1962
Committee for Green Foothills founded
After two long years of fighting to save the foothills from the Ampex development, this small group of environmentalists decides to take their grass-roots energy, dedication and enthusiasm to a more formal level...and Committee for Green Foothills is born.

Our first President, Wallace Stegner, writes: "There is no answer to uncontrolled growth except planning which takes into consideration the largest good of the community and the best and least destructive uses of the land."

Complementing the threatening development potential in Santa Clara County are the grandiose plans to make the San Mateo County Coast an urban metropolis. Plans are in the works to move two hundred thousand people to the Half Moon Bay area, to be served by several huge freeways. The task of monitoring and opposing these ominous plans falls to the nascent Committee for Green Foothills. The challenge is daunting and the small band of concerned environmentalists take up their swords.

The 26 founding members will remain active for many years. Indeed, several founding board members will lead a number of important environmental causes in the coming decades.