From the President...
by Mary Davey

Wonderful Committee for Green Foothills members!

Today CGF includes more than 1300 families living throughout the greater Bay Area, and even a few as far away as Washington, Connecticut and Hawaii. Regardless of where you live, each and every one of you has a connection to the beauty and irreplaceable resources of open space in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, plus a commitment to maintaining high environmental standards in our communities.

Our members' shared dedication to our work has been a mainstay for the Committee during this year of accomplishment, growth and - inevitably - change. In 2003, your support allowed us to bring on additional staff in order to grow our core programs. Now, in both Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties our Legislative Advocates are working hard to defend local lands from poorly planned (and, in some cases, illegal) development, from Morgan Hill to Half Moon Bay.

We are also pressing forward with visionary work to protect open space over the long haul: supporting the expansion of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, working on a proposed ordinance to protect streams in Santa Clara County, and several other projects that take a proactive approach to land use.

The growth in the Committee's programs has brought with it other changes. This summer, Zoe Kersteen-Tucker made the difficult decision to step down from her position as our Executive Director so that she could spend more time with her family. Zoe's service, first as CGF's President and later as our Executive Director, has been a high point in the Committee's growth and effectiveness. It is a tribute to Zoe's exceptional leadership that this position has become far more than the part-time job it was when she started. We thank Zoe for her remarkable vision, professionalism and leadership, and welcome her back to our volunteer ranks.

The Committee's Board of Directors has formed an active Search Committee to find a new, full-time Executive Director to lead the Committee -- and the Green Foothills Foundation -- into the future. We are extremely fortunate to be working closely with the INNW Fund, which over the last several years has contributed invaluable professional guidance, wisdom, imagination and financial support to both our organizations. We are also fortunate to have Board member Peter LaTourrette working closely with our dedicated professional staff to ensure that our programs continue uninterrupted.

The Board is also examining how the Committee can become even more effective. We are researching ways to strengthen our programs, involve our membership even more in our work and become more streamlined. I know that the strong leadership of our entire Board of Directors, together with the enthusiastic and loyal support of our members, will bring us through this change and help the Committee to become even stronger.

Technological change has already dramatically improved our ability to protect open space. Less than a decade ago, all of the Committee's communications with our members were via mail - expensive, resource-intensive and sometimes woefully slow. Today, we are able to send up-to-the-minute email action alerts to nearly 1,000 people each week. We also regularly update our website with news items, action alerts and a number of valuable resources for activists.

These cost-effective electronic tools let us get the word out almost immediately when we need your help on an open space issue - and more and more of you are speaking up. Best of all, we hear from County Supervisors, Planning Commissioners, City Councils and other decisionmakers that your voices are being heard, and they are making a difference.

We all know that the most constant force in life is change. The environment teaches us this lesson daily. Fortunately, the constant is the Committee's great strength: its membership and our grassroots commitment to the local environment.

From our beginnings in 1962, Committee for Green Foothills has depended upon our members to be our community advocates, advisors and support system. You have always risen to the occasion with spirit, enthusiasm and effectiveness.

Thank you for being part of our passion for open space, our citizen activism and our legacy of environmental protection throughout the Peninsula, Coast and South Bay.