The Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) has purchased 358 acres next to Uvas Reservoir in Morgan Hill, known as Seven Oaks Hill, from private landowners for $1,075,000, in an effort to preserve critical watershed and potential public recreation land.
The purchase was made possible by funding from the California Coastal Conservancy ($250,000); the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority ($268,750); and the Resources Legacy Fund ($268,750).
The county’s Parks and Recreation Department will now manage the property as a closed area of Uvas Reservoir County Parks while evaluating the potential for acquiring the land from POST. During 2013, the County Board of Supervisors is expected to consider contributing an additional $287,500 toward the total $1,075,000 purchase price.
POST purchased Seven Oaks Hill from San Jose residents Ray and Virginia Scoffone. Ray, a retired Lockheed Martin engineer, bought the land in 1966. For the next half century, it remained untouched, with no structures built and only rough ranch roads etched along the sides of its steep, chaparral slopes. The property shares a one-mile boundary with Uvas Reservoir, which is managed by Santa Clara County Parks.
“By collaborating and leveraging funding, we can achieve greater conservation benefits including protecting wildlife linkages and water quality,” said Open Space Authority General Manager Andrea Mackenzie. “This acquisition also increases connectivity between our protected parks and open space lands, including the Authority’s Rancho Cañada del Oro Open Space Preserve to the north.”
