Peninsula Open Space Trust: 2019 – 2020 Impact Report

IMPACT REPORT Peninsula Open Space Trust 2019 – 2020 Fiscal Year

PROGRESS IN THE FACE OF CHANGE As I write this, the 2019 – 2020 fiscal year seems like light-years ago. We’ve faced so much in recent months: the pandemic, wildfires and increased activism against racial injustice. It will take quite a while for all of us to understand the impacts of these events on our communities and the work that we do.

However, reflecting on the last fiscal year and all that we accomplished provides much-needed inspiration.

This report celebrates those accomplishments, made possible by your generous support.

Fiscal year 2020 was a year of firsts. We completed our most complex land transaction ever in North Coyote Valley. This multi-party deal preserved 937 acres and was a critical step toward reestablishing the essential wildlife corridor between the Santa Cruz Mountains and Diablo Range, ensuring the genetic diversity of species of all types throughout the region.

We also preserved working lands by acquiring Gordon Ridge and Rising Acres Farm earlier in the year. And, our continued investment in farm infrastructure by constructing affordable farmworker housing, improving barns and other key structures, and building wells and reservoirs, means that several farms were better equipped to meet this year’s challenges. cover

© Teddy Miller 2019 / facing page: top © Andrea Laue 2020, center © Derek Neumann 2014, bottom © Andrea Laue 2019

Finally, my pride in our fire resilience work at San Vicente Redwoods is bittersweet: Though we implemented controlled burns and shaded fuel breaks, the CZU Lightning Complex fire’s intensity overtook the property. This loss and the losses suffered by so many this year weigh heavily on us, but they also bring opportunities to learn. We are an adaptive organization, and the fire’s aftermath will give us a chance to evaluate our approach and evolve.

These projects join a range of fundraising and operational firsts contained in this report. With your support, we will emerge from the many recent challenges stronger, smarter and more committed than ever to building a resilient future for our region.

This gives me great hope, and I look forward to sharing our progress with you in the year ahead.

Warm regards,

Walter T. Moore President

P.S. You’ll find more stories and our financial information at OpenSpaceTrust.org/ImpactReport.

BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS

Welcomed over

1,800 new POST donors

Scored

100 out of 100 on Charity Navigator in the Finance & Accountability category

Protecting and caring for land is key to POST’s mission. But without donors, supportive community members, partners, years of experience and business practices that evolve with the times, our mission would be extraordinarily hard to fulfill. Here are some of the highlights from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020:

on our social media channels in one week with our coyote and badger video

of total land protected over POST’s history

Surpassed

Hosted over

100,000

8,600 attendees

Invested in a contract with Promise54 to prioritize our

email community members

at in-person and virtual POST events

Reached over

4 million viewers

Exceeded

79,500 acres

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts

L A N D C O N S E R V AT I O N H I G H L I G H T S

1,750 ACRES PROTECTED For POST, protecting land is only the first step. Last year, not only did we make significant strides toward expanding and filling in our region’s network of protected open space, we also conducted restoration and stewardship projects that bring about all the benefits the land has to offer.

LAND TRANSACTIONS • Established the nearly 1,000-acre North Coyote Valley Transferred land to our partners for long-term care and public access planning: Conservation Area in partnership with the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority (the Authority) and the City of San Jose • Gordon Ridge to Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District • Acquired Calero Lakeview, providing an opportunity to add its 136 acres to Calero County Park

• Tunitas Creek Beach to San Mateo County Parks (SMCP)

• Protected Uvas South, 347 acres of high-quality wildlife habitat in the South Bay

• 320 acres of mature redwoods at Gazos Creek to Sempervirens Fund

• Purchased a majority interest in the 600-acre South Cowell Ranch to better protect it through enhanced conservation easements and create opportunities for public access

• Fisher Flats to the City of San Jose as part of the North Coyote Valley Conservation Area

• Preserved Gordon Ridge, 540 acres of rangeland in scenic San Gregorio, along with 38 acres of nearby farmland called Rising Acres © Teddy Miller 2020 / facing page: left © Teddy Miller 2019, center © Matt Dolkas 2020, right © Matt Dolkas 2018

• 87 acres at Wavecrest to Coastside Land Trust

STEWARDSHIP AND OTHER MILESTONES These are some of the most impactful projects we carried out in order to improve the lands we protect: • Coordinated and completed a letter of intent from 11 organizations for a long-term Bay to Sea Trail plan • With SMCP, began an early-stage public input process for Tunitas Creek Beach

• Captured rare footage of a coyote and a badger traveling together as part of our Southern Santa Cruz Mountains Wildlife Connectivity Study

At San Vicente Redwoods: • Built a new bridge at Cloverdale Coastal Ranches providing • Worked with the Amah Mutsun Native Stewardship Corps vital access to four farms and ranching operations and CAL FIRE to collect fuel on the forest floor and do a controlled burn • Repaired the barn at Johnston Ranch to improve functionality for horses, hay storage, a workshop • Conducted a 25-acre controlled burn with CAL FIRE along and drainage Empire Grade Road • Built a new reservoir and two housing units for farmworkers and their families at Butano Farms • With the Authority, began restoration work on Fisher Creek in Coyote Valley

BRI DGE AT CLOV ERDA LE COA S TA L R A NCHES

• Worked with volunteers to strategically cut fence gaps at Filice Ranch, allowing animals to move freely through the landscape

A M A H MU T SUN N AT I V E STEWARDSHIP CORPS

T UNI TA S CREEK BE ACH: FUTURE PUBLIC PARK

E X PA N D I N G O U R R E A C H

A COYOTE AND A BADGER WIN HEARTS In February, we experienced the kind of positive attention many organizations only dream of: Our video of a coyote and a badger went viral on social media, attracting the interest of everyone from National Geographic to CNN to Stephen Colbert. The footage was captured as part of our study documenting wildlife movement between mountain ranges in the South Bay.

Š Pathways for Wildlife 2019

OUR WILDLIFE WORK GARNERED WORLDWIDE INTEREST In the video, a coyote and a badger crossed under a road together using a culvert. Watch the video and read more about the wildlife connectivity study we’re conducting with Pathways for Wildlife at OpenSpaceTrust.org/ Coyote-and-Badger.

Ultimately, this footage gave POST an exciting opportunity to share an important component of our work with those who may not otherwise know about us: It increased awareness and appreciation for the importance

Media reach potential:

Featured in over

2.6 BILLION+ PEOPLE

670 NEWS STORIES

OUR AUDIENCE SURGED IN THE SPAN OF ONE WEEK

MORE THAN DOUBLED POST’s Instagram followers;

increased followers on Twitter by 43

%

and Facebook by 21%

Over 4 MILLION video views on POST’s social media channels

of wildlife linkages and crossings. It also allowed us to broaden our potential base of supporters — people like you who make what we do possible.

Approximately 300 new donors and

120 new email subscribers

600%

increase in visitors to our website

PROTECT OPEN SPACE YOUR WAY From making monthly donations to making gifts from your donor-advised fund, there are many ways to support POST and contribute to our extraordinary open spaces. Here are a couple of options to consider:

DONATE STOCK Stock shares are a tax-smart way to give generously.

MAKE POST A BENEFICIARY Include a gift for POST in your will or update your IRA beneficiaries.

Learn more about these options and others at OpenSpaceTrust.org/Ways-to-Give, or contact Jeanine Crider at (650) 352-6312.

POST is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and our taxpayer identification number is 94-2392007. © Andrea Laue 2020

PENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST 222 HIGH STREET PALO ALTO, CA 94301 (650) 854-7696 OPENSPACETRUST.ORG

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