Find information here about types of professionals you may work with, planning and mapping tools, Indigenous perspectives on implementation, and supporting land stewardship workers.

Start with this great resource page from Sonoma County Forest Conservation Working Group, which points you to specific types of professionals based on the work you want to do.

Registered Professional Forester. A description of what RPFs do. See this list from Sonoma County Forest Conservation Working Group.

Botanist. Assesses in detail the plant species of a site. 

Restoration ecologist. Re-establishes native plant communities and/or topography, often using earth-moving and replanting. 

Landscape designer or architect. For when design and aesthetics is important. Sonoma County examples: 

Certified arborist. Manages individual trees for health and safety. See this directory from American Society of Consulting Arborists

Burn boss. Oversees planning, permitting, and implementation of broadcast burns. In Sonoma County, start with Fire Forward or your local fire district

Rangeland Manager. Advises on grazing. In Sonoma County, start with your local RCD, either Sonoma RCD or Gold Ridge RCD, or UCCE (cesonoma@ucanr.edu or 707-565-2621).

Crews who do vegetation management/land stewardship. Sonoma County examples: 

• Hybrid Indigenous Stewardship for Indigenous-led crews doing land stewardship, cultural burning, logistics, and restoration
• Great Tree Tenders for fuels reduction, 707-485-7569
• Conservation Corps North Bay with crews of young people
• Circuit Rider with crews of young people
• Ecological Solutions whose crews have botanical expertise
• Sonoma Ecology Center’s small informed crew with an arborist

Watershed groups or other land-oriented non-profits focused on your location, such as the Upper Mark West Creek Watershed Group, Bohemian Collaborative in the Dutch Bill Creek watershed, or Sonoma Ecology Center in Sonoma Valley

Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs), either Sonoma RCD or Gold Ridge RCD

Fire Safe Councils, homeowner associations, neighborhood- or road-based groups, or similar landowner groups

UC Cooperative Extension Sonoma County (also called UC ANR) provides advisory and technical assistance on forest health, rangeland management, forest and oak woodland stewardship, wildfire, prescribed fire, policy, permitting, and related topics. Their website has information, or contact an advisor for specific needs. Email cesonoma@ucanr.edu or call 707-565-2621 to inquire. 

Fire Safe Sonoma, and their Fire Safe Alliance of landowner groups

California Native Plant Society

• LandSmart planning templates
• UCCE Forest Planning and Permitting
• UCCE Forest Stewardship Workshops
• Sonoma (Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP)
• Wildfire Fuel Mapper to see fuels and risk on a property
• Google Earth (easier) or ArcGIS (Q-GIS as a free alternative) to make maps
• CalFlora, iNaturalist, and Seek to help identify plants, animals, and other organisms
• Wildfire Resilience Planner to prioritize locations for wildfire resilience actions across large areas
• OnX map app that includes land ownership
• County of Sonoma Zoning & Land Use Map
• NRCS Soil Maps
• NRCS Conservation Practices catalog

• North Bay Jobs with Justice is training immigrant and Indigenous farmworkers to develop their skills in climate resilience with an emphasis on dignified wages and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. 
• Graton Day Labor Center has information about reasonable pay
• MIT has a well-regarded calculator for living costs by county, updated regularly

• Tribal, Indigenous, and Native perspectives
  • https://native-land.ca/ provides maps of tribal territories and links to learn more
  • Hybrid Indigenous Stewardship does land stewardship, cultural burning, restoration, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) workshops.
  • Redbud Resource Group, a California Native women-led organization. Watch their videos here.
  • California Open Lands offers workshops teaching Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge
  • Tending the Wild, a book about California Indigenous land stewardship practices and a related PBS documentary
  • Braiding Sweetgrass, a bestseller bringing together Indigenous perspectives with science

• Gold Ridge RCD Resource Library organized by content topic
• Funding and Assitance Programs page from Sonoma County Ag + Open Space
• General Informational Resources: Gold Ridge RCD Resources Page