The Sonoma County non-profit Land Paths, founded a dozen years ago to help connect urban residents to the natural world around them, is finding that goal taking them in some unexpected new directions.

Landpaths' mission is "to foster a love of the land in Sonoma County," a broad goal that underlies their many day-to-day activities. The common thread among them, observes Executive Director Craig Anderson, is a shared appreciation for the natural world, and a willingness to listen.

 LandPaths offers both a busy list of hikes and other activities , and a wealth of volunteer opportunities such as creating new hiking trails (below).

They also have a lovely online photo gallery of scenes from Sonoma County's outdoors.

John Muir (right) died 95 years ago, but he still speaks to modern day California. And not just through his writings.

Retired Methodist minister Don Baldwin (seen here in character) has embraced the role of ground-breaking environmentalist John Muir in public appearances throughout northern California and beyond.

 Even after studying biographies and Muir's own extensive writings, Don Baldwin remains amazed by the early environmentalist's ability to survive handily in the wilderness with the most minimal supplies.

 Despite his capacity for extended solo sojourns,  Baldwin reports that Muir was also a highly social person, when he came back down from the mountains.

"John Muir" will be appearing twice in Sonoma County on Sunday, April 19th, first at the 11 am service at the Unitarian Universalist congregation in Santa Rosa  and at 2 pm in Sebastopol for the annual Earth Elders event (left) at Luther Burbank's historic Gold Ridge Farm. 

A bitter battle is being fought over logging plans for one of the least visited corners of western Sonoma County.

The Bohemian Club has owned the Grove for over a century, but John Hooper says that the history of logging there dates back only 20-odd years.

In this 2-minute video, John Hooper questions the Bohemian Club's rationale for seeking a long-term timber harvesting permit.

 

Even though Bohemian Grove is privately owned and operated, Hopper says the effects of what happens within it will be felt directly in the surrounding watersheds and the Russian River.

This satellite photograph of the Bohemian Gove has been marked to show areas where previous logging has scarred the landscape. Click on the image to see additional maps.

 The Bohemian Club's annual summer "encampment" at the Grove is chronicled in a lengthy feature story in the current issue of Vanity Fair which also discusses the logging issue.

For a more detailed analysis of the logging issues specifically, see this deep background story, published, ironically, in the North Bay Bohemian.

You can find updates about the Bohemian Grove logging issue, and a link to submit your commnents about it directly to the Califpornia Department of Forestry at John Hooper's Save Bohemain Grove website.

With railroad tracks as one of  its main features, the new Holocaust and World Genocide Memorial on the Sonoma State University campus looks both forward, and back.

Sculptor and art professor Jann Nunn , seen at left with some of the 5000 glass pieces she assembled into the memorial's tower, says her work typically includes both personal and political elements, and this is no exception.