Selected Work
Stories by Roger Coryell
2026
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The lake that feeds the upper Russian River is losing ground
Lake Mendocino was about 10,000 acre-feet above the threshold for critical conditions on April 24. Operators have already cut Coyote Dam outflow by about 65%. Lake Mendocino is getting tight, and Russian River releases are dropping Lake Mendocino entered the last week of April with less room than water managers want heading into summer. On…
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The lights are flickering out across Mendocino County
Up on the ridges above Willits, Steve Amato has been counting lights. "These hills used to light up at night," the president of the Mendocino Cannabis Alliance said last spring,…
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Pop the cork: Southwest’s Sip and Ship is officially live at STS
April 25, 2026 Two and a half weeks ago, Southwest Airlines rolled into Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport with Snoopy on the tarmac and a teaser tucked inside its press release: a new perk called Sip and Ship, set to take effect later in the month. As of Friday, the perk is real. Eligible Southwest…
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Petaluma mobile home residents say park owners are running a smear campaign against their advocate
Residents from three Petaluma parks flooded Monday’s city council meeting to defend Jody Johnson, who has led their fight against major rent increases for three years On Friday afternoon, residents of Youngstown Mobile Home Park found an unusual document on their doorsteps. Hand-delivered — reportedly by the park’s own manager — the packet appeared to…
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After three years tied to the dock, Bodega Bay’s salmon fleet gets blessed again
For three salmon seasons, the boats at Spud Point Marina haven’t gone out for salmon. They’ve sat. Crews scattered. Some skippers picked up crab work or rockfish, some got out of fishing altogether, a few sold the boat and the slip and walked off the dock for good. California’s commercial salmon fishery shut in 2022…
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Witches, munchkins, and shelter mutts: Sebastopol’s Apple Blossom Parade hits 80
Sebastopol’s Apple Blossom Parade hits 80 this weekend, and the Chamber went and themed the whole thing “Blossoms of Oz.” Ruby slippers, yellow brick road, the works. Saturday morning you’ll have witches on flatbeds, Munchkins on Main Street and, if the Humane Society of Sonoma County’s plans hold, a small pack of adoptable shelter dogs…
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Three years in: Is Sonoma County’s groundwater plan actually working?
The well at the back of your property doesn’t care what’s in a state filing. It runs, or it doesn’t. For thousands of Sonoma County households on private wells, that is the bottom line of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, the 2014 state law that forced local agencies to manage several of the county’s most…
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Sonoma County just rewrote the rules for big events: Here’s what changes June 9
Throwing a wedding on a vineyard? Hosting a charity 5K on a ranch? Running a summer concert series on a winery lawn? If your event happens in unincorporated Sonoma County, a new ordinance is about to reshape how you do it, and most of the people affected have no idea it exists yet. On June…
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Your Dungeness crab starts with one ice machine in Bodega Bay: Inside Sonoma County’s quietest infrastructure win
If you have ever cracked a fresh Sonoma Coast crab, slurped a local oyster or picked up a filet of wild rockfish at a Santa Rosa seafood counter, one very specific piece of equipment deserves a thank-you. Not a boat. Not a net. An ice machine. And for years, it has been quietly falling apart….
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California’s 40,000-acre question
Drive north through Hopland this spring, past Ukiah into Redwood Valley. You'll notice gaps. Where Cabernet and Zinfandel twisted toward the sun last October, now there's bare dirt, stacked rootstock,…
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Mendocino County’s little conservation fund has big ideas and a shrinking wallet
At the Mendocino County Fish and Game Commission's April grant hearing, commissioners spent the better part of an afternoon listening to some of the most ambitious habitat restoration pitches the…
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Mendocino County has its own dog breed
Drive south on Highway 101 toward Hopland, and you'll pass a turnoff for McNab Ranch Road. Most people zip by without noticing. But that little road is the namesake of…
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Sonoma County sounds alarm on girls’ mental health and access to care
Sonoma County just dropped a document that reads like a warning label — and it’s weirdly easy to miss because it’s not a crime, a fire, or a lawsuit. It’s…
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North Bay student promotes science and math at Santa Rosa science fair
At North Bay Science Discovery Day oin Santa Rosa, n March 7, Alyssa Huang plans to do more than run a booth. She wants to change the way kids —…
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A Sonoma County alternative to Juvenile Hall
If you’ve ever wondered what happens when a young person in Sonoma County gets court-ordered into the juvenile justice system, here’s one answer: Sometimes, they don’t go to Juvenile Hall.
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Worms to wine: DaVero turns compost into a tasting lesson
If you have spent any time around wine people, you have heard the phrase: It starts in the vineyard. DaVero Farms and Winery is taking that one step further, straight…
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New report flags Lyme-positive ticks on Sonoma trail
Ticks collected along Umbrella Tree Trail at North Sonoma Regional Park came back positive in pooled tests for Borrelia burgdorferi — the bacterium that causes Lyme disease — at a…
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Petaluma parents object to school spying
Petaluma’s school board hit the brakes Tuesday night after parents discovered — and then read aloud — safety plan language telling staff to “collect intelligence” on student walkouts, including monitoring…
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Psychological terrorism? Mobile home residents ask for help
The morning starts the way county meetings often do — polite, almost ceremonial.
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A hard look at Sonoma’s escape routes
If you sat through Tuesday night’s Sonoma City Council meeting (Feb. 4), you heard two very different kinds of local truth in the same room.
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Quail, blackberry, and the small ways we change a place
At Tuesday night’s Sonoma City Council meeting (Feb. 4), the first public comment was about something most people would walk past without a second thought: a patch of Himalayan blackberry…
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Sebastopol winery’s five-star run
If you’ve ever run a business that gets reviewed online, you know how this usually goes. The more people you serve, the more likely it is that someone has an…
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No speeches, just shovels: Sebastopol volunteers restore a creek edge
On a winter morning in west county, you can still find places where the loudest thing is a shovel bite and a creek moving under the willows. That’s the mood…
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Tiny mountain lion, big stakes
A 16-pound mountain lion cub from Southern California spent Thursday night in Sonoma County under close watch after state biologists couldn’t locate her mother.
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Rohnert Park trims license-plate surveillance after residents push back
Rohnert Park’s network of license-plate reader cameras isn’t going away. But after a long, uneasy public debate, city leaders agreed to put some limits on how much data police can…
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Regenerative vineyards can pay their way, new Sonoma County study finds
John Burgess / The Press Democrat The Medlock Ames estate vineyard in Healdsburg received the first Sonoma County Regenerative Organic Certification for practices including no tilling of the rows and…
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Sonoma students push back after Pride flag removal
The Pride flag at Sonoma Valley High School was only down for a few hours. But for the students who spoke at the Jan. 26 Sonoma City Council meeting, the…
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Schools vs. smartphones: West County weighs limits
Getty Images Close up of a man looking and touching on phone over laptop with coffee atop book aside sitting at cafe’s white table. Study or Working, Going Outside.
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How Pebbles made me a dog person
It was 1987. Vermont. I was young, dumb, and living with a woman whose Rottweiler was very pregnant.
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The smallest fish in the Estero tells the biggest story
You see them at the mouth of the Estero Americano, gliding low over the water with wings locked, skimming inches above the surface. Farther upstream, there is sometimes a flash…
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Sonoma County farm notes
One of Sonoma County’s most familiar farm names received statewide recognition this winter. Lee and Wayne James of Tierra Vegetables in Santa Rosa were named Legacy Farmers of the Year…
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What a sewage spill really does to a river town
When the Russian River flooded in early January, the wastewater treatment plant outside Guerneville flooded with it. Millions of gallons of untreated sewage spilled into the river over two days.…
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The new rules behind Sonoma County’s home kitchen food surge
Sonoma County has always had a quiet side hustle economy. You just didn’t used to be able to taste it.
2025
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Joy is a three-letter word with big power
It is small on paper but enormous in practice. It can turn an ordinary day into something you remember. It can make hard days survivable. It can loosen the grip…
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Road trip: Driving the Sonoma coast
Roll north out of Marin County on Highway 1 and the energy shifts the second you cross the county line. Development thins out, the wind picks up, and you get…
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Thanks, but … no thanks! Keep the lawn gnomes
Look, I appreciate the thought. I do. I know you care, I know you’re busy, and I know you bravely entered a HomeGoods during peak Mariah Carey season and survived.…
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Let’s talk about winter words
Not the normal ones. Not snow and holly and “ugh, relatives.” The weird ones. The words that sound like they’ve already had three hot toddies and are reading obscure poetry…
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Shopping words?
Word junkie: the bull market in buzzwords, with boots on the ground
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An amazing vegetarian Thanksgiving
Built for balance and flavor, this vegetarian spread leans on roasted roots, bright citrus, and make-ahead ease. From carrot–ginger soup to red-wine poached pears, each dish layers comfort with polish—a…
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Gretel, Forestville School’s comfort dog turns three
There’s a special someone padding down the halls of Forestville School — and she’s got four paws, a wagging tail and a talent for making everyone smile. Gretel, the school’s…
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October on the ground in Sonoma County
The mornings across Sonoma County smell like harvest—diesel, damp leaves and cider. Trucks roll before dawn not just to crush pads but to apple sheds and pumpkin patches. October is…
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Word Junkie: A harvest of words
Orillia, Ontario. CAN – October 16, 2012
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Fall farm fun
Cider pressing with Ethic Cider. Go on a Fall Farm Adventure Sept. 27 & 28 with Sonoma County Farm Trails. (Sonoma Farm Trails_
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Farm value dips as grapes and cannabis slump
Expect some candid crop talk at the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday. The newly released 2024 Sonoma County crop report is on the agenda, and it shows the…
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Potter Valley dam removal to aid salmon but imperil Lake Pillsbury wildlife
A sweeping plan to remove two century-old dams on Northern California’s Eel River promises to revive native fish runs – but it also raises alarms for the wildlife that has…
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Yogurt tubs to lawn chairs: Sonoma County’s new recycling life cycle
One year ago, Recology poured $35 million into its Santa Rosa recycling plant. With 100 conveyor belts, optical scanners, and storage bunkers the size of small houses, the Materials Recovery…
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In praise of worms
Red worms on a white background
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Sonoma County businesses team up to support Occidental Pride
Kicking off Occidental Pride 2023 with an opening ceremony by Drs. Brenda FlysWithHawks and Erica Tom. Adrian Chang photo.
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Sebastopol’s PorchFest moves to the park for 2025
Sebastopol’s free neighborhood music festival is back Sept. 13, but not on porches. After a packed debut on High Street in 2024, PorchFest organizers will shift this year’s event to…
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Ground Truth: From tomatoes to Croptober — what’s ripening this month
The weather’s not the problem. Highs in the 70s and 80s, nights in the 50s, and barely a whisper of rain — classic Sonoma September. The Harvest Moon on Sept.…