Coastal wetlands are too valuable to lose. They filter our water, help protect coastal communities from floods and sea level rise, and preserve biodiversity. That is why Green Foothills speaks up for protection of wetlands and the wildlife that depends on them whenever development is proposed that may encroach into required buffer zones. Wetlands Provide Nature-Based Solutions Coastal wetlands are stretches of land near the beach or the Bay that are saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Sometimes called marshes, swamps, or bogs, wetlands provide tremendous benefits for coastal ecosystems and people. Benefits provided by wetlands include: Clean...
Welcome Ben Estrada, Gratitude to Andrea Fraume Valencia
October marks another transition at Green Foothills! After four years of service bringing the reimagined Green Foothills Leadership Program to life, Andrea Fraume Valencia is transitioning from her role as Leadership Program Director to pursue a career in the public sector. Please join us in welcoming a new staff member, Ben Estrada, as Leadership Program Manager. Ben joins us from the San Mateo County Office of Education where he served as a School Transportation Equity fellow through AmeriCorps supporting grant administration, outreach, and educational events focused on health, equity, and safety. With six years of facilitation, education, and community service...
Tell Santa Clara County to Protect the Stanford Foothills
Update: On 9/28/23, the Santa Clara County Planning Commission recommended approval of the 99-year extension for protection of the foothills. This is good news. The next step will be for the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to vote on this. We will send out an alert when that vote is coming up, so that you can reach out to encourage them to vote yes. To receive Green Foothills alerts, sign up at greenfoothills.org/subscribe. For decades, more than 2,300 acres of hillside open space in the Stanford foothills have been protected from development through the Stanford Community Plan. On Thursday,...
Announcing the Winners of Our 2023 Photo Contest
We are thrilled to announce the winners of the Green Foothills 2023 Photo Contest! Hundreds of you sent beautiful, inspiring, and dazzling images of local nature, with so many outstanding entries that it was hard for the judges to choose. Congratulations to Susan LeClair, Jamal Edwards, and Zhiyuan Xu – this year’s winners! A number of photographers also won Honorable Mentions, and they are listed below. Thank you to everyone who entered the contest for sharing your images with us—we are so grateful. The Winning Photos First place winner Susan LeClair submitted this majestic image of a bald eagle flying...
Leadership Program Graduates 10th Cohort! Applications for 2024 Now Open!
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Green Foothills Leadership Program, and we were excited to celebrate the graduation of our 10th cohort of program participants on August 12. We are also excited to announce that applications for 2024 are now open! Application forms are available in English and Spanish on our Leadership Program web page. This year’s class of 17 graduates produced some impressive final campaign projects. Here are some examples of this year’s project topics: Connecting Spanish-speaking San Jose residents to open space Providing equitable access to parks for all Santa Clara County residents Educating and connecting...
LAFCO Compromises on Protecting Gilroy Farmland
Should residential sprawl be allowed on farmland outside of Gilroy city limits? Santa Clara County’s Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) considered this on August 2, and ultimately voted to allow development to proceed on approximately half of the proposed site. Unfortunately, this compromise still impacts Gilroy’s climate resilience, residents’ safety, and taxpayers’ wallets throughout the county. Gilroy Proposal Violated LAFCO Policy on Sprawl LAFCOs are local agencies charged by state law with preventing sprawl, preserving open space and farmland, and ensuring orderly growth of cities and efficient delivery of services. Thus, when developers wanted to build a residential subdivision on...
Lehigh to Demolish Cement Kiln
After 84 years, the cement kiln at Lehigh Quarry – the largest single source of air pollution in Santa Clara County – will now be shut down for good and demolished as a result of a legally binding agreement entered into with Santa Clara County. Lehigh has also withdrawn its earlier request to expand its mining activity, although the company still intends to continue processing its stockpiles of already-quarried rock. This marks a major step towards the ultimate goal of ending Lehigh’s operations entirely and restoring the quarry site to open space. Long History of Environmental Violations and Pollution Located...
Sempervirens Fund and Green Foothills
Conservation organizations are stronger when we work together. That’s why Sempervirens Fund and Green Foothills have been stalwart partners for many years. As a land trust, Sempervirens Fund raises money to acquire and steward redwood forests and to make them available for the public to enjoy. Green Foothills is an advocacy organization that focuses on protecting the environment by galvanizing elected officials and the public. Green Foothills’ advocacy creates a groundswell of support for local nature, which results in more opportunities for Sempervirens Fund to acquire land. We are honored that Sara Barth, Executive Director of Sempervirens Fund, will be...
Tell San Jose: Don’t Roll Back Coyote Valley’s Protection
Update: Thank you to the many people who participated in the City of San Jose community meeting on August 28. The city definitely heard from the public that Coyote Valley needs to be protected from development, including along the Monterey Road corridor. The city is continuing to gather community feedback on this issue and eventually the City Council will vote. We’ll keep you posted! Meanwhile if you haven’t emailed the city yet, you can still do so using the online form in the “What You Can Do” section of this article, below. On Monday, August 28 at 6:00 p.m., the...
Introducing Our New Executive Director
On October 1st I’ll become Green Foothills’ new Executive Director. Having had the privilege of serving this organization for 12 years—7 years as Legislative Advocate and 5 years as Director of Impact—it is an honor to start a new chapter in Green Foothills’ history. With a talented team, a committed board, a growing donor base, and a diverse and broad set of partners working to protect local nature, we are primed for the work ahead. I’m excited about the future. As incoming Executive Director, I bring to bear deep experience with our Advocacy and Leadership programs to guide Green Foothills...