Steward the Land at Riddell Preserve!

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If you have yet to experience the fun of a LandPaths volunteer Stewardship day, this is a great time to start! NOTE: this activity takes place on the 1st Friday of every month, 9:00am-1:00pm. You are welcome to join the team, no experience necessary, for an invigorating morning in the outdoors helping us take care of this spectacular piece of land! Stewardship activities are based on seasonality and need. Some common activities include invasive species removal, road, trail, and infrastructure maintenance, native planting, and forestry work. Tools, gloves, water, and a light snack provided. Volunteer stewards should come prepared with long pants, sturdy shoes, layers, additional snacks/picnic lunch, and their own tools and gloves if wanted. Registration helps us determine tasks and number of tools to bring but is not necessary. To register for one of our stewardship workdays, please visit our stewardship/volunteer calendar: http://landpaths.org/get-outside/get-outside-with-landpaths.aspx

LandPaths preserves are managed to retain biodiversity of native species and habitats, maintain ecological functioning, and decrease the risk of species extinctions, while at the same time maintaining the infrastructure needed to welcome and inspire visitors. Nestled in the hills above Dry Creek just outside Healdsburg, Riddell Preserve is a spectacular piece of land. Scarcely visible from anywhere nearby, this 400 acre parcel of California wildness is home to magnificent, thriving, regenerating stands of oak and madrone, along with lowly fescue bunch grasses, open meadows, fourth generation redwood "fairy rings," perennial streams and headwaters-undoubtedly matched by equally vibrant communities of animals from amphibians to owls and mountain lions. This incredible parcel of land, simply known as "Riddell" was donated to LandPaths by the Riddell Family in 2007.

A mile and a half long and a mile wide, this land has been essentially untouched for forty years or more. The largest parcel in the immediately vicinity, it contains native plant and animal communities thriving here that are struggling or disappearing elsewhere. Three streams cross the property with surface flow often year-round, and the vital headwaters of several feeder streams issue from its hillsides. Walk through its graceful peace, and deep duff or humus from decades of leaves crunches under enormous madrones, moss coats the rocks, lichen hangs from gnarled oaks, huge ferns envelop flowing springs, birds chatter in the canopy, grasses sway in the clearings, and there's a still hush at the foot of redwood clusters which whistle in the breeze above.