Vital Lands
Dear Editor,
As we face climate change, wildfires, and the pandemic, protecting natural and working lands is more than critical than ever. That is why the Vital Lands Initiative of the Sonoma County Ag + Open Space District is so timely. Vital Lands is the vision for land conservation in Sonoma County. Its purpose is to guide the spending from our existing county sales tax revenues for land conservation over the next decade.
Vital Lands prioritizes protection of open space lands to preserve agriculture, natural resources, recreation, greenbelt areas, and urban open space. Vital Lands was developed after more than two years of public workshops from Cloverdale to Petaluma and Bodega Bay to Sonoma.
Vital Lands was completed in 2019 but never formally adopted by the Board of Supervisors, which serve as the governing board of the Ag + Open Space District. Finally, the supervisors plan to vote on adopting Vital Lands at the January 26 meeting. Greenbelt Alliance urges everyone who cares about open space, agricultural lands, clean air and water, wildlife habitat, wildfire resiliency and equal access to the outdoors speak up in favor of Vital Lands. Learn more on the Ag + Open Space website.
Teri Shore, Advocacy Director of Greenbelt Alliance
Sharing Figs
Mr. Bland, I really enjoyed your article on fig trees (“Fig Hunter,” Jan. 6). I have a fig tree in my yard that my mother grew about 80 years ago from a “stick” her Italian father gave her. She just stuck it in the ground and it flourished. I supply the whole neighborhood with figs every year. I trim it every two years or it would be as tall as my two-story house. The green figs with pink insides are sometimes dry but usually dripping with juice, depending on the rains. I’ve grown trees for people and, like you mentioned, it’s easy to do. If you’d like to see it or have a branch, let me know. It’s a fond childhood memory to have those figs with prosciutto!
Kathleen Giono, San Anselmo
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