Climate Resilient Lands Strategy released for public input

En español »

Sonoma County’s Climate Action and Resiliency Division and Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District today released the Sonoma County Climate Resilient Lands Strategy, a document designed to provide structure and guidance to climate-related efforts throughout the county, with a focus on natural and working lands. Alongside the full draft strategy, an Overview and Critical Concepts document is also available, which offers a summary of the full strategy alongside key excerpts. Comments can be made on either document. The Overview and Critical Concepts document has also been translated into Spanish. 

Members of the public are invited to review the document online and provide feedback over the course of a 30-day public comment period. County staff will be hosting an informational webinar on June 27 to further engage with members of the public who wish to provide comments or ask questions about the strategy. Comments will also be collected via email. Webinar and email details are listed below.

Comprising more than 1.1 million acres, Sonoma County contains multiple microclimates, a wide range of topography and coastal geography, supporting a variety of ecological zones, plant and animal species, working lands, waters and communities. In developing the Climate Resilient Lands Strategy, the county staff worked with partners and stakeholders throughout the region.

Some of objectives and goals of the strategy include:

• Conserving, managing, and restoring as much of the county as possible across public, private, natural, developed, and agricultural lands. 
• Focusing early actions on areas with the greatest potential for carbon sequestration, climate risk reduction and biodiversity enhancement. 
• Providing a forum for coordinated action on climate resilience in the county.
• Reducing fragmentation of the natural lands system by adding to conserved spaces, increasing connections and corridors, and working with private landowners to develop shared management strategies.
• Partnering with Native American tribes within Sonoma County to advance traditional ecological knowledge and preserve tribal cultural resources and tribal cultural properties.
• Identifying funding and financing strategies within the county, state, and federal, as well as private funding sources to advance this innovative and bold plan. Identifying new concepts for funding and financing sources as well. 
• Prioritizing equity and climate justice approaches that are measurable and clear.

The Resilient Lands Strategy helps Sonoma County implement its Five-Year Strategic Plan Climate Action and Resiliency pillar by developing policies to maximize carbon sequestration and minimize loss of natural carbon sinks, encouraging agricultural and open space land management to maximize sequestration, and developing a framework and policies to incentivize collaboration with private and public land owners.

Webinar and comment submission details

The live webinar to discuss the Resilient Lands Strategy and to share feedback will be held from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday, June 27. It will start with an overview presentation of the strategy, and then staff will be available to answer questions and collect comments. Spanish interpretation will be available for the Zoom webinar. A video of the meeting will be uploaded to the county’s YouTube and Facebook pages for anyone interested but who could not attend. 

Sonoma County Climate Resilient Lands Strategy workshop 
https://sonomacounty.zoom.us/j/99278624368?pwd=OU4wNXdYQ0FkTGNQVVBPMmQ3bE1Wdz09

Passcode: 332186

Please submit your written comments to climate@sonoma-county.org. Comments can be sent in either Spanish or English, and are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, July 15.

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Media Contact:
Stuart Tiffen, Communications Specialist 
stuart.tiffen@sonoma-county.org 
(707) 565-1860
575 Administration Drive, Suite 104A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403