Sonoma Mountain Institute

Have you ever noticed a small little bird with a striking blue head, throat, and wings within your backyard? If so you may be familiar with the Western Blue bird which is known for its vibrant colors and gentle demeanor. They are commonly spotted across western North America, and are a favorite among backyard birders and conservationists alike. You will typically find these birds in open woodlands, forest edges, orchards, and pastures. Unlike some insect-eaters that catch bugs entirely mid-air, Western Bluebirds use a “drop-and-pounce” hunting strategy. They scan the ground from a low perch—like a fence line or a lower tree branch—and drop down to snatch up beetles, caterpillars, ants, and grasshoppers. During the winter when insects are scarce, their diet shifts heavily toward berries, particularly mistletoe, juniper, and elderberries.

Western Bluebirds are secondary-cavity nesters, meaning they cannot excavate their own holes and must rely on natural tree hollows or abandoned woodpecker nests to raise their young. Since dead and decaying trees are frequently cleared away by land developers or removed for landscaping it often leads for few places for them to nest. Building and maintaining proper nest boxes provides crucial support for their populations.

Dan Guyer, Cory Brush, and Mark Sindt have been working hard for us at SMI on preserving the Western Bluebird Species on our Pike property. Over the last 25 years we have made and put up over 35 blue bird houses. Most houses produce two clutches of 4-6 pale blue eggs per season. Every year some boxes need to be replaced and we come up with new places to put them. This year Dan, Cory, and Mark replaced 20 or so houses in addition to installing 6 new houses on our Pike property. The wood used to make these bird houses was from cedar trees that snapped off in the winter and were milled on site for the bird realm.

If you are ever looking to attract them to a property, setting up a properly spec’d bluebird box in an open area with low grass is one of the most effective ways to support the local population. Please click the link below for a how to build a one-board bluebird house plan:

https://www.birdwatching-bliss.com/support-files/bluebird-house-plans.pdf

Key tips in how to properly construct and place birdhouses that are vital are:

• Make sure you are using untreated wood like cedar.
• The entrance hole needs to be 1.5 inches in diameter. This is important to keep out larger predator birds such as starlings and house sparrows.
• Face the bird house east toward an open area with short vegetation, as bluebirds hunt for insects on the ground.
• Mount the bird house on a metal pole to keep predators like raccoons, snakes, and feral cats out of their nests.

American badgers and western burrowing owls are crucial, specially designated California native species that share the grassland ecosystems, where badgers often create abandoned (engineer) burrows that provide vital nesting and winter shelter for the owls. Both are declining in California due to habitat loss.

Since we seldom see a badger after many years of hanging properties within their habitat we were so excited to see some burrowing owls poking around an old warren badger site obviously looking for habitat. Seeing them on the landscape was so exciting that we immediately jumped into action to build some habitat for them.

We initially cast tunnel sections and chamber sections out of concrete. To then be placed in tunnels that we dug on the site of their new habitat.

It was a super fun project and our crew at SMI was so happy to do it for these cute little owls.

After a couple of days of construction, cleaning up, and decorating, we had our first sitings of the owls checking out their new habitat.

Game cameras have since been installed and we have been getting lots of great shots. It doesn’t look like nesting will happen this year but we are very hopeful for next season. We will keep you updated if we have babies!

Another complex has been pre cast and we are working on a new location to try to bring more owls in next season.

This year, SMI invested in infrastructure that not only strengthens operational capacity but also reflects our values of safety, ecological stewardship, and shared learning. Each project was designed to serve multiple purposes: improving function on the land, supporting the well-being of livestock and people, and fostering a deeper understanding of regenerative systems. 

At Triangle G South, we undertook significant corral upgrades to create a safer, more efficient environment for cattle handling and ship-out operations. The redesigned layout enhances both animal welfare and crew safety, setting a higher standard for low-stress, well-coordinated movement. The new system was field-tested during this year’s ship-out, with Whit Hibbard on-site to observe and offer feedback. His insights helped identify minor refinements and affirmed the progress we’ve made toward infrastructure that supports both effective operations and low-stress handling practices. 

Another major highlight was the spring development project on the northern portion of Triangle G, led in collaboration with Benny Peretz and ACC1. Initiated and funded by Benny, this project aimed to reduce the ranch’s dependence on well water by tapping a local spring and installing a solar-powered, gravity-fed water system capable of keeping storage tanks full throughout the grazing season. 

The spring redevelopment effort was more than just an infrastructure improvement—it became a living classroom. Benny intentionally opened the project to observers, including children from both his and Byron’s families, as well as members of the SMI team. Under Mark Mann’s guidance, participants learned how to identify productive soil strata, determine when to stop digging, and design a resilient, passive water system. This hands-on experience connected technical learning to ecological curiosity, demonstrating how infrastructure can be both practical and inspiring. 

Together, these investments represent SMI’s approach to infrastructure as stewardship—projects that serve immediate operational needs while nurturing the next generation of land stewards and strengthening the ecological systems on which we all depend. 

The California red-legged frog (CRLF) is the largest native frog in the state. The frog is appropriately named as the underside of its stomach and legs are marked with a red coloring. However, the CRLF vary a lot in color, so color alone is not a good way to identify them. Also, the red on the legs is on the underside and most often not visible unless you pick up the frog (which is not advisable without a permit). The best way to identify them is by confirming the presence of a dorsolateral fold, a fancy name for the raised line that runs down either side of their backs. It looks like piping that’s been sewn on. Also, younger frogs often have a white mustache above the corner of the mouth, and under the eye (like the one with duckweed on its head).

The California Red-legged frog is currently on the endangered species list and for a variety of reason of which are, but are not limited to: the harvesting of frog legs for food (introduced as a delicacy by French gold miners), placer mining, filling in of wetlands, stream diversions, plus the introduction of bullfrogs and non-native fishes are the major threats and/or causes of decline. Disease has been a problem in the past as well but currently is not known as a big issue.

Some exciting news in regards to the California Red-Legged Frog is that people such as Jeff Willcox; a Managing Ecologist for the Sonoma Mountain Ranch Preservation Foundation, is on the continual lookout and advocate for the protection of the CRLF species. The Sonoma Mountain Ranch preservation Foundation’s mission is: “Sonoma Mountain Ranch Preservation Foundation is a charitable, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, dedicated to preserving the natural beauty and biodiversity of the Sonoma Mountain area, and providing education and guidance, through research, for the preservation and enhancement of agricultural, natural, scenic, and open lands. The Foundation promotes best grazing practices and management activities that preserve, steward, and enhance Foundation land and maintain habitat for special-status species present there.” Jeff’s work with SMRPF is reflected in their mission as he has reported that from his findings he has seen, “an averaged 11 red-legged frog masses in ponds that were averaging 3.” Jeff has been more than happy to provide awareness and education to all with like-minded missions within the Petaluma area.

Like our Neighbors at SMRPF, we at Sonoma Mountain Institute strongly focus on the benefits of cattle grazing over the land in a holistic manner for a variety of benefits, which also can impact species such as the CRLF. Grazed natural rangelands are the places you can find healthy populations so we have to assume there are no conflicts between responsible grazing and healthy CRLF populations. For grazers, we ask you to please keep doing what you’ve been doing. Stock ponds have become the best places to find these frogs in good numbers. The worst thing you can do, aside from whole scale development, is introduce bullfrogs and fish to your ponds and creeks.

As we say good bye to another great year we want to take a moment to share the successes we came across through our hard work and dedication to holistic land management techniques used here at Sonoma Mountain Institute.

Propagation and Planting: We feel like our grass propagation system is working really well.  With many more years of this we will see the overall health of the property improve significantly. We were able to propagate and plant 9,600 POA, 9,600 purple needle grass, and 300 White Oak Trees on our property in Petaluma, CA.

Star Thistle: With many years of great effort with hand pulling Star Thistle, this year’s man-hours were significantly down from previous years as shown below.  With the new grazing protocol, access to many places that were challenging to pull in previous years are now easily accessible.

2012: 380 hours, 2013: 350 hours, 2014: 276 hours, 2015: 124 hours

Compost: In 2015 we will have made 1 batch of regular feed stock compost using rice straw, wood chips, and green hay and 1 batch using azola and oak leaves. The compost when finished became the feedstock for the 20,000 gallons of compost tea that we applied on a rotation to the sudden oak death effected trees, and also sprayed all grasslands post grazing. In 2016 the spraying will be continued on the sudden oak death effected trees and we will continue to spray on as much grassland as possible.

Grazing: In 2015 we continued to bring the impacts of large animals to the vegetation at the Glen Ellen Property and Petaluma Property. Since this is the fourth year we have been able to manage cattle grazing on the property we were able to fine tune our management protocol while working with grass-fat beef cattle this year.  We saw many positive results in regards to the numbers of native species verses non-natives, annuals species verses perennials, and non-invasive species verses invasive.

As we have previously shared this grazing season we brought on an additional three pieces of property to manage using cattle as a regenerative restoration tool. These three pieces of property are contiguous and together total just over 1,037 acres on the top of Sonoma Mountain. The first of the properties is Mitsui Ranch and it is the largest piece of property at 632 acres. It is owned by the Sonoma Mountain Ranch Preservation Foundation. The second property is owned by James and Sophie Gray and is 128 acres. The third property is called Walsh and is owned by the Sonoma County Regional Park System and totals just over 280 acres.

Godfry: We had another good year at the Godfry!  All 160 acres were covered in a round of invasive species removal. Thinning in the old plantations of pine and fir, were greatly advanced with the aide of the new tractor. Much old debris from the mastication of 10 years ago were raked, piled, and burned. This allowed the planting of native grass seed, Blue Wild Rye, California Melic, and Idaho Fescue to be planted in these areas. A covert was installed and a small access road was grated to reach one of the last areas we will be restoring next season.

Board Meeting: Last but not least, our annual board meeting was held on November 7, 2015 were these annual recap numbers were discussed and the next year’s budget was passed to allow us to continue another year of dedication to restore land as holistically as possible.