Conservation Alerts

PLAN is dedicated to change at the Paula Lane open space property and is advocating for a new property title holder with expert conservation partners to restore habitat and repair damage caused by the current title holder, City of Petaluma.

Currently, two For Sale signs on Paula Lane just south of the Paula Lane open space land represent the attempt to subdivide and further build housing, which would be detrimental to the protected open space conservation values of Paula Lane. PLAN has reached out to the owners on 3 occasions and to the new realtor, indicating a conservation sale or conservation easement would be a best approach. Supporters may recall PLAN opposed the owner's subdivision proposal, which was unfortunately approved by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.

Badger is a CA Species of Concern. Without a higher-level status, which is certainly needed, such as Threatened, a species' habitat is not mandated to be protected. Since badgers are fossorial mammals, relying on burrowing and land for surviving, the special status of Species of Concern is not meaningful. The species' home, habitat, needs protection.

Intense illegal grading, hacking down habitat, installing structures and nonpassable fencing, blocking a wildlife corridor that hosted movement of all West Petaluma species, from mule deer to mountain lions to, of course, the resident American Badger. Horses were placed inside the fencing and intense human encroachment ensued. This photo illustrates what replaced a wild ecosystem and habitat, with a nearby burrow complex of a female badger for 3 years in a row – 2010 to 2012.

Conservation Alerts

"Our challenge isn't so much to teach children about the natural world, but to find ways to nurture and sustain the instinctive connections they already carry."

— Terry Krautwurst