Palo Alto Approves Resolution in Support of Juristac

grassy hills
The Sargent Ranch Quarry would excavate giant pits in the pristine hillsides of Juristac. Photo courtesy of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band.

Earlier this month, Palo Alto became the seventh city in our region to pass a resolution opposing the Sargent Ranch Quarry and calling for the permanent protection of Juristac, a critical wildlife linkage and sacred Indigenous landscape. We are urging Santa Clara County to heed the growing movement to defend Juristac and deny the permit for the proposed open-pit sand and gravel mine.

Juristac: A Critical Wildlife Linkage and Sacred Indigenous Landscape

Juristac lies at the heart of the ancestral lands of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. The portion of Juristac known today as “Sargent Ranch” encompasses 5,200 acres located at the southern border of Santa Clara County, southwest of Gilroy. This image shows the location of Juristac and the footprint of the proposed Sargent Ranch sand and gravel mine:

Image created by GreenInfo Network.
Image created by GreenInfo Network.

For thousands of years, the Amah Mutsun people held sacred ceremonies at Juristac, which was the home of a powerful spiritual being known as Kuksui. Juristac translates to “Place of the Big Head,” and the Big Head dances associated with Kuksui and other healing and renewal ceremonies took place here over the centuries. Juristac was a gathering place for many tribes in the area, and its spiritual and cultural significance to the Indigenous community is unique in our region. (For more details on the history and the cultural and spiritual significance of Juristac, visit ProtectJuristac.org.)

In addition, Juristac is a critical wildlife corridor that links the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Gabilan Range to the south and the Diablo Range to the east. This area has been identified as an important migration route in all habitat connectivity assessments for the region since the year 2000.

The Threat to Juristac: An Open-Pit Sand and Gravel Mine

The current owner of the property, the San Diego-based Debt Acquisition Company of America, has submitted an application to the County of Santa Clara for a sand and gravel open-pit mining operation on 400 acres of pristine hillside grassland at Juristac. According to the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR), the Sargent Ranch Quarry would operate for 30 years, include three pits hundreds of feet deep, and pump about 86,000 gallons of groundwater per day for quarry operations. The quarry would permanently alter the Juristac landscape, turning hillsides into deep pits and scarring the landscape with truck haul roads, conveyor belts, and a 14-acre processing plant. Further information about the quarry proposal can be found on Santa Clara County’s webpage about the Sargent Ranch Quarry project.

The DEIR found fourteen separate significant and unavoidable environmental impacts from the Sargent Ranch Quarry, including impacts to tribal cultural resources and to wildlife movement. As part of its analysis, the County commissioned an ethnographic study of the Sargent Ranch project area. That study documented known historic resources, including human burials dating from thousands of years ago, and determined that there is a high likelihood of currently-unknown buried prehistoric cultural sites very near to the processing plant and other active areas of the quarry.

The ecological impact of the proposed Sargent Ranch sand and gravel mine on Juristac would be especially severe for species such as mountain lions, which depend on the ability to migrate through this site for healthy population dynamics. Heavy industry such as mining causes disruption to animal movement due not only to the disturbed footprint of the project but also due to the daily noise and heavy vehicle activity, which can drive away sensitive wildlife species and prevent them from utilizing their usual migration routes. In this case, the proposed footprint of the mining operation lies directly across the main migration route for animals out of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Highway 101 is a significant barrier for wildlife movement, and there are only a few undercrossings beneath the highway where animals can travel.

Threatened California red-legged frogs live and breed in Sargent Creek, which flows directly adjacent to two of the mining pits.The streams and ponds of Juristac are habitat for threatened California tiger salamanders and western pond turtles, and steelhead trout have been observed in Tar Creek on the Juristac site. Golden eagles have been observed foraging on the hillsides, and burrowing owls have been observed in the grasslands.Thus, Juristac is rich in biodiversity and critical habitat for a wide variety of species, including threatened and endangered species.

A Growing Movement to Defend Juristac

Over 10,000 public comments were submitted to the County in response to the DEIR. Of these, the vast majority (99.9%) strongly opposed the mine and urged the County to deny the project. Fewer than 10 of the 10,000+ comments spoke in favor of the quarry.

The City of Palo Alto now joins the cities of Gilroy, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Sunnyvale, and the County of Santa Cruz, in showing public support for protecting Juristac. More than 25,000 people have already signed a petition in support of protecting Juristac, and over 100 current and former elected officials, community leaders, and nonprofit organizations have signed on to the Statement of Opposition to Sargent Ranch Quarry.

The County is currently reviewing the 10,000+ DEIR comments in preparation for releasing the final EIR. According to the County’s best estimate, the Sargent Ranch Quarry project may come to a vote before the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors by mid to late 2025. Green Foothills is monitoring this process and we will alert our supporters when there is an opportunity for the public to weigh in.

Thank you to the Palo Alto City Council for unanimously approving the resolution in support of protecting Juristac!

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