Pepperwood Preserve is a 3,117-acre plot of land owned by the Pepperwood Foundation, located in the

Mayacamas Mountains The Mayacamas Mountains are located in northwestern California in the United States. The mountain range is part of the Northern Inner Coast Ranges, of the California Coast Ranges System. Geography The Mayacamas Mountains are located south of th ...

in the coast ranges of California near the towns of Santa Rosa and Healdsburg in

Sonoma County Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...

. The preserve includes the headwaters of Mark West Creek, Franz Creek, and Brooks Creek all of which feed into the Russian River. The highest point on the preserve is .

Management

The

California Academy of Sciences The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, that is among the largest List of natural history museums, museums of natural history in the world, housing over ...

sold the preserve in 2005 to Healdsburg residents Herb and Jane Dwight, who sit on the five-member Pepperwood Foundation board of directors and have donated over $20 million for land and facilities at the preserve. Herb Dwight is the former CEO of Optical Coating Laboratory in Santa Rosa. The facilities include a $9 million, 9,400-square-foot, solar-powered center for environmental research and education. The preserve has an agreement with

Santa Rosa Junior College Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) is a public community college in Santa Rosa, California with an additional campus in Petaluma and centers in surrounding Sonoma County. SRJC is governed by the Sonoma County Junior College District. History F ...

and

Sonoma State University Sonoma State University (SSU, Sonoma State, or Sonoma) is a public university in Sonoma County, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. Sonoma State offers 92 bachelor's degree programs, 19 master's de ...

to use the site for field studies. Lisa Micheli, with a Ph.D. in geomorphology, was hired as executive director in 2009.

Pacific Gas and Electric The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered at Kaiser Center, in Oakland, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 million households in the norther ...

installed a

microgrid A microgrid is a local electrical grid with defined electrical boundaries, acting as a single and controllable entity. It is able to operate in grid-connected and off-grid modes.

at the site to allow it to remove above-ground power lines.

Climate

Pepperwood has a Mediterranean climate that includes cool wet winters (November–April) and hot dry summers (May–October). Streams are intermittent. During the wet winter, standing water can be found in numerous small ponds.

Geological history

Pepperwood's geology is complex with exposures of Glen Ellen sediments, Sonoma volcanics and Franciscan metamorphics. There are several areas with serpentine soils.

Vegetation

Pepperwood includes redwood and Douglas-fir forests on mesic sites and grassland, woodland, and chaparral on xeric sites. Wetlands are composed of riparian forests, springs, marshes, ponds, and vernal pools.

References

Strategic-plan-2020-2025

External links

Pepperwood Preserve website
{{Protected areas of California Nature reserves in California Ecological restoration Protected areas of Sonoma County, California