POST purchases a great view adjacent to Azul Open Space

By Nathan R. Huff

What was slated to become a spectacular view for a few wealthy homeowners will instead be open space for all to enjoy, thanks to the Peninsula Open Space Trust's purchase of 286 acres of meadow and hillside property adjacent to the Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve above Los Gatos.

The Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) purchased the property for $3.8 million from Guadalupe Land Co., which intended to develop it. POST aims to hand over the property to Midpeninsula Open Space District once the $2 million needed to buy the land is raised. The open-space district, in turn, will eventually open the site for public use, and possibly create a trail connecting Almaden Quicksilver Park with the Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve.

POST President Audrey Rust said the group was extremely excited about purchasing the land because it had been attempting to buy the scenic property for years. The land includes rising hillsides with rock formations and oak trees, and a meadow-covered plateau, complete with views of San Jose, Rust said. Mt. Umunum rises to the south.

Although recreational rock climbers have scaled the rock formations in the past, whether climbing will be allowed in the future is yet to be determined. Rust said it would be more than a year before the land could be transferred to the open-space district, and it will then determine what uses are appropriate.

Craig Britton, district manager for the open-space district, said it would be at least two or three years before the land was open, depending upon the district's funding. "I know people have climbed rocks there in the past," Britton said, "but it is in the middle of serpentine soils."

Serpentine soils make up a very thin mantle of earth that favors native plants. Britton said an impressive variety of wildflowers grow on the site, and it may also be the habitat of the Checkerspot Butterfly or other endangered species.

"We can't say what uses will be allowed because we haven't done an analysis," Britton said. However, Britton and Rust foresee the area being open to hiking and picnicking.

Although POST and the open-space district are not officially intertwined, much of the land POST purchases is later handed over to conservation groups to manage. Rust said POST first formed out of an open-space district request for a group to raise funds for the purchase of land for open space.

The group is working to pay back a $7 million loan used to purchase land above the Lexington Reservoir, which was recently sold by Arlie Land and Cattle Co. to POST and the open-space district.

POST purchases land before it completes fundraising, Rust said, because persuading people to donate is more difficult when they don't have a clear idea of how their money will be spent. Rust said the majority of the organization's funding comes from private donations, ranging from $25 to $1 million. "Every gift counts," Rust said. "Corporate donors don't give that much; it's individuals who give most of it."

For more information about contributions, call 650.854.7696.

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