What can you do to help?
Here are several things that you can do to get involved with Forest Unlimited:
Volunteer for specific tasks:
Lookout. Forest Unlimited needs your eyes and ears. You can help simply by alerting Forest Unlimited when suspicious logging is going on and documenting (recording date, time, and taking pictures) the situation.
Tree Planter. Every January we have a tree planting event. We need volunteer tree planters! These events are posted on our events page and home page. You can also receive notice by email. Contact our Reforestation Manager Harlie Cruickshank at harlierankin@gmail.com.
Event Helpers. Forest Unlimited holds events such as hikes, talks by scientists and fund raising dinners. We need volunteer help with these events. Contact us to volunteer to help with events.
Volunteer as a Project Manager:
Forest Unlimited needs volunteers to manage various projects. See below for the volunteer positions that are currently available. We provide training and resources to get the job done. Please consider giving your time. To Volunteer, email or call Rick at 707.632.6070.
Outings Manager. door fun with a purpose! Help introduce others to forest ecology while hiking in forestlands. We need a fit, outdoorsey individual with knowledge of native plants and trees to plan and lead hikes and other outdoor events in Sonoma County California.
Sonoma County is one of the most beautiful in all the United States. It has it all: farms amidst oak woodland, riparian forest along rivers and creeks, winding trails through redwood forests and pine covered cliffs above the Pacific Ocean. Forest Unlimited often has access to near wilderness areas of the county not normally accessible to the public.
The right person for the job should be cheerful, like people, and have good organizational skills. Computer literacy required.
Free Calder Creek Project Manager. Forest Unlimited advocates for daylighting (bringing to the surface) major creeks that have been confined underground in large pipes. We want them to live again with a riparian forest, life-giving daylight and oxygen where citizens can see, appreciate, enjoy and protect them. Where possible we want bicycle trails along them.
Our first such project is the Free Calder Creek Campaign in the City of Sebastopol. Calder Creek flows through Ives Park into an underground culvert beneath two parking lots and the two branches of Highway 116: Petaluma Avenue and Main Street. The culvert empties into a channel feeding the Laguna de Santa Rosa adjacent to the Joe Rodota multi-use trail.
Our proposal to the City is this: Daylight the creek from Ives Park to the Laguna. Plant a greenway along the Creek. Add an extension of the multi-use trail along Calder Creek to the park beneath Petaluma Ave. and Main Street. If the city-owned parking lot between Petaluma Ave. and Main Street is sold to a developer to construct first-floor commercial along with second story residential, some of the cost of daylighting the creek could be born by the developers. It would be an ideal location for both residents (close to the park, Laguna and business district) and business (near the commercial district).
A greenway across the highway would be useful for attracting tourists to stop, dine and shop in Sebastopol. It can promote events in the park and the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. It could provide environmental education for students of the Charter School adjacent to the Creek.
The Manager for this project will need the skills to plan, organize and execute a campaign to gain public, political and business support for the proposal.
You can help circulate our petitions and those of our friends:
Oak Woodland Petition: Sonoma County’s development policies do not sufficiently protect valuable oak woodlands. These forests are just as important to watersheds and wildlife as are redwood forests. The present policies allow tree removal for a nominal fee, allow exemptions for large agricultural developments and allow removal of trees along highways even when they are not a hazard. You can encourage our Supervisors to protect oaks by circulating and signing our Tree Petition2.
Stop Clearcutting Petition: The Board of Forestry is dominated by the timber industry. The rules they wrote permit clearcutting because it is the most profitable way to log. The California legislature needs to override the Board and prohibit clearcutting. Sierra Club is circulating a petition to end clearcutting. We recommend that you sign it: https://addup.sierraclub.org/campaigns/take-action-tell-gavin-newsom-to-stop-clearcutting-in-california/petition
You can also support Forest Unlimited financially:
Financial supporters receive the newsletter, Forest Communique, notification of special events and workshops, and notification of logging in their watershed. Your tax deductible contribution will help fund forestry education programs and forest preservation, protection, and enhancement projects. You may direct your contribution to any of our projects or our affiliate groups.
Forest Unlimited accepts donations by mail, or by clicking on the Donate Button in the sidebar.