Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation leader steps down

David Bannister, executive director of the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, has stepped aside after more than five years shepherding the nonprofit environmental organization through a major growth spurt, including creation of the Great Blue Heron Hall at the Laguna Environmental Center.

Board President Raini Sugg in a statement praised Bannister for his legacy, which includes “developing a strong staff, great community partnerships and a Laguna that has benefited from the conservation and restoration programs during his tenure.”

The board embarks on a search for a new director in the midst of its 25th anniversary celebration, a series of events throughout the year aimed at drawing more public attention to ongoing efforts to conserve and inspire public appreciation of the Laguna de Santa Rosa.

Bannister was serving on the board of directors when he agreed six years ago to take over management for six months to help the organization stabilize.

He wound up staying more than five years.

Bannister is leaving to return to his profession as a commercial business broker, in which he had worked for 14 years before taking over the helm of the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation. An outdoorsman himself, he previously owned The Nature Store, a nature-oriented gift store at Coddingtown Mall.

The Laguna de Santa Rosa is regarded as the county’s richest area of wildlife habitat, and the most biologically diverse. The Laguna drains a 254-square-mile watershed which encompasses nearly the entire Santa Rosa Plain and spreads into parts of Windsor, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Sebastopol and Forestville. Encompassing more than 30,000 acres, it is an important stopover on the Pacific Flyway and home to a wide variety of plants and wildlife, from more than 200 species of birds to endangered salmon, steelhead, salamanders, mountain lion, bobcat, coyote, mink, badger and river otter.