Our Projects

In partnership with the Sonoma County Ag + Open Space (District), through a grant made possible by the State Coastal Conservancy, WRA Landscape Restoration (WRA-LR) completed thinning of 66 acres within mixed Oak and coniferous forests on the Saddle Mountain Preserve (Preserve) located in eastern Santa Rosa. Forest stands were moderately to severely burned by the 2020 Glass Fire in Sonoma County leaving a substantial amount of standing dead material.

Prior to performing work, WRA-LR crew members worked closely with WRA Inc. biological monitors to perform nesting bird surveys. WRA-LR then followed best management plans determined by the District for ladder fuel reduction work to reduce hazard fuels through removing standing dead understory saplings and intermediate trees below <10” DBH and limbs below 10′. The cut material or the slash material was then staged in constructed burn piles positioned away from living woody plants for fall pile burning.

WRA-LR’s positive performance on the fuel work also led to an additional on-call task order to clear hazardous trees for the Preserve following the atmospheric river events during winter 2022-2023. In June of 2023, the WRA-LR team was able to quickly respond and complete the clearance of 10-20 downed trees ranging from 10-20” + DBH for the entire Preserve. WRA-LR was able to continue with the task order for hazardous trees in 2024 and removed two trees that were blocking access roads in August.