Community briefs

Cardboard Recycling
Sonoma County Resource Recovery, Windsor’s waste hauler has made available four locations for residents and businesses to drop off oversized or excess cardboard, free of charge. The blue cardboard dumpsters are for cardboard only, no trash or other recyclable materials will be accepted. Please remember to break down your cardboard boxes to optimize space.  
The cardboard dumpsters will be available year-round and can be found at the following locations:
Windsor Corporation Yard: 8400 Windsor Road
Town Parking Lot: At the corner of Windsor River Road and Windsor Road
Town Parking Lot: At the Huerta Gym adjacent to the Town Green and library 
Windsor Unified School District Sites: Mattie Washburn Elementary, 75 Pleasant Ave. and Windsor Middle School, 9500 Brooks Road South.
For additional recycling needs and Holiday Tree recycling visit Sonoma County Resource Recovery at www.sonomacorr.com or Zero Waste Sonoma at www.zerowastesonoma.gov .
Streets to Creeks Cleanup
Put on your walking shoes, pick up a bag or two and help clean the streets and creeks in town before the rains come.
Hosted by the Town of Windsor Storm Water Quality Program, this social distancing creek clean up event, aims to draw Windsorites outdoors Saturday, Sept. 26 to clean up the streets or creek near your house or business.
Rain and wind carry trash, litter and debris from street to storm drains and directly to our creeks that lead to the Russian River. Citizens can work together to pick up trash before it makes its way into the watershed.
The creek clean-up event will run from Sept. 21 through 26 and begins at the Public Works Department Administrative Building, located at 8400 Windsor Road, at the south parking lot. Look for the box and pick up one or more bright orange garbage bags, spend a few hours cleaning an area you are comfortable in. When you are done email the storm water coordinator with the location of the corner you will leave the trash bags, so our Public Works Department staff can pick up the bags and dispose of them. st********@to***********.com
Some rules:
• Use proper personal protection: use gloves, wear good thick soled shoes, use a trash picker if you have one and wear your mask
• No group larger than 10 people
• Do not pick up any tires, needles or filled bottles
• Stay out of traffic
• Please obey all requirements in the Sonoma County Public Health Emergency Isolation Order for COVID-19
• Masks are required if you can’t safely stay at least 6-feet apart from those not in your household, and
• Please stay within the town limits
Free COVID Testing
Sonoma County will be offering free COVID testing on Friday, Sept. 18 from 2 to 4 p.m. at Alliance Medical Center in Healdsburg, 1381 University Ave. No appointment is needed, and no IS, social security number or medical insurance is required.
New hiking trail in Santa Rosa
As the air begins to clear those looking to spend time outdoors can do so at a new trail south of Windsor, in Santa Rosa.
Hikers, cyclists and equestrians have new access to a section of wilderness in Sonoma Valley’s Mayacamas Mountains, thanks to a recently constructed trail now open to the public at Hood Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve.
Known as the Lawson Trail, the approximately two-mile trail winds from lush creek canyons, up through oak and chaparral woodland and across exposed ridgelines, showcasing scenic views of the Napa hills to the east and Sonoma Valley to the west.
The new trail skirts the ridge dividing Santa Rosa and Sonoma creeks, giving visitors a sense of a whole watershed, with views to the bays to the west and the wilderness of Hood Mountain and adjacent Sugarloaf Ridge State Park to the east.
The Lawson Trail is the first part of a multi-phased master plan to develop a 4-mile trail network linking the property to the rest of the 2,000-acre park, including connections to Hood Mountain Trail at the Azalea Creek picnic and camp area to the north.
The Lawson Trail is reached from Hood Mountain Regional Park’s Pythian Road entrance at 1450 Pythian Road, Santa Rosa. The trail begins approximately 1 mile from the Pythian parking lot, from the Lower Johnson Ridge Trail. Park hours are 8 a.m. to sunset daily. Parking is free for Regional Park members; $7 for non-members. Visit the park webpage at SonomaCountyParks.org for more information.