Sonoma Ecology Center is teaming up with the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources to offer this accredited nine-week course locally. The course results in real college credits, and it turns nature lovers into certified graduates of the UC California Naturalist Program, making them valuable authorities on California’s plants and animals, geology and soils, water, climate, biodiversity and more. Recent classes have featured a special emphasis on the wildfires in Sonoma Valley and how they have affected our forests and wildlife communities.

This 4-week UC-certified course explores our local ecology, engages you in citizen science, and allows you to share your knowledge with others. The 40-hour course combines a science curriculum with guest lecturers, field trips, and project-based learning to explore the unique ecology and natural history of the Inner Coastal Range of Sonoma and Napa. If you enjoy exploring and learning about our local ecology, engaging in citizen science, and sharing your knowledge with others, this program is for you!

Dates: September 17 - October 11, 2025

Fees: $500 (Need-based scholarships are available)

Delivery Mode: Hybrid (Classes meet on Zoom, Wednesday evenings 6:00-8:30 pm. In addition, participants will attend select Saturday field trips held locations around Sonoma Valley including Sonoma Garden Park and Sugarloaf Ridge State Park)

Contact: Tony Passantino, tony@sonomaecologycenter.org 

Course Website & Registration

Organization Description: Sonoma Ecology Center addresses challenges related to water supply and quality, open space, rural character, biodiversity, energy, climate change, and quality of life. The mission of Sonoma Ecology Center is to work with our community to enhance and sustain ecological health in Sonoma Valley. Since 1990, we’ve worked to increase appreciation and stewardship of Sonoma Valley’s natural heritage and create measurable benefits in areas of land, water, climate change, and biodiversity.

Sonoma Valley is home to an amazing variety of species living in a small space. As many as a quarter of California’s species exist in this compact area, a place that comprises only a tenth of 1% of California’s entire land area! Since the Valley is mostly privately owned over thousands of parcels, it needs all of us to be good stewards to sustain this amazing legacy for the future. Our valley is also a watershed–a basic unit around which life on earth is organized. It’s also economically and socially diverse. In short, it offers a lot of what other places offer in a small, human scale valley. It’s a place that may be just the right size to get important things done together. And as we learn more about how to take care of our special place, we may help others do the same in theirs.