SONOMA COUNTY
RURAL CHARACTER SURVIVES WITH HELP FROM KEY POLICIES
Sonoma County’s diverse landscapes—redwood forests and oak
woodlands, rivers and wetlands, vineyards, grasslands, and small
farms—are remarkably well preserved. This is largely due to urban
growth boundaries around eight of nine cities and an open space
district that helps to preserve farms. The keys to maintaining this
natural bounty are protecting watershed and greenbelt lands and
avoiding subdivision of agricultural lands.
Population
2005: 479,000 | 2020 projection: 535,000
Conservation in Action
Sonoma County’s agricultural and open space
district used conservation agreements connecting
six farms and other properties in the Laguna
de Santa Rosa to form a protected greenbelt
between Santa Rosa and Sebastopol.
Opportunities >>>> Guide growth into existing cities and prevent inappropriate Support farming with agricultural easements and policies to ensure local food production and preserve prime farmland. Adopt policies that protect wetlands and forests from |
Sonoma County’s 470,000 acres of forests and woodlands sequester an estimated 2.3 million tons of CO2 per year—the equivalent of 400,000 cars.