Attend North Sonoma Mountain Regional Parks Meeting January 25th Please Join the BVCA or Renew Your Membership Decision Expected on North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park Development Proposals Strangers May Soon Own Bennett Valley Guild Hall Status of Commercial Marijuana Projects in Bennett Valley Dreaming of a Green Winter Wonderland Bennett Valley and the Rogers Creek Fault: Chat with USGS Scientist Suzanne Hecker Covid Shutdown Affects Bennett Valley Community Events
BVCA Meeting Schedule and Contact Information
The BVCA and YOU! Join. Engage. Support.
BV Guild Contact Information
Attend North Sonoma Mountain Regional Parks Virtual Meeting January 25th
Mark your calendars for the Regional Parks Virtual Advisory Meeting set for Monday, January 25th, 5-7pm. According to Bert Whitaker, Regional Parks Director, the Preferred Plan should be presented at this meeting. Will Sonoma Mountain become a campground?
Please Volunteer, Donate, and Join the BVCA by BVCA Board of Directors
Between a lengthening and frightening fire season and COVID-19, we yearn to return to more normal times. As discussed in Bennett Valley Community Events below, we are still not holding any in-person meetings.
Bennett Valley has a fascinating history, and is a bucolic oasis. The Bennett Valley Community Association (BVCA) was established to keep residents abreast of proposed zoning, development, and other changes that would affect our community. We hope to resume holding events and hosting live speakers later this year. As we celebrate our fiftieth anniversary, your participation can help us to preserve and enhance our unique Bennett Valley community.
The BVCA is a non-profit organization. All board members volunteer their time for quarterly meetings and fundraising events. We currently have a vacancy in the board, and are looking for a new editor of the VOICE to take over after an apprenticeship. We will also need a new treasurer by the end of 2021. Please contact President Robert Stephens or any board member if you are interested in volunteering.
Please help our efforts by renewing your membership in the BVCA, joining for the first time, or donating. In 2020 the board decided to transition to a donation model from a paid membership model but we have not amended the bylaws to do so. Our dues are $20 per year, and we would welcome donations of any amount. You will help fund our many activities and stay informed via the VOICE newsletter which is issued at least four times per year. Together, we can protect and strengthen our corner of the world.
Send checks to BVCA, P.O. Box 2666, Santa Rosa, CA 95405 or pay online. For questions about dues contact Larissa Goliti at lgoliti@hotmail.comor 578-3453. For questions about paying online, contact Bill Finkelstein at bill@williamfinkelstein.com.
Thanks so much for your support!
Sonoma Mountain hasn't burned in a century. Careless campers could start a conflagration.
Decision Expected on North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park Development Proposals
by Rebecca Casciani and Jennifer Beer
Decisions on development proposals for North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park may be announced at the Regional Parks Virtual Advisory Meeting on January 25. The Master Plan proposes three options for this park, including these specific activities:
nine miles of new trails to add to the six miles of trails already open
an increase in parking from 30 to 100 spaces
additional day use amenities (not fire-related)
overnight stays and group-led campfires, cooking stoves, and backpacking stoves.
When residents of Sonoma Mountain received notification of the Master Plan, we quickly organized to respond. Many residents support additional day use but vehemently oppose overnight stays and fires of any kind. The County developed its plan before the 2017 fires, and did not adapt it to the high fire risk community we know we live in. Regional park officials told certain community members directly after the 2017 fires that development would cease and camping was no longer an option. Instead, the Master Plan still proposes camping. Residents are concerned both with fire danger and the transparency of regional parks when its decisions concern our safety. The County seems to disregard data on the vulnerability of the area, the failure of the road widths to meet legal requirements for ingress of emergency vehicles and egress of residents, and the intent of the regional park’s conservation easement (p. 3). The key goal of the easement is to maintain a low impact trail system, to continue the agricultural grazing, and to preserve scenic and natural resources. Due to our concerns about the Master Plan, we feel it is important to keep regional park officials and the supervisors accountable because this directly affects the safety and well-being of Sonoma County residents.
We want you to be both informed and involved. This issue not only affects the residents of Sonoma Mountain, but a fire can impact Rohnert Park, Glen Ellen, Sonoma, and large parts of Santa Rosa. There is currently no consistent fuel load management on Sonoma Mountain, no large-scale fire has occurred there in over 100 years, and there is no close water source with significant capacity to combat a fire.
There are also concerns with increased traffic on Sonoma Mountain Road, which lacks a center line and is not wide enough to allow large emergency vehicles to pass. The access road from Sonoma Mountain Road to the trailhead is ten feet wide and completely impassable for two small vehicles. There is no way to get any emergency vehicle in and residents or hikers out. Finally, the County has not proposed any fire evacuation plans.
Parts of the access road are 10 feet wide and violate state SRA Fire Safe regulations.
Over 1,000 people have responded to the regional park’s inquiry for feedback, the highest number of responses in its history. Sonoma Mountain residents have been meeting since October to ascertain facts and alert our community. We have met with Karen Davis-Brown, the Park Planner, to review the Master Plan and raise our concerns directly. We have contacted our supervisors to make them aware and have submitted a comprehensive report of our findings.
What can you do? Attend the virtual meeting with the Regional Parks Advisory Committee on January 25 from 5-7 pm. The County’s preferred plan is expected to be unveiled at this meeting and you can voice your direct concerns with the advisory committee.
If you have questions or would like to receive our updates on North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park developments, please email: smrbattalion@gmail.com
Bill and Patty Allen, Bennett Valley Guild Hall.
Photo credit: Alec Peters, Kenwood Press.
Strangers May Soon Own Bennett Valley Guild Hall by Craig S. Harrison, VOICE Editor
A decision by a Superior Court judge in September, if affirmed on appeal, would end local control of the Bennett Valley Guild Hall. Built in 1873, it is the oldest continuously operating grange hall in America. Sonoma County designated it a historical landmark in 1979. The hall has served as a pillar of the Bennett Valley community for almost 150 years, and was the site of an annual June picnic for 147 consecutive years until the COVID-19 pandemic.
In recent times the hall has hosted meetings of the Bennett Valley Community Association, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the 4-H Club, the Bennett Valley Emergency Preparedness Group, local water districts, the Bennett Valley Grape Growers Association, the Kenwood Yacht Club, Sonoma County Radio Amateurs, and the Bennett Valley Cemetery Association. It also serves as an election polling station.
Disagreements between the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry and the California State Grange began in 2009 over what initially seemed to be personality conflicts but ultimately centered on property ownership. The National Grange wants to commandeer valuable real estate at grange halls throughout the nation that could be sold for profit. The National Grange expresses little interest about the effects of its actions on local communities such as the 120-member Bennett Valley Grange.
In 2013 the National Grange revoked the charter of the California State Grange, removing its elected officers and expelling all of its chapters. A newly-chartered California State Grange in 2014 asserted that it owns all halls and chapter assets, and commenced vexatious litigation designed to financially strangle non-compliant chapters. After a federal court ruled that the “Grange” trademark belongs to the National Grange, the Bennett Valley chapter renamed itself the Bennett Valley Guild.
Oliver Hudson Kelley, a Minnesota farmer, started the Grange movement in 1867. He began a national organization that encourages families to band together to promote agriculture and the economic well-being of their communities.
In 1873 a group of farmers and ranchers met at the Strawberry Schoolhouse on Sonoma Mountain Road to form the Bennett Valley Grange, the sixteenth of the thousands of granges in the nation. The hall was built on an acre of donated land using lumber hauled by oxen from Occidental at a price of $292.82. Over the years the Bennett Valley Grange sponsored the first electric power lines (1926), helped found the Bennett Valley Home Economics Club (1937), the Bennett Valley 4-H Club (1945), and the Bennett Valley Volunteer Fire Department (1948). The organization evolved over time as fewer in our community were family farmers and its membership dwindled.
Commemoration of the Guild Hall's first century in 1973.
The California State Grange claims that certain individuals want to take possession of the Grange Hall and the chapter’s financial assets. Their connection to Bennett Valley is tenuous, or they would already be members and would have helped raise funds to maintain the hall such as repairing its leaking roof. A change of ownership seems unlikely to benefit our community, and the ultimate result may be neglect of the hall and ultimately its demolition. Cannabis growers took over Hessel Grange near Sebastopol and, according to its past president, refuses to accept former members. Bennett Valley residents hope this is not the future of our 150 year old community center. If former members aren’t welcome, few members are likely to be recruited from Bennett Valley. Everyone interested in such an organization is already a member.
Marijuana cultivation on Grange Road (October 2020).
Status of Commercial Marijuana Projects in Bennett Valley by Craig S. Harrison, VOICE Editor
There have been 13 ongoing operations or attempts to obtain marijuana permits in Bennett Valley since 2017. None of these grow operations existed before the cannabis ordinance in 2016. Contrary to the ordinance’s stated goals, no ongoing operations were legalized in Bennett Valley; all began after the supervisors invited cultivation here. It is difficult to learn of new proposed permits, so there may be additional sites beyond those listed. The County refuses to maintain a website to provide such information, and the only way to remain current is to file periodic Public Records Act requests. A community web site attempts to provide current information as obtained from such requests.
APN
Address
Permit Application Status
049-130-015
4944 Bennett Valley Road
Inactive; site ineligible because parcel <10 acres
055-010-031
2274 Wellspring Road
Active; 5 ministerial permits issued
049-150-005
4050 Grange Road
Active; awaiting supervisors hearing
049-130-005
4065 Grange Road
Active despite lacking required easement
049-071-054
4265 Sonoma Mountain Rd
Terminated; ineligible parcel
049-030-090
5365 Sonoma Mountain Rd
Inactive; site ineligible because parcel <10 acres
136-201-004
6480 Eagle Ridge Road
Terminated; another grower might apply
055-150-018
3141 Matanzas Creek Lane
Withdrawn; another grower might apply
055-150-011
3220 Matanzas Creek Lane
Withdrawn; another grower might apply
055-150-010
3400 Matanzas Creek Lane
Inactive; another grower might apply
055-140-015
3575 Matanzas Creek Lane
Inactive; site ineligible because parcel <10 acres
055-140-006
3700 Matanzas Creek Lane
Awaiting Board of Zoning Adjustments hearing
055-140-024
3803 Matanzas Creek Lane
Active; awaiting supervisors hearing
Four sites cultivated marijuana in 2020. Three have operated since 2017 under the Penalty Relief Program while they applied for conditional use permits: 4050 Grange Road, 4065 Grange Road, and 3803 Matanzas Creek Lane. The County Agriculture Department issued five ministerial permits for 2274 Wellspring Road, an “over the counter" checklist permit process that essentially allows no public involvement. Currently, each ministerial permit is limited to 10,000 square feet. The permit process for Wellspring Road has been piecemealed into 5 small permits to avoid the discretionary permit process that would have been required for a single project. This avoided environmental review and neighbor objections.
The supervisors will soon consider amending the ordinance to allow 10-acre grows and make most permits ministerial. You may awaken someday to find a large marijuana plantation next door. The supervisors will propose to amend the General Plan to deem cannabis cultivation to be an “agricultural activity.” Under state law, marijuana is an “agricultural product,” and the change is intended to protect growers under the County’s Right-to-Farm ordinance by eliminating your rights. One supervisor said if you don’t like it, you can move to another county.
Sonoma County continues to violate the SRA Fire Safe regulations by allowing grows to continue in 2020 on the very narrow Grange Road and Matanzas Creek Lane. The permit for 4065 Grange Road requires the owners to have a valid easement. But the county ignored this legal requirement in 2020 and allowed cultivation. A June county inspection found numerous violations at 4065 Grange Road, including twice the allowable number of plants. The inspector “closed the violation without penalties” at the request of the Agriculture Department. While the county demands that you obey its laws, it apparently imposes no such obligations on marijuana growers.
Black-tailed deer.
Photo by Audubon Canyon Ranch trail camera.
Dreaming of a Green Winter Wonderland
by Jacqueline Levy, Education Programs Manager Audubon Canyon Ranch, Bouverie Preserve
I went to boarding school in Colorado and by mid-December I had my fill of the white-washed, snow covered landscape and was dreaming of returning home to Sonoma County for a green Christmas. I love watching as rain turns the brown hills green and listening to the sound of tree frogs at night.
Winter in Bennett Valley has its own wonders. It is rutting season for deer. Bucks carry their antlered heads high and seek out does. You may have noticed the incredible abundance of acorns this year. Every 5-7 years it is a mast year where oaks across the country drop an overwhelming number of acorns. There is no agreed upon reason for this, but one hypothesis is that by having unpredictable mast years animals cannot adapt a response by eating them all so more acorns make it to germinate into trees. Whatever the reason for this phenomenon, it is often followed by an increase in fecundity, deer having more twins and an increase in rodent populations. This boost in prey species is followed by an increase in predators such and hawks and owls.
Just as it is mating season for deer it is also for newts who migrate once the rains return. Newts mate and lay eggs in water, so they move from the land to creeks and ponds. We have three species of newts here: Coast Range Newts, Red-bellied Newts, and the Rough-skinned Newts. I think newts are adorable and I enjoy holding them. If you want to hold a newt make sure your hands are moist, free of sunscreen and hand sanitizer and be sure to hold it close to the ground in case you drop it. Newts have toxins in their skin to protect them from predators, so it is always a good idea to wash your hands after handling one.
Red-bellied Newt.
Photo by Jacqueline Levy.
Another delight of this season in Sonoma County are the migratory birds that winter here. Starting in September Gold-crowned and White-crowned Sparrows begin to arrive and fill the air with song. Other less common sparrows also visit including: White-throated, Fox and Lincoln’s Sparrows. They will remain here unit April before moving north to their breeding grounds.
People can sing all they want about a white Christmas, but I think our green landscape is a winter wonderland.
Bennett Valley and the Rogers Creek Fault: Chat with USGS Scientist Suzanne Hecker
Just before the holidays, the BVCA hosted an online community chat with US Geological Survey scientist, Suzanne Hecker. Suzanne has worked on the team which includes studying the Rogers Creek and Bennett Valley faults. She discusses the current state of research on our nearby faults. The first portion of the video is a presentation, followed by viewer questions and answers.
Covid Shutdown Affects
Bennett Valley Events
To comply with the State and County Public Health Order, the Guild Hall has been closed for all activities since spring 2020, and remains closed until further notice. Because of this, the BVCA board of directors meeting in January will take place by conference call. If you want to join this call, please contact President Robert Stephens.
The BVCA and the Guild still plan to eventually host a talk on bears by ecologist Meghan Walla-Murphy whenever the BVCA can again hold meetings. Ms. Walla-Murphy has launched the North Bay Bear Collaborative to study the bears' movements. The highest density of black bears in the contiguous United States is in Mendocino and Humboldt counties, and they are slowly migrating into our area. From wildlife cameras placed in the vicinity of Sugarloaf State Park, black bears have recently become residents of Sugarloaf and the Mayacamas. We hope to be able to reschedule this talk in mid-2021.
BENNETT VALLEY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION
MEETING SCHEDULE
The forthcoming Bennett Valley Community Association (BVCA) Board meeting will be held Thursday, January 28, at 4:30 PM by Zoom conference call due to the covid situation. Prior to covid, the BVCA Board convened at the Bennett Valley Guild Hall locatedat 4145 Grange Road, Santa Rosa on the last Thursday of every third month (January, April, July, October). Until further notice, meetings will be held by video teleconference at 4:30 PM and are open to members and non-members alike by contacting the president for access. We normally invite and encourage public attendance. The current BVCA Board meeting schedule through calendar year 2021 is as follows:
Thursday, January 28, 2021
Thursday, April 29, 2021
Thursday, July 29, 2021
Thursday, October 28, 2021
The Board meeting Agenda opens with public discussion, with each presenter invited to address the Board for up to three minutes with their name, address, and concern. Following public input, the Board will receive a report from the Treasurer, and reports of any official notifications from the County. Additional topics of discussion will include county roads, VOICE, the BV Fire Protection District, new directions for the BVCA that would encourage wider participation, and potential speakers for coming meetings. Minutes from previous meetings of the BVCA Board are typically posted on the BVCA website soon after they are approved. You can find an archive of meeting minutes here. The October 2020 meeting was held by Zoom.
We have a vacancy on the board. If you are interested in being appointed, please contact any board member.
BENNETT VALLEY COMMUNITY EVENTS
Sonoma County Fire District Board meetings
The Fire District Board of Directors meets the third Tuesday of each month at 5 pm at Station 1, 8200 Old Redwood Highway, Windsor. For now the Board is holding its meetings there as they anticipate major remodel work at many of their other stations. They will revisit their meeting locations in a few months as their facility plan and schedule are developed.
To building a sense of community in Bennett Valley by serving as an open forum for community participation;
To providing information on local environmental and land use issues and encouraging communication between residents and government agencies with the goal of promoting and preserving the rural character and natural environment of Bennett Valley;
To educating and providing resources that encourage disaster and emergency preparedness
Membership Benefits: The Bennett Valley VOICE delivered straight to your inbox! Four times a year, the BVCA will keep you up-to-date on a broad range of topics pertinent to your community.
$20 per household per year = Electronic version of BVCA’s newsletter
Get access to exclusive events, speakers, discounts and plenty of opportunities to meet, greet and broaden your own Bennett Valley “family”.
Pay dues online here, or make checks payable to BVCA, and send to P.O. Box 2666, Santa Rosa, CA 95405. Or if you’d simply like to support the BVCA, a section 501(c)(3) organization, you can do so here. Any questions? Contact Bill Finkelstein at bill@bennettvalley.org. The BVCA thanks you!
Bennett Valley Guild (BV Guild)
Go to http://bvguild.orgto learn more about the BV Guild, including the Guild calendar or, for an article on the early historyof the Bennett Valley Guild.
If you have any questions email Bill/Patty Allen at paddybill@sbcglobal.net.
