The Santa Clara County Open Space Authority purchased the
Nielson Ranch on Thursday, completing a $7.1 million preservation
deal that also included buying the Doan Ranch in January.
Gilroy – The Santa Clara County Open Space Authority purchased the Nielson Ranch on Thursday, completing a $7.1 million preservation deal that also included buying the Doan Ranch in January.
Together, the adjacent properties total 702 acres east of Gilroy and north of Highway 152.
“We bought both of them as part of the same vision,” said Lark Burkhart, spokeswoman for the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority. “We wanted to create open space that protects habitat and ranching in the area.”
The numerous vegetation types as well as San Ysidro Creek, which flows through both properties, provide habitat for a diverse array of plant and animal species. Additionally, because the ranches are still used for cattle grazing, the Open Space Authority values the land as part of Santa Clara Valley’s cultural heritage.
“The acquisition will further the open space authority’s efforts to protect ranchlands and habitat for the movement of wildlife from the valley floor to the Diablo Range,” said Patrick Congdon, general manager of the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority, in a news release. “Cattle grazing has occurred on the property for many years now, and will be a critical part of our management plan.”
The open space authority manages more than 10,000 acres of open space in different areas of the county. With each property, questions of habitat and resource protection, public access, and fire safety all must be addressed.
“The primary goal of the preserves is to maintain their conservation values, by preserving watersheds, views and critical habitats,” Burkhart said. “Recreation is a secondary goal … we want the public to have access but first we want to form a complete understanding of its natural, historical and infrastructure resources.”
Ultimately, proposed facilities for parking and trail use will go through a formal planning process involving neighbors and the public, according to the authority.
The land purchase is likely to be the authority’s last one for a while as a pending legal challenge to the agency’s 2001 property tax assessment now goes before the California Supreme Court. The Santa Clara County Taxpayers Association brought the legal challenge. The Superior Court and the Court of Appeal previously ruled in favor of the open space authority’s assessment on private properties to fund its activities.
The agency had a $4.4 million budget last year.
Since its first purchase in 1999, the authority has protected 13,035 acres in Santa Clara County at a combined cost of $37.2 million. The organization is an independent special district created in 1993 to help preserve, protect and manage urban and rural open space in the areas of Campbell, Milpitas, Santa Clara, San Jose, Morgan Hill, Gilroy and South County. The agency is governed by a board of seven directors elected to four-year terms.
