Taylor Mountain - Cooper Creek Addition

What & Why?

The 54-acre property was acquired in March of 2020, in partnership with the Sonoma Land Trust and the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District. This addition expands Taylor Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve towards the neighborhoods in southern Santa Rosa, providing improved neighborhood access into the 1,100-acre park, and protects valuable wildlife habitat centered on an intact riparian stretch of Cooper Creek.

In the fall of 2020, Regional Parks worked with the Russian Riverkeeper to clean up several abandoned homeless encampments and dump sites on the property, removing a total of 13,000 pounds of discarded material and garbage. Boundary signage was installed, and a grazing plan is in development to manage vegetation and reduce fire danger.

What's Next?

Community engagement to gather feedback on neighborhood access considerations and future public trails for the Cooper Creek Addition are anticipated to begin in spring 2024.

Regional Parks is in the process of incorporating the Cooper Creek Addition into the existing Taylor Mountain Master Plan and Resource Management Plan and preparing an environmental document mitigating any additional impacts. The plan will directly relate to the existing Master Plan for Taylor Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve, and include biological studies, cultural resource studies, proposed neighborhood access considerations, and specific trail alignments with the primary goal of developing an approximately 1-mile-long trail connection running north/south into the larger park and open space preserve and an approximately 1-mile-long loop trail through the eastern portion of the property. 

Construction of eight miles of new trails to the south, at Taylor Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve, is due to be completed in the spring/summer 2024 and will include a trail connecting to the southern border of the Cooper Creek Addition property. Check this webpage for updates, and/or contact the project manager for more information.

To find information about trails currently open for public use in Taylor Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve please visit the Regional Parks website:

https://parks.sonomacounty.ca.gov/visit/find-a-park/taylor-mountain-regional-park-and-preserve

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