New trailhead, other improvements, planned for Overlook Trail

The Sonoma Overlook Trail Task Force is launching a number of exciting new developments for the Sonoma Overlook Trail.
The developments include plans to improve the main trailhead, located just off First Street West at the entrance to the Mountain Cemetery; to install tree identification signs along a segment of the trail; and to construct a new trail segment that will link, at Norrbom Road, the Overlook Trail with the new trail now being planned for the Montini Open Space Preserve.
Last October, the Sonoma City Council approved a proposal by the task force to improve the main trailhead entrance. The plans comprise four elements: the construction of a trailhead kiosk with information displays; the realignment of the parking spaces; the construction of low stone benches/walls to define and add visual appeal to the area; and, finally, the addition of landscaping with native, water-conserving, drought-tolerant plants.
The current trailhead area often served as a construction staging area. Despite past efforts to improve the site, it remains woefully uninviting and uninformative to hikers, a trail task force statement said.
The design, construction, and maintenance of the proposed improvements will be done with volunteer contributions, making the upgrades virtually cost-free to the city. Grant support from the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, which often brings guests to hike the Overlook Trail, will cover a significant part of the planned trailhead improvements. In addition, the Rotary Club of Sonoma is funding the construction material costs of the trailhead kiosk to honor one of its longstanding members, Don Zeeman. The kiosk will be erected in June.
Part of the first grant given to the trail task force by the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn has been used to install 12 small tree and shrub identification signs along the trail. They now enable hikers, including many fourth-grade students on field trips, to identify and appreciate different tree species found in this habitat. The grant also provides some support for the task force’s docent-training program.
The Sonoma Overlook Trail Task Force has the primary responsibility for the management of SOT, in partnership with the Sonoma Ecology Center and the city of Sonoma. The task force also works in cooperation with many other local institutions, including the Hanna Boys Center, Sonoma Valley Schools, the Rotary Club and Fairmont’s Sonoma Mission Inn.
The task force welcomes comments regarding these plans and invites any and all who wish to support the Sonoma Overlook Trail with financial or volunteer labor contributions to contact Task Force co-chairs John Donnelly at 933.8128 or Jackie Steuer at 935.0808.