Happy New Year! Notice our new, shortened name, “Green Foothills”? See in the top left corner? That’s our new logo. We made these changes...
Thank the Morgan Hill City Council for Supporting Protection of Juristac
On Wednesday, the Morgan Hill City Council unanimously passed a resolution calling for Juristac/Sargent Ranch to be permanently protected...
Oil Wells in San Mateo County?
San Mateo County has some of the oldest oil fields in California dating back to the 1880s. During the past several decades, Green Foothills opposed many new oil wells proposed on prime agricultural land where farming is the principal allowable use. We supported San Mateo County’s Ordinance, enacted in the 1980s, that restricted new oil wells to “non-prime farmland” – basically in the hilly uplands. Unfortunately, improper and careless drilling methods still occurred under these strict regulations creating ponds full of drilling fluids and oil residue where many birds and even one domestic cow perished. Naturally, we supported the San...
Stand Up for Open Space and Indigenous Sacred Sites at Juristac
On Wednesday, January 15, the Morgan Hill City Council will be voting on a resolution opposing a proposed sand mine on the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band’s most sacred grounds, Juristac. Please come to a rally at 6:00 pm at Morgan Hill City Hall, and email the City Council using the form below, asking them to vote for the resolution! What’s Happening Juristac, also known as Sargent Ranch, is a 6,500-acre open space area southwest of Gilroy that is the spiritual center of Amah Mutsun Territory and a critical migration corridor for mountain lions, badgers, and other wildlife. A sand mine...
Recruiting: 8 changemakers to apply for Leadership Academy
Launching in January 2020, the Community Advocates Leadership Academy (CALA) will grow regional leaders to be a strong and effective advocate for the natural environment while making meaningful progress toward diversity, equity, and inclusion in their advocacy and public service. Our goal each year is to form a cohort of 20-25 people who represent the ethic, geographic, generational, gender, and economic diversity of the region and live in or serve San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties’ communities. Please spread the word – We are actively recruiting for 4 more applicants who live or service San Jose and 4 more applicants...
Opinion: Primary factor creating wildfire risk is land use
Until counties stop building houses in high-risk areas, threat of wildfires will continue to increase This op-ed was originally published in the Mercury News. Click this link for the original online article. As still more wildfires hit California this fall, we remain in denial about the primary cause of our disastrous wildfire risks. Climate change contributes to wildfire now and will grow even further in importance, but it is not currently the primary risk factor and not subject to denial here in climate-conscious California. Similarly, there’s no denial of the need for certain helpful actions, using different building materials and...
8 Big Moments of 2019
We asked a lot of you this year. You signed petitions, sent letters, collected signatures, attended meetings, and donated generously. You made a difference. On behalf of all of us with Committee for Green Foothills, thank you for what you made possible. Below is a timeline of our favorite moments from this year. 8 Big Moments of 2019 January 15, 2019 150+ people joined us at a Half Moon Bay City Council meeting as we submitted 4,680 signatures opposing a luxury hotel and RV park adjacent to Dunes Beach | January 22, 2019 200+ people participated at our Rally...
Protect Juristac From Sand Mine
Juristac, a critical wildlife corridor and sacred Native American landscape, is threatened by a proposed sand mining operation that would dig giant cavities hundreds of feet deep, destroying over 300 acres of habitat and blocking wildlife migration in and out of the southern end of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Juristac is also the most sacred site of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, who held ceremonies here for thousands of years. The County of Santa Clara is poised to release the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the Sargent Ranch sand mine in the coming days. We will send an Action...
People Who Give Us Hope
Photo by Bryan PartrickNuestra Casa has been a true champion of the Latino community in East Palo Alto since its founding in 2002. In standing up for environmental justice in their community and throughout the Bay Area, the non-profit has been influential in the fight for inclusionary access to green spaces throughout the region, and instrumental in creating equity policies at the Bay Conservation Development District. They recently supported the Burlingame Shoreline Park proposal, and efforts to improve San Francisquito Creek’s access for the community in East Palo Alto while maintaining its ecological integrity. Nuestra Casa offers a variety of...
Boots on the Ground Make A Difference for the Butterflies at Dunes Beach
An intrepid group of citizen scientists gathered over the weekend to collect data at our Monarch Butterfly Training event in Half Moon Bay. The event started with a presentation from Mia Monroe of the Xerces Society. Mia discussed the alarming decline of the Western Monarch butterfly and explained the importance of the data collection in helping with its potential preservation to avoid extinction. The site where the butterflies have been spotted is directly adjacent to the Dunes Beach parcel of land where Committee for Green Foothills is opposing a proposed hotel and RV park that could potentially do more damage...