Peninsula Open Space Trust Purchases Portola Lookout Acquisition protects scenic skyline and open space corridor
November 3, 2003
The Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) announced today that it has purchased a 50-acre property known as Portola Lookout. The property is highly visible from scenic roadways and surrounding parks, and its 2,200-foot high mountain knoll made it an attractive site for an estate home.
The 50-acre lookout is located just west of Skyline Boulevard between Page Mill Road and Highway 9, and its eastern side abuts the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District's Long Ridge Preserve. The land affords stunning views of Skyline Preserve, Portola State Park, Butano Ridge, Big Basin State Park, and Pescadero County Park - more than 7,000 acres of parkland. Mindego Hill, San Mateo County's only extinct volcano, is seen clearly from the property's knoll, with views of the Pacific Ocean in the distance.
"The mid-peninsula's singular landscape of redwood, madrone and Douglas fir forests, oak woodlands and grassy meadows lie at your feet, and the ocean to the sky is the blue backdrop to this splendor," said POST President Audrey Rust. "Protecting this property ensures this highway and open space corridor will remain scenic, and its tree-ringed meadow will give hikers and visitors a restful place to take in awe-inspiring natural lands."
POST acquired Portola Lookout for $599,000. Two houses were recently built on similar although less visible knolls nearby, and it was POST's quick action that kept Portola Lookout from being developed. In the future, POST hopes it will be able to add this property to the Long Ridge Preserve.
Portola Lookout is located adjacent to a subdivision that is already the site of a dozen large homes. But unlike some of the homes in the subdivision, construction of an estate on the property would have been visible from Skyline Boulevard, Alpine Road and surrounding open space preserves because of the prominence of the site's grassy knoll.
POST's acquisition will also protect nearby Peters Creek, which is within the Pescadero watershed. The watershed provides critical habitat for threatened steelhead trout. The construction of a home could have sent silt run-off into the creek, potentially harming water quality and wildlife habitat.
To help complete the purchase, POST is seeking contributions from private donors. A gift toward the purchase of the entire Portola Lookout property would afford the donor the opportunity to name the property or a feature of the land.