It’s an exciting time for land conservation in the South Bay. On the heels of one of our largest projects to date saving San Jose’s Coyote Valley in November 2019, we were fortunate to protect another 347-acres of high-quality wildlife habitat, building upon our growing network of protected open space in the region.
We’re calling this property “Uvas South” as it sits on the southwestern corner of the Uvas Reservoir. An innovative partnership made this conservation project possible — POST and the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency (Habitat Agency) worked together to leverage our collective assets and move the needle for local land conservation, with additional support from Santa Clara County Parks (County Parks). It’s the type of collaboration that POST thrives on and looks forward to doing more of in the future.
The property was purchased by the Habitat Agency, with POST contributing half of the acquisition cost. The Habitat Agency will hold title to the property and County Parks will eventually take over ownership upon approval of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, at which time a conservation easement will be placed on the land. It’s a team effort and a collective win for everyone in the Bay Area.
By protecting this land, County Parks is now one step away from filling a gap that would link Uvas Reservoir County Park with Mount Madonna County Park. This would create exciting opportunities for new South Bay trails. Imagine being able to hike continuously from Uvas Reservoir to the top of Mt Madonna — that vision is now close to becoming a reality.
And we are particularly excited about safeguarding another important piece of core wildlife habitat in the southern Santa Cruz Mountains (one of our top priorities). By protecting and connecting habitat for our treasured native species, we ensure that wildlife have the room they need for survival, especially as climate change forces plants and animals from their existing habitats. It’s another successful step toward protecting the health of our regional ecosystem.
Clearly, we’ve found a winning formula. By collaborating with our public agency partners, we are accomplishing so much good for the Bay Area, building upon an already extraordinary network of protected open space.
Thank you for your continued support and interest in this work.
About Post
Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) protects open space on the Peninsula and in the South Bay for the benefit of all. Since its founding in 1977, POST has been responsible for saving more than 87,000 acres as permanently protected land in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties. Learn more