Pepperwood

Check out our newest blog post: "Mapping the Faults in Our Landscape" 🌎🗻

Did you know Pepperwood sits right on top of the Rodgers Creek and Maacama faults—part of the San Andreas plate boundary system? Beneath our rolling hills and oak woodlands lies a hidden network of fault lines that quietly shapes the biodiversity we see here every day.

In this post, we dig into:
🔹 How tectonic forces create microclimates, springs, and diverse habitats
🔹 How earthquakes kickstart ecological succession and new plant/animal communities
🔹 The USGS fault-mapping research happening right here at Pepperwood
🔹 Our new ShakeAlert® earthquake early warning sensor, installed in partnership with USGS

Read the full story: https://www.pepperwoodpreserve.org/2026/08/04/mapping-the-faults-in-our-landscape/

Proud to have hosted local teachers for hands-on grassland restoration and good fire learning as part of Sonoma Water's Climate Resilience workshop this summer! 🌱

🐄🌾 The herd is moving out! Half our cows headed to Jenner Headlands Preserve this week, the rest go the first week of September. See you next spring, friends!

Why do cows live on a nature reserve, and why do they move around? Grazing acts like pruning for grasses, it stimulates healthy new growth. But just like a garden needs rest between prunings, our grasslands need rest between grazing periods. That's why we move the herd. (HUGE thanks to Markegard Family Grass-Fed !)

Bonus fact: some of our native grasses have roots reaching 20 feet deep, pulling carbon out of the air and storing it underground. Grazing helps that cycle keep working, while also clearing dead plant buildup so native wildflowers can bloom. 🌼🐝

🎙️ New Pepperwood Podcast episode is here!

Join us for a conversation with Clint McKay, Pepperwood's Indigenous Education Coordinator and the founding member of the Native Advisory Council, as he shares the story of how the Council came to be. He also discusses a special donation of Wappo and Pomo baskets from the Bedford family—soon to be on display in our Art Gallery—and dives into the rich cultural significance of Indigenous Californian basketry.

Tune in now 🎧 https://rss.com/podcasts/pepperwood-podcast/3061745/

Woodside Fire Update
Good news: containment on the Woodside Fire is up to 30%, with cooler overnight conditions helping crews make solid progress. The fire remains at about 143 acres near Timber Cove on the Sonoma Coast.

A massive thank you to everyone out there fighting this fire, CAL FIRE CAL FIRE LNU crews, local fire departments, hand crews, dozer operators, helicopter pilots, water tender drivers, and the mutual aid teams who came in from other counties to help. 320+ personnel have been on this since it started, working through the night, in heavy smoke, in rough terrain. We see you and we're so grateful for the work you do to keep our community safe.❤️‍🔥

A few things still relevant if you're nearby:
    •    Evacuation orders remain for Salt Point State Park, Stillwater Cove Regional Park, Ocean Cove Private Camp, and Timber Cove Subdivision. SON-1D2 remains under a warning.
    •    Highway 1 is still closed between Timber Cove Rd and Stewarts Point–Skaggs Springs Rd.
    •    Laguna High School (formerly El Molino), 7050 Covey Road, Forestville, remains open as a shelter for anyone who needs it.
Smoke is still in the area, check fire.airnow.gov before heading out, keep windows closed, and wear an N95 if you must be outside. If you have pets or livestock to move, Sonoma CART and NorCal Livestock Evac can help.

Source: CalFire Current Emergency Incidents

🎉 Exciting news! We've been named a 2026 Best Places to Work winner, marking the 8th time we've earned this recognition! 🏆

We're so proud of this achievement and even more proud of the team behind it. Thank you to everyone who brings their best every day and makes this such a great place to work.

Here's to celebrating this milestone together! 🥳

Thanks to North Bay Business Journal and Press Democrat for the recognition!

This summer, 20 high schoolers spent five weeks getting their hands dirty (literally) in the name of science 🌱

Our 2026 TeenNat cohort hiked nearly 500 miles, logged 358 species observations to a global biodiversity database, and worked side-by-side with Pepperwood scientists on grassland fire research and invasive species removal!

They also picked up photography, field journaling, and Indigenous land stewardship perspectives, and each student wrapped the summer with their own independent research project.

Read the full recap of their summer (and see how the program is made possible at no cost to students) 👉 https://www.pepperwoodpreserve.org/2026/07/21/teennat-2026-recap/

Project Spotlight: 13 years of monitoring! 🌲

This summer, a field team at Pepperwood, including Makayla Freed, Owen Hamilton, Becca Williams, and Rose Keaton, has been revisiting long-term forest monitoring plots for the latest sampling cycle, work that began the first week of June and concludes this week.

These plots were established in 2013 by David Ackerly, climate change biologist and Dean of the UC Berkeley, Rausser College of Natural Resources at UC Berkeley. The surveying team operates under the guidance of Melina Kozanitas, also of University of California, Berkeley.

What sets this project apart is its continuity: these plots have been tracked through both the 2017 Tubbs Fire and the 2019 Kincade Fire, two of the most significant wildfire events in recent Sonoma County history. Few datasets capture this kind of uninterrupted, before-and-after record of how a landscape responds to repeated major disturbance — making this one of the more valuable long-term ecological records in the region.

Across approximately 50 plots throughout Pepperwood, the team collects data on tree and shrub species to track growth, mortality, and recruitment of woody species over time, particularly as it relates to shifting climate conditions and wildfire disturbance.

Thirteen years of sustained monitoring is exactly the kind of long-term commitment that allows scientists to understand how forest ecosystems are truly responding to a changing climate.

Did you know that Pepperwood has a podcast?

The Pepperwood Podcast is our monthly conversation series on conservation, biodiversity, and stewardship, hosted by Julianne Bradbury. Each episode asks three questions: who or what our guest works with, how that work shapes the future, and what it takes to make it happen.

In our latest episode, Julianne talks with Devyn Friedfel about our October 2025 broadcast burn, including the diverse research collaborations that examined its effects.

Stick around to the end for the Nature Sound Guess Who Game, where you can test your ears against a mystery California critter! 🌿

🎧 Available wherever you listen to podcasts!
🎧 Also on our website:
https://www.pepperwoodpreserve.org/podcast/