Author: Staff

It’s not often that the folks in Washington, DC take action on something specific to CGF territory, but this happened yesterday when the Senate passed a bill sponsored by Senator Diane Feinstein that would add the Rancho Corral de Tierra property to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, part of the National Parks Service. CGF...

The state Supreme Court has ruled that the California Coastal Commission is lawful, and that its previous decisions should stand. The Commission was challenged in court by those who wished to end the group’s excellent work to protect our coast and who claimed that the method of appointing commissioners was unconstitutional. The ruling, which was...

For years now, the bluff below the Ritz Carlton hotel in Half Moon Bay has been supported by an illegal 270-foot-long seawall, created by riprap (hunks of granite) placed in an attempt to keep the green for the golf course’s vaunted 18th hole from eroding into the Pacific. As Coastsider.com reports, Ocean Colony Partners has...

The front page of today’s Mercury News has wonderful news: the Pigeon Point Lighthouse is, as of today, in the hands of the California Parks Department. This landmark building is the site of a long-fought battle in which CGF and others opposed the development at Pigeon Point of a bed and breakfast on Whaler’s Cove,...

The Pilarcitos Creek watershed isn’t all that large, but it drains the western slope of the foothills from Skyline to Half Moon Bay, and thus brings quite a lot of water to the Pacific. The debate about appropriate use of all this water has been going on for more than 140 years. Today its management...

There’s been quite a bit of buzz around David Mas Masumoto’s recent book, “Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on My Family Farm,” which describes the passions and challenges of this third-generation farmers working in the San Joaquin Valley. Masumoto’s book has been selected for the Mercury News’ “Silicon Valley Reads” program (note: this program’s...

Today’s the last day to register for an interesting-looking community forum put together by the League of Women Voters, and cosponsored by CGF (among others), Conservation Easements: Land Preservation Tools for Local Communities. The afternoon will include two panel discussions on conservation easements and open space easements, two important tools communities can use to protect...

In somewhat-good news for controlling sprawl in Santa Clara County, a proposal to place a Native American casino right across the border in San Benito County has been moved further south, to just north of Hollister. The original location was in an environmentally-sensitive floodplain and wildlife migration corridor shared between the two counties, and was...

Last week’s Half Moon Bay Review includes a thought-provoking editorial by Montara resident Barry Parr, who compares alternate realities for the San Mateo County Coast. This is just the kind of long-range thinking that inspires those of us at Committee for Green Foothills. As the editorial says, together we CAN create the positive vision provided...

We just learned of a new guidebook to the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District‘s 25 preserves and 200+ miles of trails. “Peninsula Tales & Trails” by David Weintraub ($19.95 from WestWinds Press, available at Kepler’s) promises a preserve locator map, historical, cultural and anecdotal material, including a table with trail use info (bikes, dogs, horses)....