April 2025 | Interview with Justin Lindenberg, Executive Director of Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods

I met Justin last year at a summer poetry event in the amphitheater of Armstrong Redwoods State Park and in the fall at a Keshaya Pomo dance by the coast. This interview took place at Duncan Mills, a few miles from Jenner and the mouth of the Russian River in Sonoma County, California.

“We have close to 200 volunteers who contribute 12 to 13,000 hours each year…”

I started at Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods (SCR) on October 1^st, 2021, just over a year after the Walbridge fire burned through Austin Creek State Recreation Area and Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve. (The two parks adjoin and share the same entrance.) SCR protects the natural and cultural resources of Armstrong Redwoods, Austin Creek, and Sonoma State Parks. 

In 2008, SCR became a park operator. There was a park closure crisis around 2008. Armstrong Redwoods and many other state parks were on the list to be closed. A number of environmental non-profits got together and said, We’ll operate the parks alongside providing volunteer and education programs.
 
SCR came into being in 1985 with a Seal Watch Program. Sarah Allen, Marine Biologist and Conservationist (interviewed in May 2020 and June 2020) has helped train our docents and still helps us with continuing education via webinars.
 
Michele Luna had been the Executive Director for 27 years before I was hired. She was hired by a volunteer board, and we are still driven by grassroots volunteers who run the programs.

I asked Justin how he came to this job and to share a little about his upbringing.

I was born in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, in a small town of a few thousand people. After graduating from high school, I went to the University of Minnesota and majored in environmental science. I’m the second of four siblings. My father worked as an electrician and my mother as a secretary. I liked being outside, especially on the water. My grandparents lived on a lake, and we would spend time with them.
 
In high school, I would leave school early to work at a ski hill that used to be a landfill. During high school, I attended maybe three-quarters of a day, and I’d go water skiing and snowboarding. I was skipping school and still getting a 4.0 GPA. I continued working at the ski resort. I taught skiing and snowboarding and started a kid’s snowboarding program. 
 
In college, I worked in the libraries. I rowed in my first year and did “competitive” water skiing. When I left college, I went home for the summer and then moved to Washington, DC. I had an internship with a non-profit that made eco-labels. I also worked in restaurants. I applied for a fundraising position and got an entry-level job in grant writing for a non-profit.
 
I moved to Sausalito, Marin, in 2016 and worked with Save the Redwoods League. Pointing behind him, Justin continued, They are buying 1500 acres, the Monte Rio Redwoods Addition. Landpaths bought the Bohemian Ecological Preserve opposite the Monte Rio Redwoods. The long-term goal is more trails and protected areas from the redwoods to the ocean. (You’ll find an inspiring article and map at https://www.savetheredwoods.org/project/monte-rio-redwoods/ )
 
When I started at SCR in 2021, Armstrong Redwoods was still closed. As much of our revenue came from operating the parks, our funding level was low. Most state parks were closed for a portion of Covid, then our home park got hit with fire. 
 
In November 2021, Armstrong Redwoods reopened. Sonoma State Park was also open. We had to restart each program. We’d lost a lot of volunteers. So, we started recruiting. We’d ask those who’d left during Covid if they were interested in coming back. We got the word out through in-person outreach at festivals, events, and even stores. 
 
We do a Volunteer Celebration Day at the end of the year, a Volunteer Appreciation Day in the middle of the year, and hold regular potlucks to further camaraderie and build support.

Our two main programs are Redwood Education—around 3,000 students a year come on these courses, and Tidepool Education—about 1,000 kids take this program. They are mostly in grades K – 5 (ages 5 to 10 years). It’s harder for middle schools to organize outings because of multiple subject teachers. We’re looking at high school possibilities. 
 
We’ve been taking a Tidepool Tank Table to schools, to the North Bay Science Discovery Day at the Fairgrounds, Santa Rosa, and to the Fisherman’s Festival at Bodega Bay. The tank is filled with seawater and critters from the Bodega Marine Lab.
 
Our volunteer programs include operating the Armstrong and Jenner Visitor Centers, redwood and tidepool education, trail crew, seal watch, whale watch, seabird monitoring, pinniped monitoring, and Pond Farm Pottery.

Pond Farm Pottery is the former home and studio of renowned master potter, artist, and educator Marguerite Wildenhain. Located in Austin Creek Park, it was recognized in 2023 as Sonoma County’s 6^th National Heritage Landmark. It represents the fabric of arts in the US and recognizes Marguerite 
Wildenhain’s contribution to ceramics. After assembling an oral history of Marguerite’s life and work, we filmed her story, from Bauhaus to Pond Farm, in collaboration with a local radio/TV station in 2022/23. (You can see the documentary on YouTube at this link. She was clearly a remarkable human being and, like other great artists, taught Life through her art. – ed.)
 
We have an artist-in-residence program for six months of the year. Each artist is here for three weeks, five are from the US, and one is from Germany. There are monthly docent-led tours from March through October and private tours. We have a fundraiser coming up in April at this link.
Our Pinniped Monitoring Program is a partnership with Sonoma Water and is based at the overlook above Jenner. We also operate the Jenner Visitor Center. (When I drove there after the interview, I was lucky enough to see a bald eagle flying above the hills and estuary.) 
 
Our Seal Watch is at Goat Rock State Beach, and we also have a Seabird Monitoring Program for the many birds populating the ocean rocks. And there’s Whale Watch at Bodega Head from January through May.
 
We have close to 200 volunteers who contribute 12 to 13,000 hours each year, which is the equivalent of almost $500,000. We have 11 staff including a volunteer coordinator, a program director, an admin director, a field operations manager, and more. 
 
We do a lot of community education events, from mushrooming and bird walks to nature drawing, and weekend walks. We’ll be doing a music series in May through October at the Armstrong Woods Amphitheater, starting with Acorn MusEcology on Friday, May 2^nd. On April 12th, we host the Sonoma County Pomo Dancers in the amphitheater.
 
There’s a lot of community engagement, and most of our events fill up quickly. If you’re interested in volunteering, take a look at our site: https://stewardscr.org/volunteer-opportunities/
You can see the range of our events at https://stewardscr.org/upcoming-events-programs/

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I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

The last verse makes this amazing poem a treasure! I find that I can apply it to any event, be it yesterday or 50 years ago, to return to a place of peace and equanimity. “And then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the …”

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

For those of you who are local, here are two events of many that the Laguna Foundation is offering.

Our Wild Watershed: River Otters with Mary Ellen King
Friday, April 4, 2025. 5:30pm – 6:30pm
Location: Laguna Environmental Center 
Sliding Scale $10 $15 $20. Registration required.
Join us for an informative talk about the comeback of a charismatic predator known as the river otter. Through beautiful photos and thrilling critter cam videos, we’ll showcase otters’ playful behaviors, their role in the ecosystem, and the conservation work supporting their recovery

Register Here

We are excited to welcome you to the wonder-filled world of Vernal Pools on the Santa Rosa Plain. Come learn, explore, and marvel at the tiny wonders and amazing wildflowers that create beautiful, colorful displays each spring.
Registration is open for four outings on April 12th and 17th and May 2nd and 3rd. Experience for yourself why vernal pools are easy to love and important to protect. Register today!

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Emergence Magazine features a Conversation with Giuliana Furci, Robert Macfarlane, César Rodríguez-Garavito, and Cosmo Sheldrake.

Song of the Cedars

Bringing in the voice of the forest, four members of the MOTH (More Than Human) Life Collective share the story of co-composing a song with the Los Cedros cloud forest in Ecuador and explore how its authorship might be legally recognized.

I found the questions deeply fascinating that the four asked of themselves about More Than Human Life and our relationship to that.