Mark West Creek Park & Preserve - Background

Background

The proposed Mark West Creek Regional Park and Open Space Preserve is a future 1,200 acre hiking and riding destination only 15 miles from downtown Santa Rosa. The property is on Porter Creek Road in the Mark West Creek watershed. 

The future park has more than a dozen miles of existing trails passing through extensive oak woodlands, meadows, and conifer forests including redwood groves. Vistas provide sweeping views of the Mayacamas and Mount St. Helena to the north and east, northwest to the Russian River Valley, and west to Santa Rosa and across the Santa Rosa Plain to the Coastal Range. Trails cross and meander along miles of Mark West, Mill and Porter Creeks. The creeks are high-quality riparian habitat for salmonid spawning, rearing, and passage, and link adjacent protected lands to create 4,300 acres of contiguous wildlife habitat in the watershed.

The project provides multiple public benefits in an area that is at risk of development and fragmentation. The purpose of the project is to: 

• protect and restore habitat for threatened and endangered fisheries and a diverse assemblage of wildlife habitat,
• expand and link adjacent protected lands, and
• provide public access and education opportunities.