Palo Alto environmental group buys three farms for $7.8 million

Hoping to restore wildlife and preserve farming in a part of the Bay Area that has seen growing maturation pressure in up-to-date years a Palo Alto environmental group declared Monday that it has completed the purchase of acres of farmland along the perimeter of Santa Clara and San Benito counties for million The three contiguous properties are located on the east side of Highway about miles south of Gilroy along the Pajaro River The Peninsula Open Space Trust the non-profit group that bought the farms from willing sellers declared it plans to restore areas along the river for birds fish and other wildlife while continuing to lease much of the acreage for farming Since the trust which has been funded over the years by large Silicon Valley donors like the Packard Hewlett and Moore foundations and other wealthy Bay Area benefactors has preserved acres of open space an area three times the size of the city of San Francisco mostly in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties Although certain of the lands it has preserved have become parks and open space preserves on the San Mateo County coast and in the Skyline-Summit area the group is increasingly buying farms and ranches in and around southern Santa Clara County Those include properties in Coyote Valley south of San Jose and larger areas like parts of Sargent Ranch along Highway south of Gilroy The goal is to keep properties on Silicon Valley s southern edges as working agricultural land There s a lot of rise pressure along the corridor from Santa Clara County to San Benito County disclosed Marian Vernon wildlife linkages undertaking manager with the Peninsula Open Space Trust Our concern is that increased improvement there could make it more hard for animals to move from the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Diablo Range We want to retain the connection Preserving undeveloped open space for both agriculture and wildlife habitat is super valuable The Peninsula Open Space Trust an environmental group based in Palo Alto stated Monday Oct that it has purchased three farms totaling acres for million about three miles south of Gilroy along the Pajaro River near the Santa Clara-San Benito county line Photo Peninsula Open Space Trust The three adjacent properties are the -acre Bloomfield South Farm located in Santa Clara County which the trust purchased for million the -acre Ojeda Ranch in San Benito County which the trust purchased for million and the -acre Gonzales Ranch which straddles the frontier of both counties and the trust purchased for All the funding came from the trust s donors Vernon commented The first two properties were purchased from farming families The third was purchased from the Nature Conservancy another conservation group that bought it from farmers in restored a -foot buffer along the river for wildlife and rented the rest to a rancher who grazes the property with beef cattle Tomatoes and hay as of now grow on the Ojeda Ranch On the Bloomfield South Farm celery beets snap peas cilantro and dill are grown Kathy Fehlman whose family owned Ojeda Ranch for years declared she is pleased it will continue as open space wildlife habitat and agriculture It s an enduring legacy that is a really great outcome for everyone she revealed Vernon declared the trust will work for the next several years to develop restoration plans for the properties to enhance wetlands encourage trees and other plants and make the landscape more attractive for wildlife while also maintaining rental agreements with farmers currently working the properties During wet winters the Pajaro River floods frequently both near its headwaters in the area where the properties were purchased and farther downstream near Watsonville where the greater part new flood in March displaced nearly people and caused damage to homes and more than other buildings including classrooms at Pajaro Middle School This area forms a seasonal lake in wet winters Vernon stated of the three farms the trust purchased The water sits there in the flood plain If it was paved over with concrete it would send that water downstream and exacerbate the flooding in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties The area also is populated with considerable wildlife she added including coyotes foxes bobcats and other animals along with the occasional steelhead trout Every time I go out there I see northern harriers she reported There are kestrels barn owls red-winged blackbirds Red-tailed hawks It can be very wet and green out there In the winter sometimes there are ducks Finding a balance between improvement farming and wildlife preservation has become an increasingly high-profile issue in the southern Santa Clara-northern San Benito County area in new years Last November voters in San Benito County a mostly rural area where towns like Hollister and San Juan Bautista are becoming bedroom communities for Silicon Valley commuters approved Measure A a slow-growth measure aimed at curbing Silicon Valley sprawl Under Measure A approval by San Benito County voters is now required before land zoned for farms or ranches there can be developed It was endorsed by Save Mount Diablo Green Foothills and other environmental groups and opposed by the San Benito County Farm Bureau developers and specific labor unions Meanwhile in June the Peninsula Open Space Trust spent million to buy acres of Sargent Ranch a vast -acre property south of Gilroy where the owners Sargent Ranch Partners LLC based in San Diego had proposed to build a gravel quarry sparking a protracted land use battle Last October the trust also spent million to purchase another acres of the ranch from the investor group It now owns nearly two-thirds of the entire property and is in discussions about the future of the rest The Peninsula Open Space Trust an environmental group based in Palo Alto declared Monday Oct that it has purchased three farms totaling acres for million about three miles south of Gilroy along the Pajaro River near the Santa Clara-San Benito county line Photo Peninsula Open Space Trust