Volunteer for 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 by contacting our Reforestation Manager Chris Thomas.  Also you may wish to volunteer for our Urban Tree Planting Collective.  If so, contact us.

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 Rick.

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.

Calder Creek Restoration 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 Calder Creek Restoration Project 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 adjacent to the Joe Rodota multi-use trail that flows to the Laguna de Santa Rosa.

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.

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:

Stop Clearcutting Petition: The California 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

Reform the Board of Forestry Petition:  The nine-member California Board of Forestry, by law, must have three members of the logging industry and one from the livestock grazing industry.  The remaining five “public” members, may also be from the logging industry.  In practice they usuallly include a member of the professional organization  for Registered Profesional Foresters (RPFs), and consultants who work for the industry and a banker who finances logging operations.

The result is Timber Harvest Rules that service the logging industry, not the public interest.  Forest Unlimited wants new standards for Board of Forestry members.  Each seat on the board should be designated for an expert in one of the following diciplines:  Scientific forestry, geology, hydrology, ecology, fisheries, fire science, native American forestry practices, forest economics and tourism.  None should have worked for the logging industry.  This would shift the focus from short-term industry profits to long-term public interest.  Help us circulate our Reform the Board of Forestry Petition to the California Legislature.

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.