins to wane, as it begins to go to seed and pulling can lead to seed dispersal, which we definitely don't want. By now the Italian thistle has long since dried out, making it a dubious target, although potentially still fair game if you're careful. [ 296 more words ] http://overlookmontini.org/2020/07/20/the-last-gasp/

steward - to manage or look after The Sonoma Overlook Trail is managed by a team of volunteer stewards (about 14 of us at this point) who perform a wide variety of duties related to managing the trails as well as the property as a whole, on behalf of the City of Sonoma, and in partnership with the Sonoma Ecology Center. [ 131 more words ] http://overlookmontini.org/2020/06/17/for-love-of-the-trail/