POST Begins Final Push for Bear Creek Redwoods Park $2.5 million needed to Secure Public Access
to Former Alma College/Lexington Resevoir Property; $3 Million in Major Gifts Create Local Matching Fund
January 12, 2000
(Menlo Park, CA) The Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) announced today the launch of its final drive to complete the purchase of 805 acres of prized forest lands along Bear Creek Road, the last step before turning over the former Alma College property in the Los Gatos hills for use as a regional redwoods park.
Once slated for luxury homes and a golf course, the spectacular open space west of Lexington Reservoir off Bear Creek Road was saved from development last June when POST secured a $10 million loan just hours before the purchase option on the threatened land was to expire. Through public funds from the Bay Area Conservancy and two major gifts from the Gabilan Foundation and an individual donor, POST has raised $8 million to date. POST is now seeking to cover the rest of the costs of creating the park by raising $2.5 million from individuals and foundations.
"The sooner we raise this money, the sooner this spectacular property becomes a park for all the public to enjoy," Audrey Rust, President of POST, said today. "Bear Creek Redwoods has been a dream of conservationists for more than two decades. We are tantalizingly close to making it a reality," Ms. Rust concluded.
To speed the process, POST is announcing that the Gabilan Foundation and an individual donor who lives near the Bear Creek Redwoods are offering to match, dollar for dollar, any donations to complete the transaction and bring it into public hands. This match will only be available until May 31 of this year. POST is calling upon the public to step forward and help purchase this spectacular land as soon as possible.
Just a 20-minute drive from downtown San Jose, and within 30 minutes of several million people living in the greater South San Francisco Bay Area, the land is thick with redwood and oak trees, and home to deer, bobcats, red tail hawks and other wildlife. More than 14 miles of dirt-packed trails span the property, which will allow persons of all physical abilities the opportunity to experience nature in its glory - including families pushing baby strollers. In addition, as a park Bear Creek Redwoods will provide an important link to a section of the Bay Ridge Trail.
Once POST has obtained all the funds, it will transfer 805 acres of Bear Creek Redwoods to the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD) for its transformation to a public park. Bear Creek Redwoods will link with Lexington Reservoir and Sanborn Skyline County park, providing a contiguous stretch of undeveloped land critical to watershed protection and wildlife habitat. It is strategically located as a gateway to more than 40,000 acres of protected lands, trails, vistas and campgrounds.
"With such easy access to Silicon Valley, we will finally have a redwood park to call our own," said POST's Audrey Rust.
POST is a private, public benefit land conservancy located in Menlo Park. Just last year it completed a three-year, $33.4 million campaign to permanently protect more than 12,000 acres of open space on the San Francisco peninsula.