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...
Author: Staff
Think globally, eat locally
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...
Forum this Sunday on conservation easements
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...
Proposed casino moved away from Santa Clara County
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...
Coastside: Bedford Falls or Pottersville?
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...
New guidebook for local open space
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)....
Stanford’s S1 “Trail” – comments are due Friday!
Santa Clara County is now accepting comments on the environmental documentation for the first of the two trails that Stanford promised to build in return for all the development it was allowed. (For background information, click here.) You can review the County’s new document here: Stanford S1 Trail Alignment Draft Supplemental EIR (scroll two-thirds of...
A chance to weigh in locally
On this election-day-eve, you might, like me, be feeling the need to act locally. Here’s an opportunity to have an effect on our local representation – on the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD) Board of Directors. With the addition of the San Mateo County Coastside to its jurisdiction, MROSD now needs to adjust the...
Are we really getting greener?
Today’s SF Chronicle has an interesting article on the growth of the so-called “green economy,” or the sales of items considered to be environmentally friendly (rather broadly defined). Some of this is no doubt due to a cultural shift. But some of it is, I’m sorry to say, just more clever marketing on behalf of...
Bicycling to sports complex gets you expelled
A recent study shows that suburban sprawl creates a car-dependent lifestyle pattern that fosters chronic diseases. Unfortunately, then, San Jose is promoting sprawl with with its recent proposed sports complex, located on a road so dangerous that children are forbidden under threat of expulsion from walking or bicycling to the athletic fields. The complex is...