We did it! Together, with our conservation partners The Wildlands Conservancy (TWC) and Sonoma Ag + Open Space, we opened the Jenner Headlands and Pole Mountain for public recreation, and invited residents and visitors alike to explore the landscape and deepen their connection with the Sonoma Coast. Since the Gateway parking lot on Highway 1 opened September 7, our trail counters indicate that 6,568 cars passed through the parking lot the first month, and nearly 300 hikers reached the Pole Mountain Summit in October. Visitation was down during the month of November due to poor air quality, but December was a busy month with a steady stream of happy hikers. 

​Today I read the news that Mary Oliver, my favorite poet, died. I am left quiet with sadness, looking out to the welcome rains, thinking this is NOT the New Year’s blog I was going to post. I wanted something that was positive and inspiring and new years-ish. Instead, word has come that the amazing poet Mary Oliver has passed on. Her poems, her essays, her unique yet simple perspective spoke to me deeply, woke me up to our natural world. She understood the land. She understood my connection to the land. She understood me, or so it seemed. So, like a team captain for an after school baseball game, I chose her for my team — for the earth’s stewardship team.