Author Mary Callahan
As early as March, visitors will be invited to explore Sonoma County’s newest regional park: a wooded 1,192-acre oasis north of Santa Rosa along more than 2.5 miles of upper Mark West Creek.
Pieced together through $23 million in taxpayer-funded acquisitions over more than a decade, the Mark West Regional Park and Open Space Preserve will open for once-a-month “park preview days” while the county conducts a multi-year environmental review and master planning for permanent operations.
The property is now officially public parkland after its transfer from the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District last month, making it the third-largest property in the regional park system next to Tolay Lake and Hood Mountain.
“This is going to be one of the jewels of the system, for sure,” said Bill Keene, general manager of the Open Space District