steward – to manage or look after

Before: out of place.

The Sonoma Overlook Trail is managed by a team of volunteer stewards (about 14 of us at this point) who perform a wide variety of duties related to managing the trails as well as the property as a whole, on behalf of the City of Sonoma, and in partnership with the Sonoma Ecology Center. We meet quarterly, and presently we take turns each quarter serving as Chair of the group.

After: not perfect, but it will have to do for now.

Here are just some of the jobs we perform:

• Fundraising (to provide the funds to do trail maintenance, re-routing, etc.)
• Hosting public hikes and events
• Picking up trash
• Removing or destroying invasive species
• Kiosk maintenance and displays
• Trail signs
• Trail maintenance
• Removing downed limbs and trees infringing on the trail when possible with a handsaw, or reporting to City staff when a chainsaw is required
• Blocking and reseeding “rogue” (unmaintained) trails

Today, “trail maintenance” meant resetting a stair stone that had slid out of placement (see pictures). Day to day you don’t always know what you may be called upon to do. But what we do, we do for love of the trail.