Sonoma County officials are crafting long-range plans to renovate the aging public marinas at Bodega Bay.

Sonoma County’s Regional Parks Department has received a $1 million state grant to help purchase 297 acres in the Mark West Creek watershed north of Santa Rosa. The land is eyed for a future park and open space preserve, along with 800 acres the county has already purchased in the area.

Under stormy skies, a long-awaited trail along the eastern side of Laguna de Santa Rosa got its public debut Friday. Several dozen park supporters and local government officials huddled against intermittent sprinkles and unveiled the new 2.4-mile network at its southern trailhead off Highway 12 just east of Sebastopol.

The long-awaited rollout of a regional park on Taylor Mountain, one of Sonoma County’s largest swaths of open space overlooking Santa Rosa, is starting to take shape.

Support for Sonoma County’s regional parks has reached new heights, with significant increases in annual pass purchases, revenue from day use and donations to sustain operations.

The stunning revelation Friday that the California Parks Department had a hidden surplus of nearly $54 million while dozens of state parks were threatened with closure brought angry condemnation from parks advocates and an abrupt end to a Sonoma County plan to raise more park revenue through a sales tax increase. ‘It’s just completely the most devastating news that I can imagine,’ said Caryl Hart, Sonoma County’s regional parks director.

A one-year agreement with the state allowing Sonoma County to take over operations of Annadel State Park, the popular 5,000-acre reserve in east Santa Rosa, was approved by supervisors Tuesday.

Sebastopol’s veterans building would get a new operator and a local nonprofit group would get a new home as part a deal being voted on today by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.

A community effort to keep Annadel State Park open that includes a $100,000 donation from philanthropist Henry Trione is expected to get a big boost today from Sonoma County’s Board of Supervisors.

It’ll cost a little more to ride a Sonoma County bus or hold a picnic in a regional park following Tuesday’s approval of a slate of fee increases meant to offset the county’s budget deficit. With little opposition, the Board of Supervisors approved hundreds of hikes, including raising the cost of adult bus fare by 5.8 percent and increasing park day-use fees from $6 to $7.