.he natural beauty and diversified environment of Sonoma County continues to attract and maintain an ever-growing population. Residents pay a premium in housing prices just to live in the Sonoma County region. How can the county's natural splendor and ecological health be preserved while its economic vitality is maintained?
These questions will be the focus of "Sonoma County in the Balance: The People and the Environment," an eight-week lecture series sponsored by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Sonoma State University.
The series will be held on Wednesday evenings, April 5 to May 24, from 6:30-8:15 p.m. in the Cooperage. Admission to the entire lecture series isavailable for $80, and it is also available as one course in the Osher LLI membership package. Parking is an additional $2.50 for each lecture.
Scientists, historians, planners, management experts, political activists and more will speak about the area's natural history, immigration issues, development, watershed and agricultural concerns, coastal preservation, and share perspectives on the future of Sonoma County.
For further information or registration, phone (707) 664-2691.
The complete program is:
April 5, "The Path to a Sustainable California"
--Robert Girling and Art Warmouth
The United Nations Brundtland Commission that met from 1983 to 1987 identified sustainable development as a process of developing land, cities, business, and communities that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Sonoma County residents living in one of the most beautiful places in California, need to find ways to grow our communities without compromising our natural environment. In the past decade a growing number of enterprises are seeing opportunities and benefits from leading change to reduce their environmental footprint and act more responsibly. In this session, we will identify some of the valuable thinking and activities by business and the community that can provide the basis for a vibrant and sustainable economy.
Robert Girling is a Professor of Business Administration at SSU, has consulted consulted in 20 different countries and for the World Bank, USAID, and the United Nations. He was selected as Sonoma State University's outstanding professor in 1994 and is the author of over 50 books and articles. Art Warmouth is a Professor of Psychology at SSU. He is a member of the Sebastopol Economic Forum, dedicated to sustainable development for the City of Sebastopol. He recently received the SSU Founders Award for Community-Based Learning.
April 12, "Urban Development and the Natural Landscape"
--Nathan Rank, Phil and Denise Cadman
We will take a close look at the current status of the biological environment that surrounds urban areas in Sonoma County and how the environment has changed biologically over the past 60 years. Our discussion will include a focus on oak woodlands, grasslands, and the vernal pools and wetlands found in the Laguna de Santa Rosa. We will look at changes in the natural communities and the abundance of vertebrates and native plants. In addition, we will review effects of some management practices on biological diversity and evaluate the possible consequences of the introduction of invasive species to our region.
Nathan Rank and Phil Northen are Professors in the Department of Biology at SSU who both have a keen interest in the biological environment in Sonoma County. Denise Cadman is a natural resource specialist for the city of Santa Rosa and an adjunct faculty in the Life Sciences Department at SRJC.
April 19, "Basins of Relations: Thinking like a Watershed"
--Brock Dolman
Occidental Arts and Ecology Center biologist and educator, Brock Dolman offers a series of slide images and interpretations about water, watersheds, human development patterns and restoration ideas that support regenerative ecological integrity and social resiliency. Water is the 'element of life' on Planet Water and the conservation of biologically diverse native ecosystems of all sorts of swimming, crawling, flying and walking life forms is absolutely dependent upon hydrologically intact watersheds. This talk will span a diversity of scales from global water issues to a more detailed look at the balance of water for the people and environment of Sonoma County.
Brock Dolman is a co-founder and co-owner of Occidental Arts and Ecology Center and the Sowing Circle Intentional Community. He is the Director of OAEC's WATER Institute, Permaculture and Ecological Design Program, and Wildlands Restoration Program. He is currently a Sonoma County Fish & Wildlife Commissioner and an active member of the Dutch Bill Creek Watershed Group, West County Watershed Network, and Russian River Watershed Council.
April 26, "The Peopling of Sonoma County"
--Gaye LeBaron and Dan Markwyn
From the earliest inhabitants, who lived so lightly on the land, to the impact of the 21st century population, Sonoma County has experienced the power of people to change the face and the character of their surroundings, and to be changed, in turn, by what surrounds them. The first contact of the Southern Pomo, the Coast Miwok, the Wappo and the Suisun with the Russian otter hunters, Spanish soldiers and Mexican padres was dramatic. And the waves of immigrants that followed found, each in its own time, opportunity beyond expectation. The story of these immigration patterns is an important part of the 150-year history of agriculture in our coastal valleys. But it is also the familiar story of urbanization, of the infrastructure people have created -- the cars, the highways, the pipelines, the building, the paving, and the waste-- and how all this has changed the land.
Gaye LeBaron wrote a popular column about Sonoma County history for the Press Democrat for forty-two years, and has given three courses for the Osher LLI program. Dan Markwyn was a Professor of History at SSU where he specialized in the history of California and Sonoma County and has taught three courses for Osher LLI.
May 3, "Making Decisions on Development and Land Use"
--David Keller and David Gouin
At some point all of the political, environmental and economic interests need to be brought together and decisions have to be made. How does this process work? What are the roles and relative influences of the actors who are involved? What tradeoffs and compromises must be made for economic development, job creation, redevelopment, low income housing, environmental, neighborhood revitalization and other interests to have a voice? How is the "public interest" represented and served? At this session a panel of individuals experienced in these matters will discuss the decision-making process and answer questions as to how it proceeds and how we can get involved.
David Keller, former Petaluma City Council member, focuses particularly on downtown Petaluma development, transportation and watershed and water supply management. He is now Bay Area Director for Friends of the Eel River. David Gouin is the Director of the Department of Economic Development and Housing in Santa Rosa where he is involved daily in decisions that affect the availability of housing and the city's economic vitality.
May 10, "The Greening of the Northbay"
--Richard Walker
The San Francisco Bay Area is more greensward than asphalt jungle, more open space than hardscape. The making of the civic greensward--building parks, saving the bay, protecting the coast, setting aside wildlife reserves, purchasing development rights, drawing green lines, and the rest--has followed a long and arduous route. Country in and about the city is not something apart from the city, something left over from nature's beneficence. The process has been political, through and through. Not surprisingly, it has been mostly a preoccupation of the upper classes, and, more specifically, the work of women. Professor Walker will focus on the "greening" of the Northbay and Sonoma County in particular.
Richard Walker is Professor of Geography at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1975. His Ph.D. is in Geography and Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Walker has written on a diverse range of topics in economic and urban geography, his latest book being The Country in the City: The Greening of the San Francisco Bay Area (University of Washington Press, 2006.
May 17, "The Changing Role of Agriculture in Sonoma County"
--Greig Guthey
In the nineteenth century, Sonoma County was a leading and diversified agricultural county. But there has been immense population growth fueled by the economic engines further south in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, by land use politics in neighboring Marin and Napa County, and by the county's own "vino-techno-economic" shifts. So at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the county's agriculture finds itself down in some ways, but definitely not out. It remains, by many measures, at the leading edge of agricultural innovation in terms of the ways that county farmers are connecting their farm products to environmental quality, to the region's territory, and to the city. Much of this change is a result of the dynamic connections forged between local farmers and the county's unique dynamics of place. And it hasn't hurt that the county has become a sought-after and more down-to-earth wine destination than Napa County to the East.
Greig Guthey is an economic geographer who received his PhD from UC Berkeley. He specializes in the Northbay region and has conducted extensive studies of the dairy and wine industries in Sonoma and adjacent counties. He presently teaches at San Francisco State University.
May 24, "The Environmental Awakening of Sonoma County: It All Started on the Sonoma Coast"
--Bill Kortum and John Crevelli
Sonoma County has a unique consciousness about its landscape and environment, creating and voting in new measures to preserve its heritage. Each generation's attitude toward the environment has impacted the county and changed it in dramatic ways. The Sonoma Coast was a place where the local environmental movement was born and many citizens were politicized. They challenged every level of government to bring about environmental protection. The history of this new outlook in its political confrontation with traditional interests on the coast and throughout the county is a fascinating and sometimes inspiring story. The presenters will trace a number of events that they know about and have participated in during the last 45 years.
Bill Kortum, is a past county supervisor and chairman of COAAST and the California Coastal Alliance, and present chair of Sonoma County Conservation Action. He participated in Battle of Bodega Head, the Salt Point Acquisition, the Sea Ranch controversy, and formation of the California Coastal Commission and Conservancy. John Crevelli was a history instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College for 28 years where he frequently taught the History of Sonoma County. He was a charter member of COAAST, and received Conservationist of the Year Award in 1977T
