TranslateTaylor Mountain Phase II - Background
Background
Providing a picturesque backdrop to Santa Rosa, Taylor Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve offers ample public recreation on the urban edge. Currently, 5 miles of trails provide an outstanding playground for hikers, mountain bikers, and horseback riders alike. Park visitors take in a sweeping view of the Santa Rosa Plain, home to half of Sonoma County’s population, while disc golf enthusiasts enjoy the 18-hole course. The park lies within minutes of Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park, and offers easy access to outdoor fitness for residents of the adjacent neighborhoods.
Despite its proximity to urban centers, Taylor Mountain is home to a mosaic of grassland, wetland, riparian, scrub, and oak woodland plant communities. The park supports an abundance of wildlife species, including a healthy population of federally-protected California red-legged frogs. Taylor Mountain links the stream corridors, parks, and backyards of Santa Rosa to the Sonoma Mountains. It also provides pathways for wildlife movement, vegetation dispersal, and transport of cool, clean water into the Laguna de Santa Rosa, a biological hotspot and wetland of international significance.
Project Funding
Sonoma County Regional Parks received a $1.83 million dollar grant from California State Parks Recreational Trails Program to construct 8 miles of new trails and three new walk-in/bike-in neighborhood access points at Taylor Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve.
This funding is matched by over $300,000 of cash match and the value of volunteer labor, including $80,000 in funding from the Sonoma County Regional Parks Foundation as well as staff and volunteer trail construction labor. We have partnered with the Sonoma County Trails Council/Redwood Trails Alliance to construct some of the trails with Foundation funding, and with the Conservation Corps North Bay through their $158,730 grant from the Active Transportation Program to assist us with trail work construction and invasive species removal at the park.