Santa Rosa’s own Chris Rogers, who we elected to the California State Assembly last fall, has been doing big things in his first few months in office. The Press Democrat reports that a Bigfoot-related bill he introduced as an “inside joke” among fellow lawmakers — meant to serve as a “placeholder bill” until the real one he’s writing is ready, which is apparently a common practice — got picked up and picked apart by Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show” last Saturday night. Watch the Colbert clip below.

“My friends,” the comedian says, “We live in truly paradigm-shattering times. Which is why I was not surprised to be shocked by how startled I was that this week California introduced a bill to recognize Bigfoot as the state’s official cryptid.” Assemblymember Rogers reps the entire North Coast — “a region known as the epicenter of Bigfoot lore,” in the words of SF Gate. And he tells the PD that what began as a lighthearted spoof bill amid trying political times might now become an actual initiative. From our local paper of record: “The bill has generated a buzz among community members who are having fun with it and want to see it actually passed, Rogers said. ‘I think the reaction we have gotten from folks might be because there is a moment of levity that we can provide in an otherwise tense political climate,’ Rogers said. ‘We have been hearing from people across the nation who want to come and testify on the bill. It has been a bit of a fun week for us.’”

Next up: No, those aren’t baby Bigfoots you see in the Sonoma County Parks wildlife-cam footage above. But they’re arguably the next coolest thing: the first-ever bear cubs to be spotted on film at Hood Mountain Regional Park, where park staffers have been trying for years to help the local black-bear population thrive. The park is located just east of the Sonoma Valley area, in the Mayacamas range between Sonoma and Napa counties. (And just like the West County parkland situation we discussed earlier in the newsletter, Hood Mountain is part of a growing open-space empire in East County that just gained another critical 100-acre corridor last summer, bringing the total area for potential bear-roaming to a whopping 17 square miles.)

“We’ve been tracking bear activity at this park for more than 9 years, but this is the first time we’ve seen cubs on our wildlife cameras,” county park officials wrote on Facebook last week. “This shows that bears are not only traveling through the park, but also living and reproducing there.” Bay Nature magazine also ran a great piece last summer on the increasing presence of black bears in the North Bay — and how “for the first time in history, they’re starting to occupy this ecological niche once filled by grizzlies.” Eat your heart out, official state cryptid.

Note from Simone: This piece originally appeared in the weekly email newsletter I write for the Bohemian, called Wine Country Today. Subscribe here!

Despite some initial skepticism among locals, hundreds of Sonoma County residents ended up flocking to the monthlong Edge Esmeralda event in Healdsburg last June — an experimental conference-meets-festival filled with international “techno optimists” trying to come up with better ways of living in the 21st century. In part, locals were attracted by a heavily discounted ticket price of about $200 for the full month’s worth of daily talks and activities. The second annual event kicks off in a few months, on May 24 — at a much higher price tag for locals, with one exception. This year, the discount for verified Sonoma County residents will be 10% off the normal ticket price, which amounts to around $1,120 to $2,240 per person for the full month, depending on one’s level of involvement. (The lower end of the price range is for people who build something for the village, or otherwise contribute their skills or time. And the other way for locals to try for that low-end price is to apply for a need-based scholarship.)

Now, for the exception! Because these thousand-plus out-of-towners need somewhere to stay for the month, and not all of them can afford a hotel room or fancy vacation rental, organizers say Healdsburg residents who host “a visiting scholar or builder” in their home will receive “a free month long ticket to thank you for being an essential part of making this gathering possible.” They add: “Hosting offers a unique way to experience Edge Esmeralda. Rather than just attending sessions, you’ll help shape someone’s entire experience of our community. We will try to match hosts with guests based on shared interests.” You can fill out this hosting form if you’re interested in that option. And here’s the regular ticket application, with an area to explain if you need a scholarship.

FYI, when I asked Edge Esmeralda co-organizer Devon Zuegel — who’s also in the process of planning a more permanent utopian village up in Cloverdale right now (!) — why ticket prices are higher for locals this year, she explained: “The shift comes from feedback that locals wanted to be fully integrated into all aspects of the experience, especially meals. The new pricing reflects full access to everything.” And by everything, she means all talks and workshops; daily discounted meals; daily fitness classes, meditation sessions, cold plunges and other health stuff; access to co-working spaces; weekend adventures and more.

As for what kind of programming Edge Esmeralda will be running out of Healdsburg event venues, theaters, hotels, wineries, etc. from May 24 through June 21: Much of it tends to unfold in real time, due to the almost dizzyingly democratic and decentralized calendar system that Edge Esmeralda uses. But here’s my recap of the experience last year, if it helps. And here are the general topics organizers plan to explore this year, by week:

• May 24 – June 1 | Living Better, Living Longer: Health, Longevity, Biotech, Neurotech, and Community & Experiential Design
• June 1 – June 8 | Reality Reinvented: Virtual & Mixed Reality, Hard Tech, Augmented & Artificial Intelligence, and Adventure Weekend
• June 8 – 15 | Environments of Tomorrow: Education, Cities, Culture, Agritech, and Climate
• June 15 – 21 | Decentralized Technologies: Real-world Crypto, Stablecoins, Governance, Programmable Cryptography, Protocols Research, and D/ACC

In the time since Edge Esmeralda came to Healdsburg last summer, one of the two orgs that runs it — “society incubator” Edge City — actually held a similar monthlong “popup village” of 800 people in Thailand in October, called Edge City Lanna. You can read about how that one turned out here. Next up, they’ll host a shorter event in Austin, Texas, about a week from now. Edge City leaders describe it as a “weeklong unconference focused on frontier tech for human flourishing, featuring lightning talks, collaborative workshops, a hackathon, and daily workouts.”

Which brings us to little old Healdsburg. Edge Esmeralda organizers wrote in an email to followers earlier this month: “We are so excited to come back to Sonoma County for Edge Esmeralda 2025! Last year’s event resulted in so many fun activities, interesting collaborations, and new friendships, and we can’t wait to see what unfolds this year. … Edge Esmeralda works because Healdsburg and Sonoma County welcome us so warmly. We’re grateful for your trust and excited to build something special together again in 2025.” Check out their (super trippy) event website for more info.

Note from Simone: This piece originally appeared in the weekly email newsletter I write for the Bohemian, called Wine Country Today. Subscribe here!

Good news on the environmental front! While you were busy worrying about Trump, an ambitious nonprofit from San Francisco called Save the Redwoods League has been buying up huge, expensive, redwood-filled properties in Sonoma County — with the goal of filling a “crucial gap between conserved lands stretching all the way from the Bohemian Highway to the Pacific Ocean,” org leaders say. The latest plot of land on their list, just south of the Russian River next to the county’s existing Monte Rio Redwoods Regional Park, should open up all sorts of cool thoroughfares for humans and animals. That is, once they officially buy it (they’re still raising money) and hand it over to Sonoma County Parks this summer.

Here are more details on the purchase from SF Gate:

San Francisco environmental group Save the Redwoods League has announced plans to purchase 1,517 acres of forest near the Russian River, filling a gap in a chain of protected land that now stretches over 34 square miles across the Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast.

Parcels that make up the property will be purchased from the Mendocino Redwood Company for $24 million, the league announced in a press release [on Feb. 11]. The purchased land is set to connect Monte Rio Redwoods Regional Park to the east and Sonoma Coast State Park to the west, adding to an existing swath of protected land that blankets much of the Russian River Valley and a large stretch of coastline. 

“The property really makes a connection from the town of Monte Rio all the way to the ocean and also is a fantastic corridor for habitat movement,” said Jeff Stump, the league’s director of land protection.

Most of the property included in the purchase has been subjected to timber production for the past century, the league wrote in its release. Though the land is largely made up of second- and third-growth coast redwood and Douglas fir forest, it does include some scattered old-growth trees, including a 200-foot, 1,500-year-old redwood that Stump refers to as “the decadence tree.”

“It’s been struck so many times by lightning and had so many reiterations. It’s just really, really neat-looking tree,” Stump said.

And the Press Democrat reports that another “special place on the property” is known as “The Sound of Music“ for its sweeping view of the Russian River, the Pacific Ocean and the Jenner Headlands, all at once.

Just last month, this same organization bought an even larger piece of redwood land on the Sonoma coast: 1,624 acres for a reported $16 million. They say the coastal plot is filled with a whole bunch more “second-growth” redwoods, plus picturesque prairies and stunning ocean cliffs. From their Jan. 14 announcement:

Sonoma Coast Redwoods lies within the traditional homeland of the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians, the original stewards of this vibrant landscape. Safeguarding the 1,624-acre property from development will reconnect nearly 8 miles of streams and more than 7.8 square miles of protected habitat for fascinating plants and animals. It also creates an exciting opportunity to extend the California Coastal Trail from adjacent Fort Ross State Historic Park and expand recreational access for locals and visitors alike.

Securing this essential redwood landscape will also increase wildfire resilience in fire-prone Sonoma County and set this former timberland on the path to becoming an old-growth forest once more. Currently the property is covered by more than 800 acres of coast redwood forest, ranging from young trees bouncing back from the 2020 Meyers Fire to scattered old-growth giants that have stood for 1,000 years. This variety indicates a healthy recovering forest — the kind where maturing second-growth trees can grow quickly and pack away large amounts of carbon when the planet needs it most.

I should also mention that the Save the Redwoods League isn’t the only one buying up and conserving redwood land in Sonoma County these days. A gorgeous 356-acre, $2.2 million plot just opened in the Camp Meeker area along Bohemian Highway, thanks to the county’s own “Ag + Open Space” agency. And that same agency is currently in the process of conserving another 394-acre, $6.2 million plot right next door. We seem to be having a full-on redwood renaissance these days — and since none of its funding is federal, the war on wokeness can’t touch it, for now.

Note from Simone: This piece originally appeared in the weekly email newsletter I write for the Bohemian, called Wine Country Today. Subscribe here!

We’ve all been hearing some pretty scary things lately about important land-stewardship projects across California losing their federal funding and support — national park and forest maintenance, wildfire prevention programs and more. But there’s one ongoing environmental initiative with big implications for the North Bay’s water supply that it seems we can be cautiously optimistic about: the Potter Valley Project up in Humboldt County. That’s because, two Thursdays ago, a whole host of different state agencies, county governments, tribes and other orgs reportedly reached a “historic pact” on the project’s future.

Potter Valley is an old, defunct power plant with two dams that PG&E officials run along the Eel River — one they’ve been wanting to get rid of for years now. In fact, there are very few remaining fans of the Potter Valley Project. Local tribes especially would love to see the Eel River undammed, with dreams of a salmon revival and ecological renaissance like what we’re seeing along the newly dam-less Klamath River to the north. The complication being, of course, that this same Potter Valley apparatus currently diverts Eel River waters into the Russian River and the Lake Mendocino reservoir — a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of people living downstream in Sonoma, Mendocino and Marin counties, who use this water to survive. (Here’s more info from the Sonoma Water agency about how that whole system works.)

Which brings us back to the new pact, signed in a feel-good ceremony on Feb. 13. The Press Democrat reports:

Officials from three counties and the Round Valley Indian Tribes have reached a historic agreement that paves the way for continued diversions from the Eel River to bolster flows in the Russian River.

The agreement represents a critical development for anyone whose water comes from the Russian River.

The complex accord resulted from years of negotiations to preserve supplemental flows in the Russian River, the water lifeline for residents, ranchers and wildlife in Sonoma and Mendocino counties. The agreement also supports the restoration and fish recovery in the Eel River, which was crucial to securing support from environmental interests, tribes and Humboldt County residents.

It is, at last, the “two-basin solution” envisioned by regional stakeholders in 2019 and even earlier, when Pacific Gas & Electric first raised questions about whether to continue operating the small, aging hydroelectric plant in Potter Valley through which Eel River flows have been redirected.

But the path to sustainability isn’t over yet. It’ll be a long and expensive one, by the sound of things. To start, we’ll get less water now — around 12% less per year, according to the PD — because diversions to the Russian River will mostly only happen in rainy months, when Eel River waters are high enough to support it. So we’ll still have to figure out how to make up the difference. Also: Under the agreement, Russian River water users are expected to ”wean themselves from the Eel River by developing new water storage and supply solutions” and “raise $50 million or more for new diversion facilities and $50 million or more for additional restoration funding.” In addition, we’ll need to pay around $1 million per year to the Round Valley Indian Tribes, who will now own Eel River water rights instead of PG&E, for continued diversions — and up to another $1 million per year for ongoing environmental restoration efforts.

As far as I know, it’s not yet clear where exactly this money will be coming from. (And I have no idea what’s going on with that $15 million in federal funds promised to the project by U.S. Congressman Jared Huffman last month; I’ve been asking his office about it, but last I heard from them, they were “still gathering information and updates so don’t have a solid read out right now.”) So, yeah — everything is not all figured out forever. The latest plan still has its critics, too, like folks in Lake County who rely on water from the Lake Pillsbury reservoir. (Pillsbury is currently fed by the Eel, and would go dry under this plan, as I understand it.)

Still, the big thing that many others are celebrating at this juncture is how many groups with opposing interests came together to compromise and agree on something, in an age of chronic division and discord. Here are some choice quotes from the pact-signing ceremony last week, via the PD:

While the paradigm for addressing contentious issues, especially water, is conflict and litigation, “you all chose a different way among a lot of different interests, different needs,” [California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot] said. “This pathway is a model not only for California but for our country at this time.”

In a nod to recent rhetoric from President Donald Trump regarding California water policy, [California Fish & Wildlife Director Chuck Bonham] referenced critics who call the state “crazy,” incompetent and foolish for choosing “fish over water” supply.

“We can do ‘yes, and …’” Bonham said. “We can do it all in California.”

Another reason to celebrate is that, under this plan, we’d potentially be entering into more of a right relationship with an outside water source we seized as our own more than a century ago. No one is celebrating this aspect harder than Lynda Hopkins, chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, whose district includes the Lower Russian River Area and the Sonoma coast. She could hardly contain her excitement in a newsletter she sent to constituents last week. I’ll reprint the whole thing here, even though it’s long, because it feels important. Lynda writes:

It’s not every day that you get to take part in a historic moment. Last Thursday was one of those days where I had to pinch myself and ask, is this real life? Is this really my day job?

On Thursday February 13, an MOU was signed between the Round Valley Indian Tribe, Mendocino County Inland Power & Water Commission, County of Humboldt, Trout Unlimited, CalTrout, Sonoma Water, and the California Department of Fish & Wildlife. This couldn’t have happened without the leadership of Secretary Wade Crowfoot and California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Chuck Bonham.

This MOU will support water security for Sonoma County. It will allow us to continue to provide more than 600,000 people in Marin and Sonoma Counties with drinking water. It will support agriculture in Mendocino and Sonoma Counties. In the lower Russian River, it will support maintaining our minimum instream flows which is critical for native fish and our summertime economy. This is a big deal for us here locally.

But much more importantly… this MOU will begin to right a wrong that started one hundred and twenty-five years ago.

Ground was broken on the Potter Valley Project in 1900. Think about that: 125 years of the Russian River Watershed taking, without asking, from the Eel River Watershed, all because some guy had the bright idea to punch a hole through a mountain. 125 years of impacts to Tribal culture, fisheries, riparian and estuarine ecosystems. 125 years of a transactional relationship that only went in one direction. The Eel River was treated like a bank that we only ever withdrew funds from.

Last week we committed to taking water only in high flows. This is known as the “run of the river” solution, and the “two basin” solution. And what’s more: we committed to compensating the People and the lands that have been harmed by this transfer for more than a century. The sovereignty of the Round Valley Indian Tribe is honored as the holders of the water rights. The Tribe will be receiving annual payments for as long as the water flows between the watersheds. Additional annual payments will go towards an Eel River Restoration fund. 

In my 8 years in government I’ve never witnessed such diverse interests come together to make the world a better place. Tribal leadership. Local governments who were on opposite sides of a 125 year deal (with some of us benefitting, and some of us being harmed). Environmental groups. A state agency more accustomed to regulating than creating. We all stepped out of our comfort zones and did something today. Was it a compromise? Absolutely. Was it perfect? Absolutely not. We still have a long way to go — to honor our agreement, and to ultimately transition to a self-sufficient Russian River watershed.

But it felt like the arc of the universe bent a little bit more towards justice on that day. And it was an honor to be there and be part of it. We CAN change the world. It starts with respecting and honoring each other, and history.  

Note from Simone: This piece originally appeared in the weekly email newsletter I write for the Bohemian, called Wine Country Today. Subscribe here!