As executive director of a local environmental advocacy group, Willow Glen resident Megan Fluke has a vision of a region where wildlife thrives and communities live in harmony with nature. She describes Coyote Valley, a vast stretch of land that links the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Mount Diablo Range, as such a region.
“This area is in a major flood plain and if urban development is allowed, that would endanger lives and property in the future,” she said. “It would also destroy native habitat.”
Fluke, who heads Palo Alto-based nonprofit Green Foothills, points to the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority as stewards of Coyote Valley. The authority in August agreed to put up $5 million toward the $93 million purchase of 937 acres of land in Coyote Valley. The city of San Jose agreed to pay $46 million, and the Peninsula Open Space Trust agreed to contribute $42 million to complete the purchase from leading Silicon Valley developers Brandenburg Properties and the Sobrato Organization. San Jose will retain ownership of 296 acres, and the rest will go eventually to the open space authority, which operates public open space preserves on both sides of Coyote Valley.
The city’s contribution came from Measure T, a $650 million bond measure approved by 71 percent of San Jose voters last November that included up to $50 million to preserve Coyote Valley.
The Measure T on this November’s ballot, put forward by the open space authority, asks voters to continue a $24-per-parcel tax, set to expire on June 30, 2029, on an ongoing basis. The tax is estimated to raise close to $8 million a year toward preserving open space.
“I hope voters support Measure T,” Fluke wrote in a recent letter to the editor. “With the recent protections, land to open up to the public and more work to do, we need the open space authority to be funded.”
According to general manager Andrea Mackenzie, a Cambrian area resident, the open space authority supports local communities in many ways, including educational programs. They provided a grant to the Campbell School District to develop edible native habitat gardens jointly with the nonprofit Living Classrooms and helped fund Bill’s Backyard, an outdoor learning area at the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose.
The authority also funds efforts to teach people the benefit of growing their own food. They provide funding to urban farms like Veggielution, located at Emma Prusch Park in East San Jose, and community gardens in San Jose, Campbell, Milpitas, Morgan Hill and Santa Clara.
Connecting local trails is also on the authority’s agenda. It has provided funding for the development and maintenance of the Three Creeks Trail that will connect the Los Gatos Creek Trail to the Guadalupe River.
“Nature is the great equalizer,” Mackenzie said. “Regardless of where you live, your age, income or ethnicity, we want to provide equitable connections to nature.”
Farms are one such connection. The authority provides funding for educational programs and organic farming at Martial Cottle Farm, on 180 acres nestled between South San Jose and Almaden Valley.
“Protecting farmland is indispensable and is the foundational piece of a healthy food system,” Fluke said. “It is also a critical part of climate resilience. Protecting soils sequesters carbon. Greenhouse gas emissions increase dramatically if an acre of farmland is converted to urban use.”
For more information about the parcel tax renewal, visit https://www.openspaceauthority.org/community/measure-q/measure-t.html.
