Life+Landscapes – Impact Report 2020-2021

LIFE+LANDSCAPES Impact Report

FALL 2021

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Our mission is to inspire conservation through science

We believe that our well-being depends on the health of our natural world.

Every day our team studies California’s land, water, and wildlife so we can educate decision-makers, our community, and the next generation about how best to care for the earth.

With guidance grounded in science, WE can ALL take action to sustain the planet that sustains us.

Cover: Holland Gistelli, Education Program Coordinator, helping with a restoration planting workday.

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Celebrating our Community’s Resolve Dear Friends, At the close of our 2020–21 fiscal year, here at Pepperwood we are reflecting on what it will take to resolve the big challenges facing our community. With its roots in the Latin resolvere, meaning “to loosen, undo, or settle,” resolve seems a particularly fitting theme for a year when many of our most familiar routines and trusted institutions literally came apart.

Now, our society is settling, healing, and weaving these loosened threads back together into new configurations needed for a healthier future. As students of life itself, we know that this is an opportunity for innovation; a call to change how we relate to the world around us. It’s about refocusing, so we can see the whole picture with its many layered connections.

Think of a child taking some natural treasure and placing it under a viewing microscope in their classroom. They first struggle to regain focus as the familiar object dissolves into disparate pieces. Then, out of apparent chaos, when the lenses are adjusted, they can witness the intricate logic of a previously invisible world. Diverse threads connect to form a pattern – overlooked intricacies underlying the structure of a feather, a lichen, or a shed snakeskin.

Much of our work at Pepperwood is measuring complex and variable phenomena. We combine large sets of meticulously collected data on our climate, ecosystems, and wildlife in order to place the health of our region’s natural resources under a microscope. By adjusting the focus, we resolve patterns that advance our understanding about the natural systems that sustain us.

We must be nimble. We go slowly to fill observation gaps over time, but we also respond to our community’s urgent call to accelerate the pace and scale of wildfire and drought resilience actions. Based on a close understanding of our community needs, Pepperwood works with the scientific community to better define our resilience strategies and actions.

We are so grateful that Friends of Pepperwood, like you, are resolved to join us. In this report, we marvel at the incredible resolve of our youth joining us in this mission as Climate Stewards and Promotores Verdes. We stand with them and equip them with all we are learning together, as they are our hope and future.

Thank you for helping to sustain the planet that sustains us.

Warm Regards,

Lisa Micheli President & CEO

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Restoring Native Language on the Land

By Clint McKay, (Dry Creek Pomo, Wappo, Wintun) Chairman of the Native Advisory Council at Pepperwood Pepperwood is working on a mapping project to reidentify place-names.

The current names are in the English language, many of them named by settler families or Pepperwood staff. To recognize the Wappo people as the first inhabitants of the area, Pepperwood has taken steps beyond a land acknowledgement statement by renaming places in the Wappo language.

This is a critical step in continuing to formulate a relationship with the local Indigenous communities – one that is built on mutual trust and respect.

Renaming places in Wappo recognizes and honors the past, present, and future connection of the Wappo to the land that is Pepperwood.

View from Pepperwood looking East.

Photo by Gerald & Buff Corsi

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Pepperwood Preserve sits within the traditional homeland of the Wappo people. We respect and honor past, present, and future generations of Wappo and their continued connection to this land. We are grateful for the opportunity to gather in this beautiful place, and we give our respect to its first inhabitants.”

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ENGLISH NAME

WAPPO NAME

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Mount Saint Helena Trail Rollercoaster Ridge Trail Turtle Pond Trail The Wappo Trail Wildflower Trail Pileated Trail Leopard Lily Trail Morning Glory Trail Redwood Canyon Trail Serpentine Trail

Kana Mota Trail Lel Kana Trail Miche meylele Trail Ono Shi Trail Otsawe Trail Palich Trail Tsawaya Kelshi Trail Tsi shek kayel Trail Tso shote ema Trail Tso tsipe’ Trail

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Connected Lands Are Resilient Lands WHY CONNECT OUR LANDS? Habitat connectivity is an important part of ensuring water quality and abundance during dry seasons, and it also makes landscapes more resilient in the face of changing climatic conditions.

Over the last decade, natural areas in the West – including forests, wetlands, deserts, and grasslands – have been lost to development at the rate of one football field every two and a half minutes.

Remaining habitats are becoming smaller and increasingly fragmented (by roadways, development, and other human activity), making it more difficult or impossible for wildlife to access the resources they need.

Diminished availability of, or access to, suitable habitat places more than 300 California animal species at or near the brink of extinction, with many other western wildlife species also in severe decline.

Sonoma County’s rates of habitat loss are 20% faster than other California counties and 80% faster than elsewhere in the United States.

More than 500,000 wildlife images captured via our Wildlife Picture Index (WPI) camera grid set up across our preserve and Audubon Canyon Ranch’s Modini Preserve.

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One of the most frequently recommended nature-based solutions to climate change is to keep our natural lands “connected” with a network of stewarded habitat corridors. A habitat corridor is a continuous swath of natural and working lands that provides a pathway for water to flow, animals to move, and plants to adjust their ranges to changing climatic conditions. These pathways are critical for maintaining the quality of our water, forests, and wildlife in our rapidly changing climate.

Morgan’s results show that we need to protect stream corridors and terrestrial pathways linking the North Bay’s landmark peaks and valleys. By strengthening and developing these identified linkages, we can protect our water supplies and allow animal and plant populations to move from one habitat to another. Biologically, this provides critical access to food sources, breeding grounds (key to healthy genetic diversity), and wildfire escape routes. Climate change is already altering the types of vegetation within our natural areas, as well as how accessible these critical lands are for native wildlife. These linkages will become more important over time and provide a focus to guide our approach to regular vegetation management.

Our wildlife photos are a source of near real-time observations of puma, bear, gray fox and other wild denizens of our nature preserves; and provide the empirical data needed to validate the value of the habitat corridors mapped by Morgan’s algorithm. This data set provides a basis for monitoring how our wildlife fare through this year’s drought and multiple fire seasons. Our data can also be used to measure how effectively our stewardship actions maintain and protect wildlife populations over time. Stay tuned for an upcoming publication on the impacts of wildfire on wildlife using this incredible WPI wildlife data!

Computer models like Morgan’s are essentially “hypotheses” about how the world works, informed by the best available science-based data. Today, Morgan is testing those hypotheses using photos from our Mayacamas Wildlife Picture Index (WPI). This data set is collected at 40 long-term “camera traps” located at Pepperwood and Audubon Canyon Ranch’s Modini Preserve.

The Mayacamas to Berryessa landscape is extremely biodiverse and features many resilience-building opportunities through habitat corridor networks.

Pepperwood’s Conservation Analyst, Dr. Morgan Gray, applied her PhD research to develop effective computer algorithms that map “climate-smart” habitat corridors based on landscape structure, habitat conditions, and projected climate. As our first postdoctoral researcher, Morgan applied her methodology to the region spanning the Mayacamas Mountains to the Berryessa Range – an area rich in biodiversity that stretches between the U.S. Highway 101 to the western edge of the Central Valley. The resulting “roadmap for resilience” offers communities multiple benefits and was published in a two-part series in the journal Land in the fall of 2020.

Top to Bottom: Coyote, Black Bear, and Mountain Lion caught on wildlife cameras – part of the Wildlife Picture Index shown at left.

Our Mayacamas Wildlife Picture Index (WPI) collects data at 40 long-term “camera traps” located at Pepperwood and Audubon Canyon Ranch’s Modini Preserve.

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Fire and Water: A Dance Upon the Skin of the Earth At Pepperwood, we are unraveling the complex interrelationships between fire and water in our landscape. Our Terrestrial Biodiversity Climate Change Collaborative (TBC3) with the University of California (UC) and the US Geological Survey (USGS), among others, unites hydrologists, ecologists, and fire scientists in cross-disciplinary investigations using Pepperwood’s 3,200-acre reserve as a living laboratory. The team is improving our understanding of how the water cycle,

and the variability of that cycle across the landscape and time, drives plant health and fire hazards.

redwood trees – comprise the stage on which the elements of fire and water dance.

Ultimately, this dance between water and fire is mediated by interactions between soil and trees. Some researchers refer to it as “the critical zone” for terrestrial life, or more poetically the ecstatic skin of the earth. Our soils and the biota they support – ranging from mycorrhizal fungal networks to mighty oaks and

This year, we worked with our partners at Tukman Geospatial to better understand controls on wildfire hazards to create a “next generation” fire hazard index for Sonoma County.

This index tapped into recent placebased research on what factors contributed to the most intensely burned wildland areas in our 2017

Lisa Micheli, Pepperwood CEO & President stands with Carlos Diaz, Principal Engineer at Sonoma Water, in front of a climate monitoring station at Pepperwood.

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Pepperwood’s Sentinel Site features 22 climate stations, continuously reporting data and uploading it to pepperwood.onerain.com.

With 675 climate and water sensors generating real-time data every 15 minutes, we are documenting long-term climate variability.

fires. The results are now being integrated into Sonoma County’s FEMA Hazard Mitigation Plan and Community Wildfire Protection Plan, and they are serving as a model for counties improving their fire resilience toolkits across California.

After a fire, the effects of a burn can change the ability of the soil to absorb and hold water. We have partnered with the USGS and Sonoma Water to measure the impacts of fire on soil infiltration rates – a measurement of how fast water can sink into the ground. Water that is not absorbed upon hitting the ground can become runoff. After a fire, soil infiltration rates can decrease, which raises concerns about potentially increased risk of runoff and in turn flooding and landslides. By making measurements of soil infiltration every month postwildfire across the North Bay, we are determining how fast the soils and the watershed as a whole return to pre-fire or “reference” conditions.

This research found that two factors are very important in determining where the most intense fire impacts happen. One is the density of ladder fuels – the accumulated living and dead vegetation under the forest canopy that is capable of sending flames up into the canopy of a tree.

The other factor is the extent of drought stress, which we can quantify by using a TBC3 watershed model to calculate climatic water deficit – a measure of how dry our soils are.

Before the fire, understanding the state of the water balance and its influence on vegetation tells us how to manage the landscape in order to make it as resilient as possible.

Pepperwood’s scientific research collaborations are filling gaps in our understanding about the cycles of water and fire on land that sustains us.

These teams leverage the integrated network of climate and ecosystem monitoring conducted throughout the preserve to inform large-scale strategies for resilient land and water stewardship across our region.

Collaborating with Pepperwood has been the high point of my lab’s research for the last decade. Seeing our work translated and applied to guide the management of the Preserve, and inform actions with partners throughout the region, has been very meaningful for me and a great learning experience for my group.”

HOW FAR DOWN CAN TREE ROOTS GO?

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT SOIL MOISTURE?

Our TBC3 team discovered that in the Coast Range headwaters, trees often extend their roots below the soil layer into fractured bedrock to access water that is stored there. This survival mechanism is important in Mediterranean climates that are characterized by dry, hot summers. Since little is known about this drought survival mechanism, the next stage of instrumentation for our Sentinel Site will include monitoring wells drilled through the soil into the bedrock to measure how much water trees can gain from there.

Extremely low soil moisture during droughts creates more pressure on reservoirs and groundwater aquifers for irrigation and urban supply and increases fire hazards by drying out vegetation, making it more flammable.

TBC3 and USGS scientists estimate that due to the effect of this year’s drought on soils California may only see 10% of its normal runoff (surface waters that fill reservoirs), and we will need 150% of average rainfall this upcoming winter to recharge our severely dry soils.

DR. DAVID ACKERLY, DEAN OF THE RAUSSER COLLEGE OF NATURAL RESOURCES AT UC BERKELEY

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What’s Needed to Reduce Fire Risk?

20,543 customized property and map reports generated for Sonoma County residents that facilitate vegetation management and advise on parcel-specific, pre-fire activities and strategies.

FACILITATING RESILIENCE SO PEOPLE AND HOMES SURVIVE WILDFIRES We believe every landowner should be empowered to take an informed and proactive approach to prepare for wildfire. Pepperwood and the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) are pleased to announce the launch of the Wildfire Fuel Mapper: an integrated set of educational resources and mapping tools to help you reduce wildfire risks!

The Wildfire Fuel Mapper is part of a coordinated effort in Sonoma County to better provide the public with accessible maps and prioritization tools, and it’s the only mapping tool available at a property parcel scale that can be accessed directly by the public, as well as by wildfire professionals and vegetation management specialists. Landowners with properties greater than three acres can now access the information they need in order to better understand wildfire fuels on their land and how to move forward with effective risk-reduction measures that will keep them safe and benefit the community.

Elements of a Wildfire Fuel Mapper report include: In Sonoma county, over 50% of residents live in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI).

The WUI is determined by considering fuels, burn probability, and the location of human assets such as structures on the landscape.

The dark red areas in the map above show the WUI in Sonoma and Napa Counties as mapped

by CAL FIRE.

FIRE HISTORY

VEGETATION

HAZARD ASSESSMENTS

SLOPE AND ASPECT

The Wildfire Fuel Mapper also provides a list of resources designed to help landowners understand how to use this information in order to start taking action, by connecting users with:

SPECIALISTS The Wildfire Fuel Mapper allows users to download customized property and map reports and is piloted in Sonoma County.

Maps source: www.wildfirefuelmapper.org

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DATA

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

Try Out the Wildfire Fuel Mapper!

We are seeking to improve the Wildfire Fuel Mapper over time with user feedback and data updates. You can support this work and help us improve by providing your feedback via the website listed below!

SCAN THE QR CODE WITH YOUR MOBILE DEVICE’S CAMERA OR VISIT: WWW.WILDFIREFUELMAPPER.ORG

Pepperwood – through its facilities, testing apparatus, and 3,200 Sonoma County acres – makes available the science needed to imagine possible futures. Add the professional and passionate staff, and it’s the combination we need to establish resilient and healthy forest ecosystems.”

DEE SWANHUYSER, TAKING ACTION FOR LIVING SYSTEMS CO-FOUNDER & GREENBELT ALLIANCE DIRECTOR

Prescribed burn at Pepperwood.

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Science That Speaks to Our Values:

INNOVATION + INTEGRITY + INCLUSIVITY We cannot succeed in our mission without engaging all of our community in climate action and environmental stewardship. Communities of color often bear the greatest impacts from climate change and are a source of leadership for evolving our collective relationship with this planet. In Sonoma County, Latinx youth constitute over 40% of the student population. That’s why Pepperwood is working with Latinx leaders to expand understanding of and access to environmental stewardship via cross-cultural partnerships.

Just as the pandemic was taking hold last year, we began collaborating with Latino Service Providers (LSP) to engage Latinx youth on environmental stewardship. Both of our organizations were pivoting to accommodate

virtual youth programs at the time, so we brainstormed how we could combine programs and maximize our collective impact via our participation in the Latinx Climate Leadership collaborative, founded with support from United Way’s Map One Sonoma project.

LSP had just created a vibrant “Youth Promotores Verdes” cohort that aligned with our launch of the UC Climate Stewards certification program. We were delighted to invite any interested Promotores to join us for this ten-week certification. We’re excited to continue our work with LSP and other Latinx leaders on the shared goal of creating young changemakers to shape the future of environmentalism and climate action.

Pepperwood is taking initiative to further explore the ways in which diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging manifest through their programs through meaningful team member and community engagement. Now, more than ever, it is important for organizations to invest the time, energy, and space to audit themselves and give room for collaborative exploratory learning to ensure that everyone truly feels a sense of belonging.”

KIRSTYNE LANGE, PEPPERWOOD’S DEI ADVISOR AND PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT AT KAL CONSULTING, LLC

Left: Dafne Cruz: Youth Promotora Verde and TeenNat alumna Right: Youth Promotores Verdes at work building a community garden

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Completing a Fire-wise Rebuild at Pepperwood We are pleased to announce that we have completed the reconstruction of five mission-critical structures lost in the 2017 Tubbs Fire, now replaced using state-of-the-art fire resilience methods. The architecture by Mithun and the thoughtful attention to detail by Earthtone Construction have generated beautiful yet practical structures featuring metal roofs, enclosed eaves, emberblocking vents, cement-based exteriors, fire sprinklers, and fire-smart landscaping. These new designs now gift us with a state-of-the-art barn facility, refreshed housing for our Preserve Manager, and a new duplex structure to house the Assistant Preserve Manager as well as visiting and resident scholars and groups. Check it out the next time you are up at the Preserve!

Top to Bottom at Right: Groundbreaking ceremony at the barn in September of 2019. Preserve Manager, Michael, and his wife Ginger stand in front of the newly completed Gillogly House! The Visiting Scholar’s Center was completed in 2021.

Our mission critical barn facility was the first to be completed in 2020.

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Appreciating Volunteer Power

By Devyn Friedfel, Assistant Preserve Manager I remember the first volunteer workday I ever hosted at Pepperwood.

It was cold, wet, and the wind was blowing hard. As I stood there chilled to the bone and waiting for anyone at all to show up, I thought to myself, Who in their right mind would come out to volunteer in weather like this just for the fun of it? Fifteen minutes later, the Dwight Center courtyard was chockfull of the echoing sounds of excited

chatter and boots scuffing the ground.

In front of me were 18 smiling, joyful, unphased humans eager to work.

Volunteering is about taking your skills and gifting them to support what you believe in for the sake of the community. We have volunteers who take photos; organize our herbarium; help with long-term research and monitoring; bake cookies for events; Page #

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and assist with educational activities, hikes, and stewardship. What they have in common is their love and support of this place and Pepperwood’s mission. Since my first volunteer workday, I’ve learned never to doubt the resolve of our volunteers.

They make our work possible, and I am profoundly grateful.

Website Link

Learn how you can volunteer by visiting our website. Simply scan the QR code to see our volunteer opportunities.

14 – Volunteer

https://www.pepperwoodpreserve.org/volunteer/

15 – Climate Stewards

https://www.pepperwoodpreserve.org/get-involved/classes-events/

Here are just some of the things our volunteers helped us accomplish in 2020–21:

Volunteers help clean and prepare native seeds for propagation in the new shade house.

Pepperwood is an incredibly meaningful place to me for a number of reasons. I have learned so much from the staff about Sonoma County’s incredibly diverse ecosystem and have had the amazing opportunity to film and photograph the areas affected by the Tubbs and Kincade Fires for my documentary, Pepperwood: Rising From The Ashes. Everything from the landscapes to the wildlife to the organization and people who work there have had a profound impact on my life, and I am grateful to be a part of the community.”

Over 1,000 piles of hazardous forest fuels burned, with sites slated for native bunch grass plantings this winter Approximately 5,000 native grass plugs propagated from seeds harvested at the Preserve and planted throughout priority restoration areas

IAN NELSON, PEPPERWOOD VOLUNTEER, DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER (IANANELSON.COM) STAY TUNED FOR THE PREMIERE OF IAN’S DOCUMENTARY AT PEPPERWOOD IN NOVEMBER 2021!

More than 50 redwood trees and 50 black oak trees planted as part of post-fire ecological restoration

Ian Nelson volunteers at a pile burning workday.

Two miles of trails built and/or restored

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Cultivating Climate Stewardship

By Margaret Boeger, Education Director This year Pepperwood and University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Department (UC ANR) certified 41 participants via the new UC Climate Stewards Certification program. Pepperwood was one of a handful of pilot sites in California to offer this new certification. Climate Stewards engage in a ten-week journey exploring climate change science and developing place-based strategies for adaptation, mitigation, and resilience. The goal is to generate a mutually supportive cohort of

effective climate change communicators and advocates.

Participants create innovative and engaging capstone projects reflecting what they learned during the course.

Their goal is to frame effective approaches to mitigate climate change in their own communities. Our new Climate Stewards were inspired to build food gardens in their yards to reduce their carbon footprints, measure rainfall to monitor climate, and educate neighbors on how to be “fire-wise.”

The program is now enhanced with the recent release of Climate Stewardship: Taking Collective Action to Protect California, a new companion text authored by Dr. Adina Merenlender, who is also a founding member of Pepperwood’s Terrestrial Biodiversity Climate Change Collaborative (TBC3. org). Please join us in welcoming our new Climate Stewards as change agents creating climate-based solutions in our communities!

Through the Climate Stewards program at Pepperwood I not only broadened my climate science literacy, but I learned effective strategies to cultivate and communicate inclusive stewardship, build local resiliency, and bring community-level solutions to Monrovia and the larger San Gabriel Valley where I live and work.

I would highly recommend UC Climate Stewards to anyone interested in being a part of a community of practice.”

GIANGELO LEOS, 2021 CLIMATE STEWARD

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Climate Stewards enjoy a hike at the preserve following their graduation.

14 – Volunteer

15 – Climate Stewards

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Website Link

https://www.pepperwoodpreserve.org/volunteer/

Scan the QR code to learn more about our upcoming Climate Stewards and California Naturalist courses. https://www.pepperwoodpreserve.org/get-involved/classes-events/

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Your 2020–2021 Impact in Numbers

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1,200 acres grazed sustainably through our multiple adaptive paddocks grazing program.

115 forest acres thinned to increase forest health and mitigate fire hazards.

Supported 8+ large landscape conservation partnerships to advance resilience throughout our region.

50 natural history events offered; plus 26 virtually adapted to provide 65 hours of live online programming accessible to our national community during the COVID-19 crisis

924 youth inspired through educational programming in our SCENIC and TeenNat programs, with over 60% of the participants coming from communities traditionally underrepresented in the sciences 1,140 environmental education participants attended live classes, hikes, online programs, and summer camp.

38 acres of invasive weed removal, with 24 species controlled

The best thing about the virtual SCENIQ program was being able to show the kids the outside in real time. They loved being able to see the nests and the birds flying around.

Pepperwood’s educators did a great job listening to kids and helping them to question and wonder. Thank you for making this happen this year! I know it was tough, but I appreciate you for bringing the outdoors in!”

PARTICIPATING TEACHER FROM VIRTUAL SCENIQ

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Financial Statement

REVENUE $8,858,676 n Individual Gifts and Membership 7% n Foundation/Corporate Grants 42% n Unrealized Gains on Investment 23% n Earned Income 7% n Government Grants 11% n Other Income 10%

EXPENSES $6,310,497 n Programs 86% n Administration 8% n Development 6%

These estimated financial figures include operational expenses and expenses associated with rebuilding six structures destroyed in the Tubbs Fire of 2017. They also include revenues associated with the related capital campaign to raise funds for the rebuild project. Audited financial summaries are made publicly available, and are found on our website at www.pepperwoodpreserve.org/about-us/ar-financials as soon as available.

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Appreciating Friends of Pepperwood This list reflects our generous donors who gave $100 or more between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021

REDWOOD CIRCLE $50,000+

MADRONE CIRCLE $10,000–$24,999

Anonymous (2) Battery Powered Foundation Flora L. Thornton Foundation Herb and Jane Dwight J-P Conte Family Foundation Mark and Juliet Dwight The Das Berkson Fund William and Selina Dwight Family Fund

Anonymous (2) Bancroft Foundation Chuck Twichell and Mary Stroh-Twichell Community Foundation Sonoma County Dick and Stephanie Fredericks Fledgling Fund Fred Wiele Gerald and Buff Corsi J.W. & H.M. Goodman Family Charitable Foundation Joanne D. Dow Family Charitable Fund Michael and Paula Rantz Foundation Micheli Family Foundation Paul and Hallie Downey Purdom Family Fund Redwood Empire Sawmill Richard and Lynn Kelson Ron and Eileen Nelson Fund of Sonoma County Vintners Foundation United States Geological Survey William and Marilyn Henderson

OAK CIRCLE $25,000–$49,999 Austin Foundation Jay and Karen Abbe Jim Walters and Diane Lubich Roger and Michele Burch Roger and Monica Nelson Susan and Alan Preston The Christensen Fund

MANZANITA CIRCLE $5,000–$9,999 Bedford Family Foundation Boyce and Peggy Nute Bull Family Fund Collins Family Fund Dick Ghilotti Drexler Estate Fund Fritz and Beverly Maytag Harry and Dee Richardson Jess and Debra Marzak

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John and Elizabeth Sheela Lisa Micheli Marc and Jeanie Kahn Marie and John Huber Mark and Christina Soiland Michael and Bobbie Wilsey Nancy Montgomery Newman Family Rebecca Lee and Tim Yarish Rose Foundation For Communities and the Environment Sandy Otellini Summit State Bank Tompkins/Imhoff Family Fund Vic and Karen Trione Virginia L. Fifield Fund Warren and Janis Watkins

LEOPARD LILY CIRCLE $1,000–$4,999 Amanda and Ray Haas Fund of CFSC Ana Dominguez Bob and Marcia Fosberg Bob Mertz Claude Laval Danny and Tracey Walsh Dave and Lisa Whitney David and Catherine D. Marsten Fund David and Celine Berman Family Fund Denman and Kate Van Ness Donna Fletcher Dr. Steven and Susan Vargas EBalive LLC Electra De Peyster Charitable Fund Frazier Foundation, Inc. Gerry Mugele Harvey and Deborah Shein Henry and Marilyn Hansel James and Elizabeth Gore James and Katherine Kirkham Jerry and Jane Baldwin Jerry and Laura Sherman Jim Caldwell Jim Newsome and Sally Tischler

John Slater Julia L. Grant Fund Karina Maher & Michael Kovac Kate Ecker and John Mackie Kathie Ramazzotti and DJ Phimister Kathleen and Dave Ball Kenneth & Akiko Freeman Kerry Francis and John Jimerson Leah and Bill Gehri Liz Ryan Maggie Kaplan, Bow of Gratitude Fund Marc Nadeau Mario and Danelle Rosati Mark and Kiyo Tukman Marty and Phyllis Martin-Vegue Maureen and Joel Feldman Melanie and Perry Karsen Michael and Diane Caruana Mike and Ginny Winter Natural Resources Conservation Service Ned and Vivien MacDonald Nelson and Jane Weller Parkinson Giving Fund Pat and Toni Draeger Phil Salyer Randy and Kelly Hicks Richard and Katherine Schram Richard J. Guggenhime Charitable Fund Sandy and Bob Young Scott Sampson and Toni Simmons Shannon Bennett and Durrell Kapan Simon and Kimberly Blattner Soiland Family Charitable Fund Stephen and Linda Barnhart Steve and Judy Page Sue and Michael Rataj The Gordon J. Dow Trust The Heck Foundation The Swaney Charitable Fund The Swanhuyser Family Uplands Family Foundation Wayne and Ellen Krebs Wear Family Charitable Fund William and Jean Graustein Fund Wunderlich Family Gift Fund

FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS $500–$999 Adina Merenlender Barbara Lannin Barbara Moulton and Tom Helm Bruce Hartsough and Lesli Lee Christopher and Tamara Evans Douglas and Sarah Brown Eleanor Guerin Fran Gast and Roy Ross Gilmore Stone Charitable Trust Janet and Eric Ziedrich Jeffrey Amen John and Carlene Reininga Ken and Ramona English Melita Love Michele Ingham Nancy and John Hoogendyk Nancy Graalman Ned Forrest and Leslie Whitelaw Natasha Granoff Robert Sargent and Bic Ha Dovan Roberta Shippey Synergy Solar & Electrical Systems Terry Price and Kerry Campbell-Price The Barbara L. Niemann Charitable Foundation Tim and Pat Preston Tom Mosmiller Tosha Comendant and Everett Kaplan

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Appreciating Friends of Pepperwood This list reflects our generous donors who gave $100 or more between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021

FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS $100–$499 Anthony Jovenitti and Andrew Kohrs Abby Miller and Blake Wilson Adele Ventimiglio Aileen Santos and Kathy Haas Alan Rogers Alexis Beery Alison Duiven Alison Whipple AmazonSmile Foundation Amy Robinson and Chris Schaefer Analice Decker Andrew Chong Andy Balestracci Andy Bannister Anguleta Jouganatos-de Lopez Ann Howald and David Leland Ann Keeble Anne Arquit Arlene Hansen Barbara Yungert Berit Keeble Bernie and Barbara Cain Beth Clark Bethany Drahota Betsy Garner Bettina Armstrong Bill and Flora Haluzak Bill and Lyn Galliani Bruce Dichter Bryan and Merle Martin Burton and Raleigh Fohrman Career Technical Education Foundation

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Carola and Robert Bartz Carolyn Greene Carrie King Cassandra Liu Catherine Daley and Steve and Alyssa Goody Charlie and Gretchen De Limur Chris and Amy Pino Chris and Phyllis Baldenhofer Chris Grinter Christine Dreyer Christopher Reiger Cindy Walsh Cyndi Vasallo Cynthia Kayser and Larry Norall Cynthia Murray Dan and Donna Brown Darin Wick Dave and Michelle Halbur David and Erin Adler David and Susan Abernethy David Andersen and Suzanne Chapple David Hearth and Lauren Hall Debbie and Brian Crosby Debra and Kai Nissley and Kurt Willig E.&J. Gallo Winery Elaine de Man and Jordan Coonrad Elisabeth Plumlee-Watson Elizabeth Jarlsberg Elliot and Nicole Reynolds Elsa, Tom, Mike, and Tommy Sullivan Enid Macken Erica Mikesh Frances Knapczyk Gail Cafferata Genevieve Taylor and Christopher Peck Georgia Hammerich Gloria Zarifa and Kenneth Beesen Google, Inc. Gowan Batist Granoff Fund, A Donor Advised Fund of Renaissance Charitable Foundation

Gretchen Whisenand Gwen Becker Halle Mahlik Hans and Gay Stern Harvey Hoefer and Lisa Carr Healy Hamilton Heide, Dave and Kephera Keeble Heidi De Vries Helen Chen and Tom Fetter Irma Cuevas J.P. Ellis and Joan Comendant James and Janis Snyder James Ruig James Westfall Jane DeBriyn Janet Anderson Janet Bosshard Jeana Garcia Jeannene Langford Jenny Blaker Jessica Mennella Jessica Vandeveer Jim Hanson Joan Dove John and Diane Livingston John and Joan Broughton Jon Joseph and Lynne Esselstein Jory Adamson and Paul Weinberger Judith Fenley Judith Rousseau Julia Megna and John Thompson Julian Blair Julie Kawahara Karen Girard Karin Hoehne, Marco Diana, and Juliana Hoehne-Diana Kat Stephens

LEAVE A LEGACY BY JOINING PEPPERWOOD’S SENTINEL SOCIETY Make a lasting gift through your living trust or will, and inspire conservation through science for generations to come. The Sentinel Society takes its name from Pepperwood’s role as a Sentinel Site, which acknowledges our critical work in sharing cutting-edge information that transforms conservation practices regionally and nationally.

Sentinels defend and keep watch, and members of the Sentinel Society will make it possible for Pepperwood to be a vigilant protector of our natural reserve and California’s wildlands well into the future.

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PHOTO BY GARY MORGRET

NON-PROFIT US POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #470 SANTA ROSA, CA

2130 Pepperwood Preserve Road Santa Rosa, California 95404 www.pepperwoodpreserve.org

INSPIRING CONNECTIONS THROUGH SCIENCE

NATURE DISCOVERY FOR ALL AGES

At Pepperwood, we believe that our well being depends on the health of our natural world. Every day our team studies California’s land, water, and wildlife so we can educate decision-makers, our community, and the next generation about how best to care for the earth. With guidance grounded in science, we can all take action to sustain the planet that sustains us.

With the vital support of our donors, Pepperwood makes environmental education affordable, accessible, and a whole lot of fun!

For a complete listing of classes, hikes, webinars and events VISIT US AT

PEPPERWOODPRESERVE.ORG

This document comprises Pepperwood’s 2020–2021 Annual Report to the community.

SONOMA COUNTY

Calistoga Santa Rosa

San Francisco @PEPPERWOODCA

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@PEPPERWOODCA

@PEPPERWOODPRESERVECA

PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION

PHOTO BY GARY MORGRET

PEPPERWOOD