Spring Landscapes - 2021

LANDSCAPES Peninsula Open Space Trust Spring 2021

OUR RENEWED COMMITMENT Spring has returned and for many of us, this one is especially welcome. Our worlds have changed in ways that we couldn’t imagine at this time last year but, as always, green has returned over the winter to our rolling hills and even to the understory of forests blackened by the CZU Lightning Complex fire.

As someone who had to evacuate during that fire, the experience shook me both personally and as a professional working to conserve these lands. But I also experienced the strong support of friends, community members and coworkers, and I was fortunate to return home, with my house and small neighborhood intact.

While our local communities and landscapes heal, I have found inspiration in the renewed interest people have in the outdoors. We are grounding ourselves by walking in nature, restoring connections to our foodsheds through record CSA subscriptions, and calling for greater environmental action from our elected officials.

This issue of Landscapes features stories of renewal, recovery and hope. We examine the effect of fire on the land and take a closer look at how two POST-protected

properties are recovering. In Coyote Valley, we continue to build momentum toward reshaping the future of this critical and connective landscape. We celebrate an exciting new acquisition in the South Bay — soon to be part of the El Sereno Open Space Preserve — where we seek balance between human recreation and wildlife habitat. Acknowledging the incredible work of both local farms and community-based organizations during the pandemic, we also highlight the work of our partners at Potrero Nuevo Farm.

The challenges of the past year have renewed and reinforced POST’s commitment to our mission. Our staff and the conservation community at large have come together, finding strength and new knowledge in our shared experiences, and we stand ready to continue this work with your help.

With appreciation,

Benjamin Wright Director of Land Transactions

ON THE COVER

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© Matt Dolkas

Nadia Hamey, lead forester at POST-protected San Vicente Redwoods, plants Douglas fir and redwood seedlings in the aftermath of the CZU fire. Read more about this project online at OpenSpaceTrust.org/PlantingTrees.

IN THIS ISSUE

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Recovery and Regrowth Redwoods After the Fire

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Expanding a South Bay Preserve Where People and Nature Connect and Thrive

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Building Momentum The Future of Coyote Valley

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More Than Fresh Food Potrero Nuevo Farm

RECOVERY AND REGROWTH

REDWOODS AFTER THE FIRE

As Northern Californians, many of us have grown accustomed to having Mother Nature’s beauty and all the benefits she brings close by. We delight in the majesty of our mountain ranges, our breathtaking coastlines and our storied redwoods, among the oldest and grandest living things on earth. When something occurs like the record-breaking wildfire season last year, it threatens our entire mindset.

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The CZU Lightning Complex fire that ignited in POST’s working area last August burned nearly 90,000 acres in the heart of our redwood habitat. It was the biggest fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains in modern history, and it had a major impact on people, wildlife and the forest as a whole.

Coastal redwood ecosystems evolved with both natural fire and fire used by Indigenous people for millennia, in settings populated with old growth trees and native plants. But human interference, along with climate change effects like warmer and drier conditions that are longer each year, have increased and extended the risks and severity of wildfire in our forests. Combine dry conditions with the legacies of fire suppression policy and clear-cut practices that produced dense new growth, and we’re left with a system out of balance — a system where fire, when it does occur, burns at a scale and intensity not previously seen.

Even though last year’s event resulted in devastating loss, we cannot disregard the fact that fire is an essential part of our ecosystem. Lower intensity fires actually benefit our redwood forests by removing low-growing plants that can spread fire into the canopy, leading to uncontrolled blazes. They also remove competition for water and nutrients so that larger, established redwoods, already more resilient to wildfire, are able to thrive. The larger the redwood, the more habitat they provide and the more carbon they extract from the air. This type of fire also promotes the regeneration of fire-following plants, including spectacular wildflowers.

We’ve seen firsthand the resilience of our redwood forests. After the fire, they began resprouting almost immediately at two POST-protected properties: Cascade Creek and San Vicente Redwoods.

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© Teddy Miller

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CASCADE CREEK In December 2020, POST helped Save the Redwoods League (the League) protect Cascade Creek, a 564-acre property adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park containing nearly 100 acres of old-growth redwoods. This legendary forest provides habitat for endangered species like the sea-faring marbled murrelet.

Visiting Cascade Creek after the CZU fire, we were extremely heartened to discover that the old growth stands there seem to have escaped major damage. The fire appeared to burn at a lower intensity, staying close to the ground and out of the flammable treetops. Conversely, some of the upper chaparral areas burned severely, and recovery in these areas will take time. With the League, we plan to closely monitor Cascade Creek to determine where, when and how we can help the land recover.

Protecting this property, which connects Big Basin to Año Nuevo State Park and the ocean, was a significant accomplishment for redwood conservation. Its permanent preservation, despite the fire damage, is a unique opportunity to care for and restore many types of habitat, from the rocky coasts to the wind-scoured uplands of our redwood forests.

Cascade Creek before and after the blaze

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© Victoria Reeder / bottom left © Peter Cowan / top right © Matt Dolkas / bottom right © Teddy Miller

SAN VICENTE REDWOODS POST-protected San Vicente Redwoods near Davenport encompasses nearly 9,000 acres. While a significant portion of the forest burned with high severity, fire intensity varied across the property. Today, we see encouraging signs: vegetation is resprouting in many places.

Damage was less severe on a 25-acre portion that had been treated by a prescribed burn in February 2020 when compared with surrounding untreated areas — an indication that proactive forest management techniques work.

By removing excess fuel from the forest floor — whether by conducting safe, prescribed burns or creating fuel breaks that slow fire — we can help reduce the intensity of potential wildfire, protecting nearby communities as well as habitat and wildlife. We will continue using tried and true science-based approaches to manage the property, as well as explore ways to improve our practices while documenting forest and wildlife recovery.

Looking ahead, we will work with our San Vicente Redwoods partners — the League, Sempervirens Fund and the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County — to learn from this forest as a “living laboratory” and move toward safely opening a portion of the forest to the public.

With redwood forests, as with all the land we protect, we are in the business of forever. We must remember that these forests are living, evolving landscapes. It is essential to protect these places not only for the benefits they provide this year, but for hundreds of years to come.

Top: Prescribed burn at San Vicente Redwoods in February 2020 Bottom: Regrowth that began almost immediately in September 2020

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BUILDING MOMENTUM

THE FUTURE OF COYOTE VALLEY 6

At POST, we often measure success in acres or square miles. But when it comes to our aspirations for Coyote Valley, just south of San Jose, a successful outcome includes so much more than the crucial step of securing parcels of protected property. After decades of concerted efforts by many parties, we are seeing significant momentum that promises to deliver on our shared vision.

In partnership with the City of San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority (the Authority), we completed a historic 937-acre deal to protect a northern portion of the valley in November 2019. This acquisition underscored how investing in natural infrastructure for a city as large as San Jose, the tenth-largest in the U.S., makes both environmental and economic sense.

That deal spared North Coyote Valley from its outdated fate as a site for warehouses, tech campuses and continued suburban sprawl. It was the tipping point for Coyote Valley’s evolution, becoming one of the most significant and successful conservation efforts in California — and helping safeguard the region’s biodiversity by protecting this critical wildlife linkage.

Fast forward 16 months. More than 2,600 additional acres of land in and around Coyote Valley have been permanently protected by POST and our partners — including the 1,861-acre Tilton Ranch, protected in part by POST this past fall. This significant swath of land provides multiple environmental benefits, as well as recreational opportunities due to its location adjoining the Authority’s Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve.

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© Derek Neumann

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This year, in collaboration with POST, the Authority will kick off an ambitious master planning and public input process that will allow us to fulfill the long-range vision for Coyote Valley. Priorities for the plan are to:

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Improve habitat connectivity between the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Diablo Range for species such as mountain lions that are threatened by genetic isolation.

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Bring back the valley’s water resources by reestablishing a freshwater wetland complex, including restored creek habitats, thereby protecting groundwater and naturally withholding floodwater.

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Improve the quality of life for all inhabitants, including both wildlife and nearby residents.

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Establish the valley as a model for how to use natural and working lands to ensure climate resilience.

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Fully embrace our commitment to social justice and open space equity by creating opportunities for public access for all.

Along the way, it is important to make sure that our process includes and amplifies all the voices that need to be heard, such as Indigenous peoples who have roots in Coyote Valley and have inhabited and stewarded the lands in our region for millennia.

We are working with our partners, the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe and the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, to shape the valley’s future.

Shifting the vision for the future of Coyote Valley requires cooperation from a wide range of collaborators. Beyond the conservation community, many groups have efforts underway, inspired by and building on the work we have done to date: •

The Envision San Jose 2040 Task Force is working to ensure that San Jose’s long-range planning continues to prioritize conservation.

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San Jose’s General Plan task force voted to recommend designating the remaining land in North and Mid Coyote Valley for open space and agricultural use.

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South Bay residents signaled their support of open space by passing Measure T last November to ensure a sustainable, reliable source of funding for the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority.

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POST is supporting the City of San Jose in developing a Coyote Valley Conservation Credits Program to encourage fair compensation for conservation-oriented land sales in the valley.

As we turn toward spring, Coyote Valley is a splendor in green, blanketed with wildflowers — we hope you can visit the Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve and experience this remarkable landscape for yourself.

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© Andrea Laue / top right © Teddy Miller / bottom right © iStock

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E X PA N D I N G A S O U T H B AY P R E S E R V E

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On the land surrounding El Sereno mountain near Los Gatos lies El Sereno Open Space Preserve, a 1,361-acre property owned and managed by our partners at Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (Midpen). This preserve is important to the quality of life for many South Bay residents — and we’re excited to be expanding it by protecting another 182 acres. While it is a small addition, it feels good to add a key piece to our growing network of protected land.

You don’t need to have visited the preserve to appreciate it. Chances are you have enjoyed the view of its expansive open space when looking west to the ridgeline from Los Gatos, Monte Sereno and Saratoga, or perhaps when driving down Highway 280 near Highway 85.

resident and migratory birds. The property provides permanent contiguous land protection, important for wildlife who reside in this area. It also closes a gap in the Aquinas Trail (a section of the Bay Area Ridge Trail), located within the El Sereno Preserve and running through the recently purchased land.

If you have visited though, you’re familiar with the incredible vista points from trails rising more than 2,000 feet above the Santa Clara Valley floor. From the ridgeline, you can see all the way to the Lexington Reservoir, Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve and south to the entrance of Coyote Valley.

POST is the interim owner of this property as Midpen works to secure funding to acquire the land from POST later this year — a great example of how well publicly funded (Midpen) and privately funded (POST) organizations work together to achieve a common goal. Leveraging our collective assets and knowledge results in a winning combination with benefits for all in the South Bay who love and value El Sereno Open Space Preserve.

The steep hills and canyons of the new addition to the preserve contain chaparral and forested habitats suitable for mountain lions, deer, coyotes, bobcats and a variety of

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© Lindsay Peterson / top right © Teddy Miller / bottom right © iStock

Many species of wildlife need large tracts of open space devoid of human presence to thrive. At POST, we’re working to better understand these needs and create opportunities for public access that aren’t detrimental to the health of our regional ecosystems.

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MORE THAN FRESH FOOD

POTRERO NUEVO FARM For Christine Pielenz and Bill Laven, the owners of POST-protected Potrero Nuevo Farm in Half Moon Bay, starting an organic farm was always about providing healthy produce to those in need.

Today, the local community relies on their farm more than ever as it navigates the challenges of the pandemic and the aftermath of last fall’s historic wildfires.

Since 2011, Potrero Nuevo Farm has partnered with Abundant Grace Coastside Worker (AGCW), a nonprofit that supports Half Moon Bay’s low-income families and homeless residents.

Through their shared programming, residents who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness are employed in growing, tending and harvesting more than 40 varieties of fruits and vegetables on the farm — nearly all of which are donated to local low-income families.

session, we saw profound transformations in everybody,” said Eric DeBode, AGCW’s executive director. “Two guys went to rehab. One guy got a job. And one woman went back to school. It was just remarkable.” For many, time on the farm is a course-correcting, life-changing experience.

For the participants working on the land, it is a chance to build self-confidence, acquire skills for job-readiness and become part of a supportive community. “The very first

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© Drew Bird / bottom left © Drew Bird / top right © Blair Friedeman / bottom right © Drew Bird

Potrero Nuevo Farm owners Christine Pielenz and Bill Laven

This spring, Potrero Nuevo Farm and AGCW plan to add an extra day of programming that will focus on teamwork and land stewardship on the property.

Their hope is to tackle big projects like pond restoration, trail and vista area construction, invasive plant removal, erosion control and more. For Christine and Bill, it’s an exciting new chapter and one they’re eager to get underway.

In 2015, Potrero Nuevo Farm and POST worked together to place an agricultural conservation easement on the 300-acre property in order to protect it from development and ensure that it remains in agricultural production for future generations. It’s one way that POST can support this transformational community effort — and one we’re particularly proud to be a part of.

Each year, Potrero Nuevo Farm donates over 20,000 pounds of fresh, organic produce to low-income residents in Half Moon Bay.

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PROTECT OUR LOCAL LANDSCAPES Thank you for your support of POST and the local landscapes that make the Bay Area extraordinary.

There are so many ways you can contribute!

SUPPORT POST YEAR-ROUND Monthly giving is an easy, effective and affordable way to protect the lands you love.

DONATE STOCK Stock shares are a tax-smart way to give generously and make a major impact.

Learn more about these options and others at OpenSpaceTrust.org/give.

POST Tax ID Number: 94-2392007

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© Peter E. Hart

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