April Banner - pretty flowers
April MLT Monthly
April promises to be a beautiful month all over Mendocino County - blooming flowers, nesting birds, gorgeous ocean views and green oak-covered hills. We hope your month is full of trails to hike, calming ocean views, and sunsets to watch. Looking for new places to go? Check our trail guide for ideas.

Banner Photo: Flowers at R&R Ranch, a 1,400-acre MLT conservation easement in Potter Valley.
Family Field Trips
Help Kids Become the Conservationists of Tomorrow
The Mendocino Land Trust is excited to announce that in March we received a grant from the Community Foundation of Mendocino County to offer outreach and naturalist-led field trips to families with young children. We are especially interested in engaging with segments of our community that historically have not received equal access to parks and nature programs.
 
Can you help us connect with organizations and sites that work with lower-income families and/or people from diverse backgrounds? Our funding allows us to visit sites to provide outreach programming and lead nature play activities with kids. Email your ideas to amy@mendocinolandtrust.org.

Read more about why this work is important on our website
Happy Trails and Tech to Lawrence Turner
MLT's Director of Conservation is Moving On
“The Mendocino Coast is part of my soul,” says Lawrence Turner, MLT’s outgoing Director of Conservation. “There’s nothing like going for a hike in the redwood forest.”
 
After working for the Mendocino Land Trust for three years, Larry is moving on.

Here are the Fort Bragg native’s poetic goodbyes and inspiring words:
Did you know that I can tell the difference between Big River, Noyo River and Ten Mile by the way they smell? There’s a distinct difference to them all. The only way I can describe it is variations of petrichor – the smell of freshly fallen rain. Something in the water is unique in each of those watersheds.
 
What did you like about working for the Land Trust?
So many good times – first off, the people are amazing. Dedicated. Good-humored. Wicked-smart and hardworking.

Read the more on the MLT website
Join Our Team!
We are excited to be a rapidly growing nonprofit conservation organization.

Mendocino Land Trust is seeking qualified candidates for three positions this spring:


All positions include competitive benefits dependent on the percentage of full-time hours assigned. Visit our website for details and information about how to apply.
View open positions on the MLT website
Meet the Board
The story of how new board member Ken Flannell came to Mendocino
The Mendocino Land Trust has long benefited from the guidance of a well-organized board of trustees, composed of talented and passionate individuals who volunteer their time and skills. In the last year, Terry Gross and Barbara Weiss have retired after years of service and are dearly missed. Recently we welcomed four new board members: Tina Batt, Ken Flannell, Tony Sorace, and Terry Surles.

In this issue of the MLT Monthly, we are profiling Ken Flannell. Ken first came to the Mendocino Coast in 1992 in a borrowed VW van. He and his wife, Denise, were on an extended road trip all the way up the coast from their home in San Diego. While they camped at many beautiful places on the trip, Mendocino was one that seemed like they might want to live...
Read more about Ken on MLT's website
MLT Outdoor Social Club
Wildflowers Didn't Disappoint at R&R Ranch in Potter Valley
The MLT Outdoor Social Club had a great wildflower walk at the R&R Ranch conservation easement on April 2. Much thanks to all who came - especially hike co-leader Esme Plascencia of Latino Outdoors. Thanks also to attending botanists including Jim Gibson, Asa Spade, and Rhiannon Korhummel for helping us identify more than 43 species of wildflowers in bloom!
Join MLT and CNPS on April 10 for Wildflowers at Navarro Point!
(RSVP Required))V
“The coastal scrub at MLT’s Navarro Point is an absolute treasure because it is high quality habitat where native species dominate and rare species thrive."
~ Botanist Rhiannon Korhummel

Mendocino Land Trust and the local California Native Plant Society chapter are teaming up to offer a wildflower hike at MLT’s own Navarro Point on April 10.


Please visit the DKY CNPS website to register. Due to limited parking and sensitivity of habitat, the walk will be limited to 20 people.

MLT Outdoor Social Club: May Mystery Event
Our May MLT Outdoor Social Club is going to be really special! We are still firming up details but save the date Sunday, May 1 (10 am - 3 pm). Watch your inbox the week of April 11 for details and your chance to win an invite.
Upcoming Volunteer Days!
Help Improve Habitat at MLT Preserves
Hare Creek Beach, Fort Bragg
Saturday, April 9 from 9:30 am - 12 pm
Dress to get dirty. Bring gloves and water. Tools will be provided, but if you have a pair of hand clippers that you like using, feel free to bring them. Help prune along trails and remove invasive blackberry and ivy. Lenny and her crew meet at the south end of the Mendocino College Coast Center parking lot at 9:30 am. If you come later, wander across the field and down the trail along the creek and you'll find us!

Thursday, April 14 from 10 am - 12 pm
Dress to get dirty. Bring gloves and water. Tools will be provided. Activities will include hacking out invasive thistle and taking in the gorgeous views. (View meeting location in Google Maps)

Ten Mile Stewards at Old Smith Ranch
Saturday, April 16 from 10 am - 12 pm
Dress to get dirty. Bring gloves and water. Tools will be provided, but if you have a pair of hand clippers that you like using, feel free to bring them. Activities will include pruning along trail and removal of invasive plant species. (View meeting location in Google Maps)

Questions? Send an email to info@mendocino.org
Bee Bold Alliance
Here is some info about a great nonprofit we recently connected with. The Bee Bold Alliance (BBA) works to renew biodiversity and sustain local food security through pollinator protection. 

They work to: 
🐝 Engage local businesses to ensure we support a healthy economy;
🐝 Develop young leaders to build the capacity for sustained, long-term transformation; and 
🐝 Restore pollinator sanctuaries to provide critical infrastructure for renewed ecosystems.

The intention of the BBA is to create a replicable model to be shared as a living-working example of regenerative community resilience.

To learn more about being a pollinator protector go to www.beeboldalliance.org
Help California State Parks
With "Share the Beach" Outreach
Nature Appreciation:
Wildflower Season
In March, the theme of our weekly Nature Watch posts was Wildflower Wednesday.
Click on an image to learn more.
Where do these pretty little flowers, called baby blue eyes, grow and thrive? You might even see a white variety!
With its unassuming outer petals, it's easy to overlook the gorgeous checker lily. What might you find if you peek inside?
This hemiparasitic beauty prefers to grow in close vicinity to which ubiquitous shrub as a source of water and nutrients?
You may recognize this as an iris, but can you name another local purple flower in the same family?
Join us on Facebook or Instagram in April for
#WednesdayNatureFacts about pollinators!