January 15, 2009

AVCA hopes to complete Bay Area Ridge Trail

By Lorraine Gabbert
Staff Writer

The joys of hiking along the peaceful trails through the Bay area spread through the audience at the recent Almaden Valley Community Association (AVCA) meeting.

Efforts are being made to connect the Bay Area Ridge trail (above, in red) across Santa Clara County.

Kitty Monahan, a member of the Citizen’s Advisory Committee for the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority, and Bern Smith, trail director of the Bay Area Ridge Trails Council, shared their knowledge of the history of local trails and open spaces. Central in their focus was land-purchasing efforts to complete the Bay Area Ridge Trail.

William Penn Mott, Jr. held a deep appreciation of the beauty of the Bay Area. As National Park Service director, he envisioned a continuous trail, high atop the ridge overlooking the San Francisco Bay. In 1987, in hopes of fulfilling Mott’s dream, the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council was formed. Today, through the grants, corporate sponsors and donations, about 300 of the envisioned 550 miles of open space have been acquired connecting trails spanning nine counties.

Every year, more open spaces are preserved. Mount Madonna County Park was purchased in 1999 and Alum Rock Park in 2000. The Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve connected with Lexington Reservoir in 2003. And in 2004, Almaden Quicksilver County Park was purchased. Recently acquired trails through the Coyote Creek Corridor will provide 19 miles of continuous trails.

Consisting of 98,000 acres, the East Bay Regional Park District sweeps through Alameda and Contra Costa counties and includes 20 preserves. It was founded in 1934 and three years ago initiated a Trails Challenge, awarding hikers with pins. Points of interest include tours of the Black Diamond Mines and caves below the windmills. East Bay Regional Park District receives its funding through property and parcel taxes in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.

Open Space Authority receives funding through a $12 parcel tax in Santa Clara County. In 2006, in hopes of streamlining the process and the need for a two-thirds vote, the Open Space Authority mailed its ballot requesting a $13 parcel tax to property owners in District 2. Although the state legislature approved, property rights representatives sued the Open Space Authority, questioning benefits and the way the special district was created.

According to Monahan, this $13 parcel tax has been sitting in the bank for three to four years. In San Mateo County, support for parks was garnered on every level by making both county and city parks beneficiaries of an eighth of a percent sales tax.

Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District boasts 57,000 acres and 26 open space preserves, including Mount Umunhum, the fourth-highest peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Hiking up Bald Mountain, where hang-gliders and skiers have been spotted, you can see stunning vistas. Property taxes from San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, as well as trusts and grants from Coastal Conservancies, aided in purchasing land.

Santa Clara County Open Space Authority (OSA) began in 1992 with a ballot measure, and in 1998, a $12 parcel tax was voted in. Among its joint purchases are the Santa Teresa County Park Historic Area and the Rancho Canada del Oro Open Space Preserve, whose trails run along creeks and beneath oaks and grasslands.

Bern Smith, a member of the Bay Area Ridge Trails Council, illustrates the network of trails forming the Bay Area Ridge Trail.

In addition to multi-use trails for hikers, bicyclists and equestrians, the Open Space Authority maintains properties closed for habitat protection. It is also under consideration as a permittee under the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Conservation Plan, created to preserve essential habitat for endangered species and mitigate for the environmental impacts of planned development.

Santa Clara County Parks today consists of 28 regional parks covering about 45,000 acres. In 1972, a vote passed for 1.5 cents per $100 of property taxes for parks and 80 percent of its funds purchased Santa Teresa Park. Funds also contributed toward the purchase of Almaden Quick Silver, Mount Madonna, Uvas Canyon Parks and reservoirs.

Like the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council, the Santa Clara County Parks authority is hoping to purchase land to connect all the parks with trails. Working with Mike Honda, they created a countywide trail policy map. When the county board of supervisors adopted the trail map as part of their general plan, it represented a breakthrough for making the Bay Area Ridge Trail a reality.

“For the health of our nation, cities and counties,” says Monahan, “we need to preserve the atmosphere of trees and the outdoors to have people join with nature and be invigorated. We must protect our land from being paved over. Connecting the Bay Area Ridge Trail to these open spaces is a way of uniting them together to form places where people can go and just sit and breathe. It gives you a whole new outlook at life. I want everyone to have that beauty and opportunity.”

Assemblymember Ira Ruskin will be the guest speaker at the next AVCA meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9 at the Almaden Community Center, 6445 Camden Ave.