In the 1960s, Palo Alto and other cities in Santa Clara County were poised to spread west from the shores of San Francisco Bay and climb the slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains. But, in 1971, the City of Palo Alto commissioned a study showing that it would be cheaper for taxpayers to buy the hillsides as open space than extend urban services into these mountains. In addition to fiscal sanity, the voters of Santa Clara County also recognized the intrinsic value of open space preservation as demonstrated by their approval in 1972 of the Midpeninsula Open Space District.

The Sierra Azul Preserve protects 17,000 acres of mountainous terrain only 15 miles south of downtown San Jose.

Although it now covers portions of three counties, the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District initially applied only to northwestern Santa Clara County. As a special district funded primarily by a dedicated portion of property taxes, the District typically acquires land in fee and manages it in nature preserves accessible to the public. The District now controls over 57,000 acres of land in all three counties. Of that total, roughly 30,000 acres of land and over 100 miles of trails are located within the 11 preserves in San Mateo County. The largest of these preserves, protects over 17,000 acres of rugged wilderness in the Sierra Azul (“Blue Range”) mountains only 15 miles south of downtown San Jose. In an enterprising move, the Open Space District bought the historic Picchetti Ranch as one of its preserves and leases it to the Sunrise Winery, where visitors can enjoy a wine tasting after sampling the trails.

In 1993, the California Legislature created the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority to preserve land as open space and greenbelt in the cities of Campbell, Milpitas, Morgan Hill, Santa Clara and San Jose as well as areas in southern and eastern unincorporated Santa Clara County that are not within the Midpeninsula Open Space District. Funding comes primarily from an annual benefit assessment. As of 2006, the District owned 9,533 acres and held easements on another 2,535 acres.

Portions of Castle Rock, Henry Coe and Pacheco state parks protect over 50,000 additional acres of open space in Santa Clara County. Adjoining Henry Coe State Park is Canada de Los Osos Ecological Reserve, a 4,200-acre property protected by The Nature Conservancy and transferred to the California Department of Fish and Game for the protection of rare plants and animals.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service protects a portion of the San Francisco Bay wetlands in the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, the country’s first urban national wildlife refuge. The City of Palo Alto has created its own 1,940-acre Baylands Preserve on San Francisco Bay with 15 miles of hiking trails meandering through both tidal and freshwater habitats that shelter waterfowl and wading birds, including the endangered California clapper rail.

The Santa Clara County Parks system protects an additional 45,000 acres in 28 parks including 4,147-acre Almaden Quicksilver County Park which was once the site of the most productive mercury mine on the continent. Using a 34-mile trail system, hikers here can witness one of the best wildflower displays in the region and also see remnants of the bygone mining era, including the settlements that once were home to over 1,800 miners.

Over 141,000 acres are already protected in Santa Clara County parks and preserves thanks largely to inter-governmental cooperation and committed conservation organizations. But credit should also go to the citizens and tax payers of Santa Clara County, who recognize that they have a unique opportunity to protect some natural treasures while they still exist. These are people who apparently react favorably to heartfelt appeals for open space preservation like the following sentiments presented to the voters in Measure R, the Midpeninsula Open Space District ballot measure.

Open space is our green backdrop of hills. It is rolling grasslands - cool forests in the Coast Range – orchards and vineyards in the sun. It is the patch of grass between communities where children can run. It is uncluttered baylands where water birds wheel and soar, where blowing cordgrass yields its blessings of oxygen, where the din of urban life gives way to the soft sounds of nature. It is the serene, unbuilt, unspoiled earth that awakens all our senses and makes us whole again … it is room to breathe.