Yeah, I just
and happy new year. I would like to call
the board of directors meeting for the
Vander Valley Open Space Authority to
order. It's January 8th, 2020 minutes.
» Director Tank
>> here.
» here.
>> Director Matthews
» Director Matthews
>> here.
» here.
>> Director Chapman
» Director Chapman
>> here.
» here.
>> Director Sutherland
» Director Sutherland
>> here. Director Dominguez
» here. Director Dominguez
>> here.
» here.
>> Director Gil. Yes, I'm good.
» Director Gil. Yes, I'm good.
>> Okay, excellent. This portion of the
» Okay, excellent. This portion of the
meeting is reserved for persons desiring
to address the board on any matter not
on the agenda. Speakers are limited to
three minutes. Do we have anyone either
via Zoom or in person
strangely?
All righty then. We'll then move on to
the approval of the December 11th
meeting minutes.
>> Move to approve.
» Move to approve.
>> I'll second.
» Uh, Director Kent,
>> yes.
» yes.
>> Director Matthews,
» Director Matthews,
>> yes. Director Chapman,
» yes. Director Chapman,
>> yes.
» yes.
>> Director Sutherland, yes. Director
» Director Sutherland, yes. Director
Dominguez, yes. Director Gil,
>> yes.
» yes.
>> That motion pass unison. Great.
» That motion pass unison. Great.
All right. Now we'll move on to the
approval of the consent items. There are
two items from consent. Does anybody
wish to pull any items from the consent
calendar?
Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion.
I'll [clears throat] move approval for
the consent calendar.
Second.
Okay. Okay. So, we have a motion from
Director Matthews with a second by
Director Dominguez.
>> Director Kennet,
» Director Kennet,
>> yes.
» yes.
>> Director Matthews,
» Director Matthews,
>> yes.
» yes.
>> Director Chapman,
» Director Chapman,
>> yes.
» yes.
>> Director Sutherland,
» Director Sutherland,
>> yes. Director Dominguez,
» yes. Director Dominguez,
>> yes.
» yes.
>> Director Gail,
» Director Gail,
>> yes.
» yes.
>> That passes unanimously. We are moving
» That passes unanimously. We are moving
right along.
And the next item, business,
is to be approved a resolution
recognizing district 5 director Vicki
Alexander for her years of service to
the Santa Clair Valley Open Space
Authority.
>> Mark, are you going to lead us offer?
» Mark, are you going to lead us offer?
>> Good evening, directors. Mark Landraph,
» Good evening, directors. Mark Landraph,
assistant general manager. I invite the
hen baton to our general manager.
>> Sorry, I pulled rank on Mark tonight. I
» Sorry, I pulled rank on Mark tonight. I
uh
bother
>> [laughter]
» [laughter]
>> I wanted to be able to do this. Good
» I wanted to be able to do this. Good
evening, directors. Um, it's my honor
this evening to bring before you a
resolution of the governing board of the
Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority
recognizing District 5 Director Vicky
Alexander for her years of service to
the Santa Clara Valley Open Space
Authority.
Whereas Vicky Alexander was appointed to
the Santa Clara Valley Open Space
Authority Citizens Advisory Committee by
the board of directors as its district 5
representative on August 22nd, 2019
and was elected CAC chairperson in 2021
and 2022.
And whereas Vicki was appointed to the
district 5 position on the open space
authority board of directors on February
24th, 2022 and was elected vice
chairperson in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
And whereas Vicki submitted her
resignation announcement on December
4th, 2025, indicating her impending
resignation for the board of directors
effective midnight on December 11th,
2025.
Whereas Vicki taught fourth grade
classes at Linhaven Elementary School in
the Campbell Union High School District
and also provided English as a second
language instruction through
Metropolitan Adult Education in San
Jose.
And whereas Vicki served in leadership
roles at her family business in Santa
Clara for over 27 years.
And whereas Vicki has served as a member
of the board of directors for the League
of Women Voters for over five years and
has led or co-led multiple initiatives
related to climate and local governance
within that capacity.
And whereas Vicki was known by
colleagues on the board as a leveling
force in that after listening to others
on a given topic, she typically provided
a few well-chosen words that brought
other thoughts and opinions together.
And whereas Vicki was considered to be
thoughtful and articulate especially
when dealing with sensitive you issues.
Whereas Vicki could be relied upon to be
wellprepared and knowledgeable
[clears throat] on the issues to be
discussed in a board meeting or at all
board meetings for that matter
especially while serving as vice
chairperson. And whereas Vicki was a
strong proponent of those aspects of the
authorities's mission that relate to the
support of agriculture and the
enhancement of biodiversity
[clears throat]
and consistently expressed support for
the AY's urban grant program.
And whereas Vicki has been dedicated in
her enjoyment of open space and trails,
inspiring others to follow in her
footsteps.
Whereas Vicki demonstrated her
understanding of the importance of
maintaining solid intergovernmental
relationships and would appear at
numerous off-site agency events, being
very active in welcoming guest speakers,
including partner agency staff and any
elected officials and their
representatives.
Whereas Vicki served as a role model to
others through her steady support and
informed comments during board meetings.
Now therefore, be it resolved that the
Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority
Board of Directors honors the service of
Director Vicky Alexander to the Open
Space Authority and its constituents.
Passed, approved, and adopted on January
8th, 2026.
And Madame Chair, I'd like to turn it
back over to the board for your
discussion. And then we have a
presentation to uh Director Alexander.
Thank you, Andrew.
>> I will go first, Vicki. It's been an
» I will go first, Vicki. It's been an
absolute honor and privilege to work
with you, you know, as chair and vice
chair. I think we we made a really good
team. I will miss you solidly. We had a
lot of good conversations. We had to
navigate a lot of difficult things
together. Um, I will miss your steadfast
support of the agency, especially in
close session. We were very principled
and very a calm guiding voice. Sometimes
you know we would get emotional and we
would did you think about this
that that is so appreciative and I I
said I cannot
stress enough how I will miss you and I
look hopeful that you will um continue
the work in other areas. You know keep
in touch with us. Thank you. Thank you
from the bottom of my heart. Um
» actually I specially come today for for
definitely I was sick. I informed the
clerk uh I think two days ago I'm not
attending this meeting. uh but this
morning I feel much better and then I
realized that oh our dear friend
director Alexander has the last board
meeting and I should has to be go and
visha that's why I'm here
as we know that director Alexander with
us almost last four years on the board
and during that time she did a fantastic
job to achieve many important milestone
to bring the agency to the next level of
its progress.
Thank you Vicki
for your dedications
and your leaderships on the board. Your
passion really made a big difference and
we miss you
and I personally wishing you a
[clears throat] great success and
fulfill on your next endeavor. Good
luck. God bless you and keep
[clears throat] in touch with us. Thank
you.
» Doing good,
>> Vicki. Thank you so much for your years
» Vicki. Thank you so much for your years
of service and leadership. And even
though we worked together for a short
time, um it definitely stood out that
your your steadfast
approach to how we handle situations and
your calmness and more importantly your
passion to the mission of this
organization is really what helped us
all work together collaboratively as a
group. Um and it just made a real
difference in how we all show up. So, we
appreciate you and I'm thankful for the
short time that we had to work together.
I appreciate your guidance and your
mentorship and I wish you the best and I
hope that I could call on you anytime in
the future if I need some support.
» Director Matthews.
>> Yes. Well, I'm really glad that our
» Yes. Well, I'm really glad that our
paths crossed however briefly. However,
um what's great about Santa Clara County
in general is that all of our paths are
crossing all the time. I just learned
that you taught ESL for Metropolitan,
which I also did. So, I don't remember
you exactly, probably different times,
but there's another example of our paths
crossing. I'm sure you're going to
continue on your own individual path and
do good things for the community. And um
thank you for your service.
and director Kenn.
» Well, the part of uh you being the
leveling force that was mentioned is uh
really the truth and I appreciate you
being that person on our board and it's
funny that you took us through the
pandemic and I kind of first remember
really meeting you in person after you
know we were able to get back. So,
>> um I'm I'm glad you were here. I'm glad
» um I'm I'm glad you were here. I'm glad
you're uh moving forward to something
um in your life that uh looking forward
to [clears throat]
despite uh I don't know if you feel
guilty yet about leaving this
in our time of need but I wish you well
and uh good luck
>> director
» director
thank you Vicki I think I've known you
longer than almost anyone here because
we met on the CAC.
I remember when you came to the CAC,
what you say about Vicki being a very
leveling force is so true. Um, your work
on the CAC was so important. It was so
great to get to know you there and then
I was so delighted
and a little bit sad when you were going
through the board. like a but but the
CAC learned from you. I know you do
great work on the board and the board
has obviously learned from you. Your
impact on this organization is going to
be deep because you've gone through so
many different steps. Um I know that
you're going to continue to shine and do
great things wherever you go. And I know
that there's somebody out there who's
probably really little who's going to
really benefit from from you and all
your love and and all your your love and
calmness and and great sense of value.
So, thank you so much for sharing your
time with us and um knowing you're going
to go on and do great things. Thank you.
» That we'll bring it back to staff.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, I think a
lot of things have been said about you,
Vicki, but I first of all, I just want
to say thank you for your support of me
uh and staff. Always so respectful and
just very fruitful conversations we've
had. I was always so impressed when we
had our one-on- ons. You always had deep
questions for me. you knew what was
happening in the community, what was
happening around the state and you
brought that awareness to our business
and in really thoughtful questions that
you would ask.
I also was so impressed with how well
prepared you always are and especially
in close session uh the thoughtful
questions you would you would have and
you were somebody said here a leveling
force around the table to get us to yes
or to no as the case might be. And last
but not least, I have really enjoyed
getting to know you as a fellow hiker
and open space lover. Um the only thing
is um you continue to show me up.
[laughter] You
you are out there like nobody's business
hiking the trails and visiting wild
places all over the country and the
world and it's really impressive. Um, so
stay in touch, keep telling us where the
best places are and um, we'll be just
down the trail trying to catch up with
you. Thanks.
» Yeah, Vicki, it's been such a pleasure
working with you both on the CP um, and
on the board. uh like you know has been
said uh you've been such a a steady
force and provided really strong
leadership and will I will always
appreciate that and I I learned a lot
from from you over those years. Um
you've also been such a great listener.
So um not everybody is such a good
listener and and like was um put in the
resolution, you know, you have a really
good way of bringing people's thoughts
together and coalesing them. Um I I
think that helped bring a lot of unity
and uh cohesiveness to to the group. So
just really appreciate having gotten to
know you and uh and do hope you stay in
touch with us.
» Hi Vicki, I also want to thank you for
your service and uh like Mark, I really
appreciate working with you um while you
were on the CAC as well as uh while you
were on the board. Um, so many great
things have been said. I hate to repeat
them. Um, but your your calmness, your
graciousness,
um, being able to take in information,
uh, be very rational about it, ask great
questions. Um, again, it's clear you
were so well informed and committed and
just really appreciate your dedication
to the mission, to staff, um, and just
helping move the agency forward. uh wish
you the best of luck uh in what you uh
what you do after this and I know it
must be wonderful because it was clear
that you enjoyed your time here so it
must be really great. Enjoy.
» Director Alexander Vicki um want to just
uh shout out to all your accomplishments
and supporting staff on all of our
public access projects in particular
over the last few years and and one to
come very soon. um you played an
instrumental role in shaping those both
on the CAC and on the board and so you
can always look back and hike those
trails and and think of your time here
at OSA.
» Thank you for thank you for your
service. One thing I'll share is that I
became a board member of a small
nonprofit about four years ago and um I
don't know if I'm very good at it, but
you know seeing folks like you excel as
board members and just contribute to the
organization really does all you know us
uh upand cominging folk uh you know
learn from people who can really um do
it and so you know good board members
are really hard to find and and we'll
definitely miss you. Thank you.
Uh,
hi Vicki. Feels weird to say that. Uh,
[laughter] I really, uh, our most
regular interaction was probably at the
administration and budget committee
meeting over these last handful of
years. we were in our vice chair role
and those were always such exciting
meetings which might not sound like
plausible but part of that was again
that just very honest and legitimate
curiosity that you would bring to the
topics that staff is bringing to you and
to the board. So I appreciate so greatly
uh how you helped us frame and shape
things like our governance principles
and our uh processes around budget and
recruiting or finding new CAC members
and all sorts of those things. So
appreciate kind of the curiosity that
you brought to those kind of mundane
sounding processes to people who aren't
in the room. Thank you. We'll miss you
Caroline or Ivy. Anything you'd like to
would be
>> Mickey. Sure.
» Mickey. Sure.
>> Hello. Um
» Hello. Um
yeah, it was it's been wonderful. Um I
think uh both of our tenurs started at
the same time um right before the
pandemic. So um you know it was it's
nice to have helped facilitate your
growth uh with the agency as well. And
I've always enjoyed our conversations
about hiking and our trips. And I'm I'm
uh I aspire to uh have the gumption to
travel and to do like the really amazing
traveling that that you do um that you
set aside time for and I'm I'm I'm
always in awe of that. So um hopefully
uh you know we'll keep in touch and I
can continue to hear about your your
great travels
>> and yours too.
» and yours too.
>> [laughter]
» And while she's doing that, do we have
any anyone of them that must be the
public?
» Director Alexander, we have two things
we'd like to present to you. The board
from the board and staff tonight.
Sure.
First of all, we have the official
resolution that was read into the
record. And I want to thank Mark
Landraph uh who uh does such a wonderful
job in putting these together and staff
as well in in admin for uh putting this
together and making it look so good. So
from up to you.
>> Thank you.
» Thank you.
>> Yeah.
And then um we really had a hard time
deciding what photo to give um Director
Alexander, but this particular one is of
a a lovely property that the Open Space
Authority has protected. Um we have um
guided tours there for the public. It's
not yet a full-fledged open space
preserve, but this is Diablo Foothills
in South County, and anytime you'd like
to go and explore there some,
>> I would love to.
» I would love to.
>> We'd be happy to take you there. [gasps]
» We'd be happy to take you there. [gasps]
So, um, Madam Chair, I thought maybe,
um, Director Alexander could take a
picture with the board members. And
>> I was hoping you would say, "Okay." Yes.
» I was hoping you would say, "Okay." Yes.
[clears throat]
>> All right.
» All right.
>> I'm wearing my uniform.
» Okay. So,
>> maybe up behind there. So, yeah.
There you go. There we go.
There's a greater problem.
>> Yes.
Madam chair, I like to move.
Okay. We have a motion to approve the
resolution recognizing district 5
director Vicky Alexander for her years
of service the San Valley open space
authority
by director Kenn with a second by
director Gil
roll.
>> Director Kenn.
» Director Kenn.
>> Yes.
» Yes.
>> Director Matthews.
» Director Matthews.
>> Yes.
» Yes.
>> Director Chapman.
» Director Chapman.
>> Yes.
» Yes.
>> Director Sutherland.
» Director Sutherland.
>> Yes.
» Yes.
>> Director Dominguez.
» Director Dominguez.
>> Yes.
» Yes.
>> Director Gil.
» Director Gil.
>> Yes.
» Congratulations and best luck.
Thank you. Thank you all. I look forward
to all the great things that are going
to be happening in the future.
» Okay.
You're now on to electing board
officers, chairperson and vice
chairperson for 2026
where
three years I get some pass. [laughter]
» Uh Caroline, did you want to do
presentation first?
>> Yes, really quick. Um just to go through
» Yes, really quick. Um just to go through
a couple of things and to kind of uh
help uh describe the process that we'll
take to to make the nominations and to
vote.
Uh so uh pursuant to public resources
code 35130 and section 2.10 of the board
operating rules and procedures adopted
by the board the board of directors
shall elect a new board off new board
officers at the first regular meeting in
January of each year and the term of
each office is for one year and the
responsibilities of each officer chair
and vice chair are outlined in the staff
report.
Um the following officers have served
over the past four years. So as uh
director Chapman has mentioned uh um
well starting in 22 uh our chairperson
was Dr. Gil and our vice chairperson was
director Chapman and then subsequently
it has been director Chapman and
director Alexander.
Um so the first step we'll do each vote
for the officer respectively one at a
time. Um so we'll start with the
election of the chair and once we have
uh a vote for um for chairperson then
that uh person will take over the the
position immediately and that uh the new
chair will preside over the election of
the vice chair. So step one uh we'll
open the floor to nominations and uh
there can be up to three nominations on
the floor at one time. Uh the chair will
close the floor to nominations once we
have all of them and then you can take
public comments. Um the next step will
be to vote uh starting with the last
nomination received first per
Rosenberg's rules of orders and then the
final step uh whomever gets uh four
votes will then be uh elected chair.
>> Okay. Thank you. Before I do that, I
» Okay. Thank you. Before I do that, I
just wanted to say the last three years
have been an extreme honor and privilege
to serve as the chair. I've enjoyed it
very much. Um, but it is time to
relinquish the gavl onto somebody else.
And I I I what I think is very exciting
about this agency is when I took on vice
chair, I had only been with the agency I
think I'd only been position for a year.
So I think it's it's wonderful to rotate
the positions and to give leadership
experiences to all the board members
because I think it's a really good
learning experience and a good way to
know kind of the ins and out what's
going on with the agency. So thank you
for for allowing me to serve for three
years. So with that I'm going to make a
motion or I'm going to make a nomination
to nominate Director Sutherland as
position chair.
>> I'll second that.
» I'll second that.
>> Do we have any other nominations? Any
other nominations
going once?
Okay, we will close the nominations.
[laughter]
All right. So, we have a motion and a
second to uh elect Director Sin as the
next chair.
>> And there are no uh no public no public.
» And there are no uh no public no public.
Okay.
You ready?
You want it?
» He's not She's not leaving the room now.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
All right. Let's call roll.
>> Director Ken,
» Director Ken,
>> yes.
» yes.
>> Director Matthews,
» Director Matthews,
>> yes.
» yes.
>> Director Chapman,
» Director Chapman,
>> yes.
» yes.
>> Director Sutherland,
» Director Sutherland,
>> yes. Director Dominguez.
» yes. Director Dominguez.
>> Yes.
» Yes.
>> Director G.
» Director G.
>> Yes.
» Yes.
>> All right. That motion passes
» All right. That motion passes
unanimously and so I will now pass over.
>> Thank you.
» And just Helen and I have known each
other
years.
>> Our children were very young. We first
» Our children were very young. We first
met when she was trying to put a
playground in behind the rose garden
library and her children were small
enough to play on a playground. So
Helen, it's been years that you and I
have been working together and playing
outside and I appreciate your
nomination. And to my fellow board
members, thank you very much for your
support. Look forward to this.
And then I do have the cheat sheet.
[clears throat]
>> That's a standing up.
» That's a standing up.
>> Um, and so now we need we need to I want
» Um, and so now we need we need to I want
to open
nominations for
uh accept nominations for vice chair.
And do we have a nomination?
>> I'd like to nominate uh director Gil.
» I'd like to nominate uh director Gil.
>> Thank you. And does this require a
» Thank you. And does this require a
second?
>> It does not, madam chair.
» It does not, madam chair.
>> It does not. Okay.
» It does not. Okay.
Um, are there any other nominations for
vice chair? Yes. I'd like to nominate
Director Dominguez.
Thank you.
Um,
and so it doesn't require a second. We
now need to move to the next step. Or
are there any other nominations? We can
take up to three.
going once, going twice.
Okay, I'd like to close nominations for
the vice chair. Um, and then
Carolyn, can you lead us through the
» Yes. Oh, thank you. Yes. Let me catch up
because I'm typing these out. Okay. Give
me one second.
Let's
see.
Okay. Uh so we will vote so uh we will
vote the last nomination that was
received first. So we will vote on
director Chapman nominating director
Dominguez to be vice chairperson for the
board of directors for 2026.
» Excuse me. through the chair. Um, clerk
of the board, could I ask councel and
you um there's been a motion made to
advance the vice chair position for
director Dominguez. Correct.
>> Does there need to be a second or is
» Does there need to be a second or is
there just a
>> you just
» you just
>> Okay. Thank you.
» Okay. All
right, I'm ready. So, the uh motion on
the floor uh is for Director Chapman uh
nominating Director Dominguez to be vice
chairperson for board of directors for
2026.
Um, Director Kennet,
>> no.
» no.
>> Director Matthews,
» Director Matthews,
>> yes.
» yes.
>> Director Chapman,
» Director Chapman,
>> yes.
» yes.
>> Director Sutherland, yes. Director
» Director Sutherland, yes. Director
Dominguez,
>> yes.
» yes.
>> Director Gil,
» Director Gil,
>> no.
The motion passes. So, uh, director
Dominguez is
» Thank you. Thank you. Um, and then I
guess we move on now to new business
item number three, which is receive a
presentation on the American Badger
Corridor modeling in the open space
authorities jurisdiction. And I hope
that you all got to watch the video
because it's really fun.
» Thanks.
Good evening, board of directors and
staff.
My name is Lillian Amarol. I'm the GIS
technician here at the Open Space
Authority. I'm very excited to be here
tonight to share with you all the
project I've been working on since
joining OSA and to highlight the work
that we've been a part of for the
conservation of American Badgers and
wildlife connectivity throughout our
region.
There will be no action needed from the
board tonight. The purpose of our time
is to receive a presentation on the
American Badger Corridor Modeling
Project. I'll start by describing OSA's
commitment to grassland conservation and
tell you about the wildlife corridor
modeling itself, how we collaborated
with post on the project and how the
data produced from this project will be
used to inform management planning.
So the open space authority is a part of
the Santa Cruz Mountain Stewardship
Network and the stewardship network
formed a wildlife working group that
ultimately decided to select American
badgers to help guide the network's
conservation goals of enhancing
grassland habitat connectivity and
grassland stewardship throughout the
region.
And the interest in uh selecting
American badgers as a species of
interest really comes from the status
that we observe today. They're listed as
a uh species of special concern by the
California Department of Fish and
Wildlife. And um this comes from
their the fact that badgers and their
habitats are quite adverse to the
effects of development and human
disturbance on the land landscape. And
the reason being they are quite wide
ranging mammals. So they require uh
large swaths of connected grassland
habitat in order to roam and fulfill uh
find the resources that are essential to
them. So, um, historically they their
population numbers have declined
throughout the state and, um,
and there's been a statewide initiative
to learn more about badgers and better
understand their movement patterns and,
uh, how the population is doing on a
statewide basis. So following the
interest in learning more about badgers,
there's been uh sufficient data that has
come out of these efforts that are now
being used to drive conservation
measures and specifically here in our
region. Uh badgers are proposed for
listing under the coming amendment to
the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Plan. So
throughout the habitat plan permit area,
this listing would enhance the level of
protection that badgers receive. Um,
which is important because the
California Department of Fish and
Wildlife species of special concern
listing is quite limited in terms of the
uh what sort of protection it provides
for badgers. So under the habitat plan
uh they would receive enhanced
protection while allowing for the future
devel development um in this in this
particular region
and to look at the types of data that
are being produced and leveraged to
inform management planning. I would like
to highlight the project that I got to
work on as a GIS intern with Mid
Peninsula Regional Open Space District.
Um, Midpen published data in 2024 of
their computer model that they produced
that identifies likely movement pathways
for American badgers between patches of
grassland habitat found throughout Mid
Pen's uh jurisdiction and beyond. So the
corridor model identified movement
pathways
uh between grassland through their core
preserves but also identified linkages
that extend down the Pacific coast to
the badger population found in Santa
Cruz. And then the modeling efforts also
identified a a linkage to across the
Santa Cruz Mountains and into Santa
Clair County. And the modeling efforts
identified Coyote Valley as a likely
movement pathway for American Badgers.
And so I was brought on to the Open
Space Authority to continue these
modeling efforts and extend the model
across open space authorities
jurisdiction in the interest of better
understanding just how badgers might be
moving across the landscape. Um,
so to learn a little bit about badgers,
uh, I'll tell you that they are small to
medium-sized mammals and everything
about them has evolved to allow them to
become expert diggers and digging is a
very essential adaptation for their life
cycle. Um, they use digging to build out
the dens that they rest and mate in. And
they also rely on digging to excavate
their prey from the ground. They prey on
mostly um burrowing rodents like gophers
and ground squirrels, but badgers are
extremely preydriven and as they move
across the landscape, you could call
them opportunistic omnivores because
they'll eat mostly anything. So if they
encounter insects, birds, bird eggs,
reptiles, and amphibians, those are fair
game as well. One of my favorite parts
of this project was um collaborating
with the communications team and we
produced the Badger banter video that
you just uh mentioned. Um, yeah. So,
being able to talk with or consult with
Badger biologists and experts is really
critical to these types of computer
modeling and wildlife corridor modeling
efforts because you could only create a
computer model based on what you know
about the species. So, I'll leave it to
Dr. Jesse Quinn to describe to you the
ways in which badgers provide ecosystem
services to a variety of wildlife
throughout our region in grassland
ecosystems.
>> Don't think of the grassland ecosystem
» Don't think of the grassland ecosystem
in California very much. But where we do
think of that grassland system is on the
great plains and we kind of have a mini
version of that in California. But their
burrows provide habitat for other
species. So for weasels, burrowing owls,
our buring owls are one of the main
species that will reoccupy a badger
burrow. Down cell kit fox, the
Sanwalking kit fox will use badger
burrows. So uh they do provide habitat
for animals that live in burrows but
don't necessarily dig their own burrows.
And then they also serve as kind of a
control for some of those rodent
populations, California ground squirrels
and gophers. moles uh where they occur
and then they also because of the
turning over the soil that's another
kind of benefit that they provide to the
ecosystem is providing this fresh soil
for new plants to colonize
>> I brought in this badger pelt for your
» I brought in this badger pelt for your
reference I'll pass it along the table
here
» so yeah as Dr. Jesse Quinn explained
they really provide an ecosystem service
to a variety of wildlife in grassland
landscapes. And by selecting American
badgers as just one of our many focal
species, um we at OSA, we are hoping to
incorporate what we know and what we
learn about these species as we focus on
them and um take into account their
considerations when informing uh
planning through CVA camp. So the aspect
of CV camp that I'm getting at here is
the enhancement of wildlife habitat and
ecological connectivity.
And this is critical to focus on here in
Coyote Valley because uh the landscape
as we know it today has some pretty
significant barriers to wildlife
movement. And those barriers are the US
Route 101, Monterey Road, and the Union
Pacific Rail Line. So by using
geospatial analysis to produce a
computer model that predicts um likely
movement pathways for badgers across
this region while also taking into
account these barriers that impede their
movement. we can hopefully or we seek to
identify um the most critically
important areas on the landscape that
are helping to facilitate the successful
movement. And the main point of this is
to maintain maintain the genetic
diversity that we see in badger
populations and help facilitate the
exchange of genetic material from the
Santa Cruz Mountain population of
badgers with the Diablo Range population
of badgers. theoretically.
And so there are a couple approaches uh
that are out there to studying wildlife
movement. And one is by collaring the
species that you're hoping to track uh
with a GPS collar. And you can use that
data to produce a map like this where
I'm displaying uh bobcat telemetry
tracking um that reveals critical
movement corridors in Coyote Valley for
bobcats. However, badgers are quite
unique because of their adaptation to uh
dig underground. Their skin is very
loose to help them not get stuck
underground. Um and so this makes
coloring them uh difficult.
So the open space authority has taken
another approach where we are using
computer models to predict where the
wildlife are likely to be in this case
where badgers are likely to be moving
and again these models are completely
informed by applied science and expert
opinion.
So to start uh a project like this, we
had to compile a comprehensive data set
of badger occurrences throughout our
region. Um and we use this data to help
us inform questions that are critical to
ask when you're creating something
called a habitat suitability analysis.
Um, we used what we know about where we
find badgers in our region to answer
questions like, "What things on the
landscape do badgers care about? What
don't they care about?" And you roll it
all up into a model that reveals highly
suitable and and uh fairly unsuitable or
low suitability habitat types across our
region.
And when you take um the results of all
this modeling and sort of simplify it
down to just that core badger habitat
um it reveals an [clears throat] image
like on the screen. Uh so the the
habitat suitability modeling revealed
that there is lots of grassland and
badger habitat throughout the Diablo
range for them to utilize. However, west
across the valley in the Santa Cruz
Mountains, there is fairly limited
habitat for badgers to utilize. And in
the regions where there is habitat
patchiness, um the vegetation types that
you'll find there are mostly forested
and shrub communities. And as I
mentioned, badgers are very prey driven.
So the movements they make across the
landscape are driven by where they're
going to find their next meal. and
burrowing rodits just typically aren't
found in in the uh forested and shrub
communities that badgers just aren't
likely to move through for that reason.
So um after
the efforts to figure out where in our
jurisdiction is there a good quality
badger habitat, we use these results to
produce a wildlife corridor model that
predicts badger movement across our
jurisdiction.
And the um the modeling efforts reveal
that there is quite extensive uh
connectivity for badger movement
throughout the Diablo range in in the
eastern part of our study area. uh again
because there is abundant uh connected
badger habitat and conversely on the
other side of the valley in the Santa
Cruz Mountains um we see those corridors
become very narrow and thin and
constrained to the already limited
grassland habitat that's there and on
this regional level it produced uh cross
valley connections from the east to west
that um identifies many roads and
overcrossing things that
are likely movement pathways for
badgers, but it's not easily
uh modeled on this regional scale. So,
in a couple minutes, I'll highlight our
efforts to zoom in on Coyote Valley and
model movement [clears throat] across
across the valley there. But to look at
the Santa Cruz Mountains uh corridor,
um we're seeing limited pathways because
of that densely forested and shrub
communities. And here in uh here in this
region, for example, Little Uvisas Creek
Preserve is identified as a likely
movement pathway. And um the image that
you see here is of Little Uvisis Creek
Preserve. And it just demonstrates that
transition zone between badger habitat
and less uh less compatible habitat for
badger and their prey. Um this is what
much of the Santa Cruz Mountains look
like. So these thin constrained
corridors really communicate that
there's relatively poor connection for
uh to reach the Badger population and
the rest of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
And so to go sort of on the fine scale,
we wanted to start thinking about how
badgers encounter the valley and the
many um
barriers that they face while crossing
the valley and roads are a big one. Our
occurrence data revealed 53 out of 163
total records are made up of badger
roadkill. So, this communicates that
badgers do cross roads, although not
always successful.
And there's been um a fair bit of effort
to get boots on the ground and survey
Coyote Valley for roadkill data, which
is very informative for management
planning. [snorts] And so, uh, we, um,
once we get this valuable data, we could
start asking ourselves questions like
what what are ways that what what are
things that we can do to reduce vehicle
wildlife collisions here in Coyote
Valley and ensure successful dispersal?
And I'll show you a little snippet of
the ways in which we're exploring or an
avenue of how we're doing that. You
maybe have seen this video before.
So this is a badger and a coyote
captured traveling through a culvert. Um
which is um
yeah culverts human humans have placed
culverts under roadways as an as an
attempt to make our lives more
convenient by diverting water instead of
over a roadway under a roadway. And
while it's not aimed at enhancing
wildlife movement, um, wildlife are so
resilient that they have come to realize
that they can use these culverts as
passages across otherwise impenetrable
barriers. And so
open space authority collaborated with
post on this project because POST has
been spending quite a bit of time boots
on the ground in Coyote Valley uh
surveying culverts and um assessing
their conditions along a stretch of US
101 in the valley. And post delivered
data to us that communicated which
coverts are badgers likely to be
utilizing.
And we incorporated this data into a
finecale version of the corridor model.
Um, and
the results of incorporating that
actually provided additional movement
pathways where the model identified the
covert as a a likely route for badgers.
In addition to the covert, the model
also identifies overpasses over highways
like Metaf Road and Bailey overpass as
likely routes for successful dispersal
across the valley. Um that covert that I
mentioned that the model identified is
by Coyote Creek Parkway allowing badgers
to enter into the parkway and um
hopefully enter the valley through to
Meadows. So these results data like this
are very telling and will be used uh to
inform management decisions.
OSA can work with part uh with uh
agencies like Calrans to make sure that
they are properly maintaining their
coverts under their roadways so that
wildlife have a fair chance of utilizing
them. And additionally, we can look at
in the installment of uh directional
wildlife fencing that will help guide
the the wildlife to um to the culverts
that we anticipate that they will be
using for uh movement.
So from this project um it really comes
at the the core of it is that we're one
of many regional stakeholders in
grassland and ecological connectivity
and stewardship throughout our region.
And through this project we have
significantly improved spatial models
that exist of badger habitat here in our
region. And this data that we've
improved
will be a resource for management
planning and will help guide the future
future plans through CVAMP, the Santa
Clara Valley Habitat Plan, future
permitting, and general plan updates,
which are required by law to include
wildlife corridors.
So, if you guys are interested in
learning more about badgers, I'll plug
one more time badger banter. the public
um has had public loves learning about
badgers. This has been a very successful
long form video that we have. So, this
is a great resource if you're interested
in learning more. And additionally, the
program and and um communications
collaborated to create a story map that
is just another resource to learn about
um OSA's work and then it's also focused
on like regional efforts as well. So
with that, thank you so much for your
time tonight and I'm open for questions.
This is Oh, this badger this cameas uh
Sierra Vista open space preserve which
is where we see most of our badgers
because there is such a consistent
ground squirrel population there.
» Thank you very much. This was a great
presentation and um your banter is a lot
of fun.
Um, I'd like to open the floor for any
board questions or comment.
I think we'll start with Director Kennet
and then just go around.
>> I I watched the whole video and it was
» I I watched the whole video and it was
really great.
I [clears throat] simply didn't either
pay attention or realize there was so
much involved these critters that are
around and what they do. I'd love to
have a couple on my property.
are inundated with brown squirrels.
>> Thank you. That was really well done.
» Thank you. That was really well done.
>> Thank you.
» I think there might be one in my
backyard because I have a huge mound. I
think it was the whole half the
property.
>> It's way bigger than a than a mole. But
» It's way bigger than a than a mole. But
uh thank you for the presentation. Very
very good. And I was happy to see that
not only are they the badgers are
following prey for food, but they're
creating habitat for some of the prey.
So that they're compensating as well.
>> Thank you very much. It's a good
» Thank you very much. It's a good
present.
>> Thank you.
» Thank you.
>> Thank you for the great presentation. I
» Thank you for the great presentation. I
really en I've learned a lot and I said
I continue to learn every time you bring
forward. Um I have a question. Does the
city of San Jose are they going to get
copied in on some of this because of the
wildlife corridor study? I think this
would be fascinating to update them, you
know, that you've identified a species
that we didn't even think about. You
know, it's like getting hit by cars and
>> through the chair. I'd like to refer uh
» through the chair. I'd like to refer uh
Aaron.
>> Yeah. Through the chair. Aaron Abear,
» Yeah. Through the chair. Aaron Abear,
natural resources manager. Um, as
Lillian mentioned, um, there's a a
relatively new law that requires
wildlife corridors to be analyzed in
general plan updates. Um, this is kind
of a new frontier of, you know, general
plan practice. So, um, there not a lot
of examples out there that that are done
under this law, but um, we work some of
the consultants with some of the
consultants who are actually under
contract, for instance, with Morgan Hill
to do some of their updates. So, um,
we're finishing up kind of the technical
documentation that's kind of behind
everything Lillian described. And once
we have that package, probably in the
next couple weeks, we'll submit it to a
variety of folks. So, this is kind of
the, you know, science of record for for
badgers in our area, including, you
know, San Jose, really any jurisdiction
for their general plan updates.
>> Sounds like you're giving in a credible
» Sounds like you're giving in a credible
resource and data point to back up this,
you know, what we're trying work we're
doing out there. It's great. Thank you.
Thank you, director.
>> Yeah, just two really good questions.
» Yeah, just two really good questions.
Are these like is this a live cam that I
could get on if
that possible? Um because that would be
fantastic to do. And then the second one
was very similar to um director around
the data sharing. Is there been data
sharing with higher ed institutions or
their departments of DIS to learn more
there collaboration around that? through
the chair. Um, yeah, I'll answer the
first question. These are static
cameras. We set them up. Um, you know,
I'll have to ask our field staff if
there's any way to get a badger stream
going forth. So, get back on that.
>> The huge fascination with our community
» The huge fascination with our community
and kids, our kids would love to watch
that live stream.
>> Yeah, absolutely. It's it's a good idea.
» Yeah, absolutely. It's it's a good idea.
Um, yeah, I'll say, uh, you know, right
now the the conversation's mostly been
kind of within the conservation
community. Lily mentioned the Santa Cruz
Mountain Stewardship Network. So,
distributing to all of those land
managers in our area as well as the the
habitat plan will actually be coming at
the next meeting of the board of
directors to give you an update. So, I
don't know if they'll they might menture
badger by name once there, but um, yeah,
it's a good question. How can we roll
this out into the broader community?
We've been kind of racing towards the
finish line. Um we'll be sharing a
poster at the Santa Cruz Mountain
Stewardship Network Science and
Symposium thing on on January 30th. So
we're in the academic kind of space. So
there might be some of those higher ed
folks there. So we haven't quite got
into the uh the roll out phase, but
that's a great idea.
>> And director Gil,
» it's really a great presentation. You
did a fantastic job for that. I learned
a lot. I don't know about badges before
but uh when I just watch this video and
your presentation
quite a bit understand is the badges
that can we see that one face to face
that badger somewhere?
>> Can you see one?
» Can you see one?
>> Go to the any property then we can see
» Go to the any property then we can see
there.
>> Yeah through the chair. Um, if you want
» Yeah through the chair. Um, if you want
to see a badger in OSA's preserves,
you're probably most likely to see one
at Sierra Vista Open Space Preserve.
>> Yeah, our staff have seen them there
» Yeah, our staff have seen them there
over the years relatively frequently.
>> Thank [clears throat] you very much.
» Thank [clears throat] you very much.
>> Good job.
» Good job.
>> Thank you.
» Thank you.
I think my comment is that um this is
all great and lovely and amazing
information, but I was really sad when I
saw the little triangles where there
there are a lot of badger road kills and
um
>> so I'm hoping that this well I know this
» so I'm hoping that this well I know this
information will be used to somehow
knock that number down.
>> I don't want to say I'm on the road.
» I don't want to say I'm on the road.
>> Yeah.
» Yeah.
>> But thank you for your great
» But thank you for your great
presentation and your great work. Oh,
I'm sorry. Go ahead.
>> Sorry. I was just trying to catch your
» Sorry. I was just trying to catch your
eye.
>> No, no. Um, through the chair, may I
» No, no. Um, through the chair, may I
just thank Lillian for her work on this
project. It's been a pleasure to have
you on board and through this great
work, you've gotten to earn a a position
with us as a GIS technician. We can't
wait to see what else you're able to
accomplish on behalf of the Open Space
Authority. Um and I also want to
acknowledge as well that this work is
really a culmination of the uh or like
an action of the landscape linkage and
Monterey Road report where a lot of that
roadkill data was generated from those
studies. So um kind of as a
recommendation from those reports of
doing further studies and geospatial
analysis that's what you're seeing um
this evening. So here's us progressing
on on that great work accomplished by
our colleagues in the last five years.
Thank you.
>> Thank you. Um
are there any members of the public who
wish to comment? There are none.
Do I ask
now? Okay to just say this item
isformational only and no board actions
need. Okay. Thank you very much.
And new business item number four is to
receive a presentation on the completion
the completed restoration projects for
Rancho Pinata delural stock ponds and
Laguna Seika stepping stone restoration.
And this is Rachel.
Yes. Hello. Good evening, colleagues and
board members. My name is Rachel
Clemens. I am our watershed restoration
specialist and I'm going to be giving a
summary of the two restoration projects
that I implemented um with our staff
this summer. Um it's a bit of a longer
pres presentation, but I have a lot of
cool visuals and photos. So, I'm really
proud of our work that we did this
summer, and I hope that you find it as
fascinating as I did.
I'll start by just giving a sideby-side
highle summary of the two projects and
then I'll dive into each one a little
bit more in detail, giving some
background and uh on why we did the
project and what we actually did on the
land and then I'll talk about any
learnings that we had and next steps and
then at the end hopefully we have some
time for questions and comments.
So um like I said we had two projects
this summer. The first one was the
Laguna Sega stepping stone project and
it was a small project really designed
as a pilot what we hope will be the
first of many restoration actions that
take place in North Laguna Secika which
is a very central area to the Coyote
Valley area's master plan. So we planned
for about a year and a half and the
project took two weeks to implement.
I'll say that we did most of the
implementation inhouse with our own
staff, which was really neat to see and
helped build a lot of capacity to do
more restoration work like this in the
future. The main goals were to retain
more water in the wetland after it's
experienced a lot of modification and
degradation over the last century and
also to experiment and test some
hypotheses and gather some information
that will help us in future restoration
projects there. I would say our target
species um were really a lot of species.
It was maybe more general of just
species that use wetland areas, but
specifically California tiger salamander
um perhaps red-legged frogs and a lot of
water birds um use Laguna
[clears throat] Secika. You can see it
was quite a relatively smaller project
as compared to the Rancho Kenyatta
Deloro project both in terms of just
planning time and cost.
Um at Rancho Kinyatta um we restored
three stock ponds to kind of extend
their life and utility for wildlife. Um,
you can see the project was in planning
for a very long time. That was because
primarily of we had some staff turnover
and the COVID 19 pandemic kind of right
in the middle of planning everything.
Um, so it took quite a while to get to
the finish line. So, we were really
happy to get this one done this summer.
It took pretty much all summer to do,
about four months, and we'll have a
5-year monitoring period. So, this is um
definitely a big investment from the
authority to do a project like this. Um,
like I mentioned, we wanted to extend
the life of three man-made stock ponds
that were built in the early 1960s, late
1950s, and enhance habitat for species
we knew that were using the ponds, which
were western pond turtle and California
red-legged frog.
Um, the project um was a significant
investment, about a million-doll
project, quite a bit of staff time. Um
however about 40% was grant funded um
which is great to see and on both
projects we engaged a number of partners
that I'll talk about more.
So first up is the stepping stone
project. This is the location. Laguna
Secika is a historic wetland in North
Coyote Valley. Um the figure on the
right is the historical ecology. The
wetland used to extend over a mile long
from north to south and it used to have
perennial parts to it. um and now it is
quite a bit smaller in extent and um the
time that water sticks around later into
the season. So the habitat has been
degraded in various ways. Um, a little
bit of historical context on that is in
1916 they started the reclamation of
Laguna Secika where they drained the
wetland in about 10 different ways, all
the ways that they knew how in order to
try to um clear the land for farming and
other developments. This is a machine
that dug a really big ditch right to the
center of the wetland and they um
connected it to other canals and
drainage ditches. Um,
this is you can kind of see here on the
photo there's like a white line that you
can see on this vegetation. That's where
the water stood before they dug that
ditch. So, we have evidence that the
water used to be at least 4 feet high.
Now, it doesn't really get anywhere near
that for a long period of time.
Um, this is a photo of them digging um
ditches and installing what we call tile
drains. These are underground drains
that extend that drainage network out
into the wetland area and um funnel all
that water into the drainage ditch.
And they also removed and burned
vegetation including willows and tulies.
So quite on this wetland and this is
kind of our current landscape that we're
working with. You can see the extent of
the wetland is much smaller. Um there's
that artificial drainage channel right
in the middle. There's also now a
connection to Coyote Creek, which wasn't
there historically. So everything on
this landscape is designed to shuttle
water off as fast as possible um rather
than sticking around for the benefit of
wildlife.
And so when I refer to the drainage
channel, that's kind of what I'm talking
about. And then the general wetland area
you can see is what's wetted in this
picture in the winter.
So our goals with the stepping stone
project, like I mentioned, it was a
pilot project. We really wanted to get
out there and explore and restore some
of that natural hydrarology. We were
particularly interested in those tile
drains. Um we wanted to know are the
tile drains from 1916 still functioning?
Are they there? Um we also had evidence
that potentially more tile drains were
put on to expand that system. So we
wanted to kind of fact check that. We
also wanted to modify that artificial
drainage channel. It's it's super um
super straight and super um kind of
homogeneous and gets water out as fast
as possible. We wanted to use a
technique called beaver dam analogs. And
I'll show you some photos in a minute,
but to help back water up and keep it
from draining out so so fast.
So, this is a complex and beautiful
figure. I'm going to walk you through
what it's showing. We went out there in
the wetland with an excavator and I
watched our equipment mechanic operator
dig holes for several days and um all
these lines on the map here are where we
thought we might find something
interesting. um be that a a tile drain
from 1916 or which is the yellow and
purple lines or the um the orange lines
which we thought would be PVC pipes from
uh additional construction drawings that
we found um that we thought were
installed sometime after 1950.
So quite an extensive drainage network.
Um and we wanted to see firstly if the
the tile drains from 1916 were there and
they were which was really interesting.
Um though largely we found that they
were not intact. A lot of them appeared
to be collapsed but it was really cool
that we were able to georreerence these
blueprints from over a hundred years ago
and pretty much nail it with where we uh
dug into the ground. So that was really
neat.
Um, we found tile drain one. So, the one
by the tree line here, uh, the one
that's making a T in the center, we
actually were not able to locate. So,
that means it was either removed at some
point or never put in. So, um, either
way, that's really good information to
know.
Um, digging around the orange and green
lines, we expected to find PVC pipes.
Um, and we didn't find PVC pipes. What
we found um were these uh linear
features of gravel. So this is a wetland
that has clay soils. These gravels are
obviously put there by humans. Um so
this was a really interesting and
unexpected finding and we found them
usually right where we expected to find
the VC pipes. Really interesting because
they were holding on to a lot of water.
You can see in this photo on the right
we dug in one area hit a pocket of
gravel. bunch of water would gush in and
then just a couple feet over we where
there's the water would be much much
lower. Um so you know and they appeared
to sort of be linear and going towards
the drainage channel. So that was an
interesting finding. Um
and not all of them had water um but
most of them did and they tended to be
concentrated near the center of the
wetland.
So, um, our findings here, you know,
tile drains no longer functional. We
probably don't have to worry much about
them in our future restoration planning.
Um, we only found PVC pipes in one area.
So, it's definitely uh our image of
where we thought the PVC pipes would be
was not accurate and it's definitely not
as extensive as we thought. And we have
this gravel that we're going to have to
deal with um in in future restoration
scenarios. So, it's good to know that
it's there. Good to know that it's
shuttling water away from the wetland to
some extent. So, we'll have to think
about how we want to address that in
future restoration planning.
So, finding complete. Um, the next thing
that we did for the stepping stone
project was build these beaver d logs or
BDAS. So, these are structures that
mimic the natural function of beaver
dams in the wild. So they back up water,
they create habitat complexity,
um they keep water around for longer
into the season. So they're basically
made out of um vegetated branches and
dirt, kind of like a lasagna. You just
keep stacking them on top of each other
and it creates a mound that spans the
channel. Um BDAS are a really hot topic
in the world of restoration right now
because they're simple, cost effective,
you can build them with materials on
site, um and they're easily modified or
removed. So, it was cool to try out this
technique on our land, and I hope we can
continue doing this um into the future.
These are some photos of us building it.
We had a lot of people from partnering
organizations come out and help, and
that's a good thing because it's really
labor intensive to build these, but also
super rewarding. This is a picture of um
what they look like completed. You can
see there's logs that are stacked on the
downstream end to kind of give the
structure some weight and hold it in
place.
And this is a post rain photo from
December. So you can kind of see the
water on the upstream side is maybe a
little bit higher. And I'll be
particularly interested to see how this
performs when the water starts to draw
down in the spring. The goal is to keep
more water on the upstream side rather
than it going down the drainage channel.
So I'll continue monitoring these and
see if they're effective and see if it's
something we want to replicate in other
areas.
So again, I'm going to keep monitoring
the site. I think this project provided
a lot of valuable information and
experience for our staff. Um, we're
going to maintain the BDAS, maybe um,
build them up a little bit higher in the
springtime. And like I said, hopefully
future phases of this stepping stone
project in the Laguna Sega area will
continue.
Moving on to our second project, which
is the Rancho Ponds project.
They're about a half a mile from each
other. Pond one is quite big. It's about
an acre and it's very deep. Um the issue
there was that the burm was leaking and
there were a ton of invasive catfish. Uh
making it really difficult for any
native frogs and amphibians to have a
sustainable population. So, we wanted to
drain the pond to actually do the
construction work with the added benefit
of killing off all those invasive fish
and um repair the berm by lining it with
a with a kind of a waterproof liner
essentially. Pond seven and 10 are much
smaller and they're very similar. um
more of a classic stock pond in the
sense that they just they they all
typically need maintenance every so
often to because they sediment in over
time and they become much less of a
pond. So, you kind of got to muck them
out. Um and there were also some erosion
issues going on there.
Um, before we worked on any of the
ponds, we had to drain them and we had
to relocate some of the critters that
were living in them, which was a little
bit chaotic and a really interesting
experience. Um, and also a really great
window into what was living in there.
So, really good some baseline data. You
can see at pond one, this is where the
all those catfish were. There were
almost no or tree frogs or red-legged
frogs or really anything. We do have a
good western pond turtle population
there, but only because they're big
enough to not get eaten by a catfish.
Um, so that was a really eye opening
thing to see. Pond 7 had a lot more
diversity than we expected. We found
adult and um, uh, juvenile and tadpole
uh, red-legged frogs there, as well as
western pond turtles, which we were not
expecting. We relocated um all the
adults and all the tadpoles that we
could downstream to Yagas Creek so they
would have a chance to um still stay
alive and hopefully they or their
children or grandchildren can make their
way back up to the ponds in the future.
So, not as cute as a badger, but still
has a special place in my heart. This is
the California red-legged frog. Um on
the left is an adult female. She's not
too happy to be taken out of her pond,
but there she is surveying her new
kingdom in Yagas Creek. And I told her
to to come on back up in a few months.
Um, and this is on the on the um right
hand side. There's a red-legged frog
tadpole. You can see the one on the
right is just starting to grow legs.
They undergo this incredible
metamorphosis where they um convert from
essentially getting oxygen and water to
on land and they grow legs and absorb
their tail and it's pretty alien stuff.
These are the pond turtles. We found
some really tiny cute ones. Help them
get relocated. The one on the bottom
left is actually self- relocating
[snorts] which is how the majority of
the ones from the big pond pond number
one uh got out. They're actually adapted
to do that. They go up into the uplands
and they dig a hole and they just wait
for it to start raining and then they
make their way back to the pond. We've
already seen them back in the pond this
year, which is really great.
So, I just have a few before and after
photos, and I'm going to start with the
two small ponds because they're a little
more straightforward. Um, this is
before. You can see there's a lot of
vegetation in there. Not really much of
a pond anymore. And this is after. Um, I
was worried about those tulies, but
they're already starting to come back.
They're pretty aggressive growers.
And it's a little tough to see in this
photo, but this is where we repaired the
burm. Essentially, where the burm
collapsed was our um was our new outfall
location, which was not good. Um and
this is uh after.
So, this is that collapsed berm. A
little bit more of a closeup. And this
is repaired.
There was also quite a bit of um erosion
issues with this outfall pipe. So, we um
relocated the outfall pipe, put in this
new overflow structure um and relocated
it away from the old head cut and
erosion area and took the pipe all the
way down the hillside so that hopefully
we um won't experience that same type of
erosion.
Pond 10's very similar. This is a before
picture and after. So, the pond is a bit
deepened. It's a little bit wider. Um,
we installed fencing around both of
these ponds as well to protect from
cattle impacts.
So, before from this angle, we put in um
a lot of container plants, which I'll
talk about a little bit more in a
second. There's a floating turtle ramp
in the center of that pond where the
turtles can bask if they choose to come
on over.
This is looking into the pond. There
were there was actually no um like
formal spillway or outflow structure. it
was kind of just sliding off and
creating a really big head cut. So, we
installed an overflow pipe. Um on the
left is the the old erosion. Um and then
on the right is the the new outflow
pipe.
Pond one was kind of our trickiest pond.
Um in some ways it's the biggest one.
It's about an acre and it's in a very
steep valley.
The reason we did this is because the
burm that's pictured here on the left
was leaking. The photo on the right is
just some um photo evidence of water
seeping through the burm in previous
years.
So what we were doing was installing a
bentonite clay liner on the burm from
about where the first person is standing
to where the furthest person is
standing, maybe a little bit more in. Um
we had to drain the pond first, which
actually proved to be pretty
complicated. It's a lot of water and
it's really wet even after all the water
is gone. There was a lot of this just
kind of standing around looking at the
ponds. When's it going to dry out?
Because you really couldn't walk more
than two feet into the pond without
sinking up to your waist. It was a real
safety hazard, much less getting a
20,000lb excavator out there. So, there
was a lot of back and forth of like, how
do we dry out the pond and can we get
machinery out there and what are the
logistics of this going to look like? Um
there was about 3 to four feet of
unexpected
clay sediment built up over the last 60
70 years of everything washing down into
this valley. So um we had to actually
remove all that mud and sediment out of
the way before we could even begin
placing the bentonite liner. So it was
pretty logistically complicated but an
interesting case.
So, this is once they got that mock out
of the way, um, this is them starting to
put these bags of bentonite onto the
pond. Um, and then they just mix it with
the native soil and kind of compress it
back in. And the bentonite when it's
exposed to water, it gets um, it
essentially just becomes like really
tight and compact and prevents water
from uh, [clears throat] seeping into
the burm and acts as a waterproof layer.
So, three excavators walk into a bar.
Here's what they're all doing. The top
left is doing what I just said. It's
mixing that bentonite with the top layer
of soil. The one on the right is
clearing out all of the the sediment so
that we can even get to the base layer
of the pond. And the one at the bottom
is digging a cut off trench. So, that's
kind of the end of the liner. And it
forces all the water to go beneath the
liner instead of through the burm. So, a
complicated and graceful dance of
machinery in this very small confined
area.
And because we had to move all uh all
the sediment to work on the actual pond
bottom, we had to do one half. We had to
move all the sediment to one side, do
one half, and then flop it back over and
then do the other half. So, it was kind
of a creative solution and um worked out
well despite a lot of uh uncertainty in
the beginning. So, here's some after
photos. I will say these are from
November since all the rain we just got.
This pond is completely full, way sooner
than expected, which has presented a few
challenges, but I am happy to have
received the rain.
So, here's some after photos. Got some
erosion control blanket on the work
area. floating turtle ramps in here as
well.
Some plantings here, too.
All the ponds uh have water depth gauges
installed and fencing installed. Now,
here's a closeup of those turtle basking
ramps. I hope they use them. Um and then
we also seated some areas of disturbance
in the project work site.
So, here's some photos. We partnered
with the student conservation
association. They came out and helped
with our with some fencing. So they
worked alongside our field staff. This
is a great opportunity for them to learn
about the conservation field,
do some projects on the land.
We also worked with the San Jose
Conservation Corps to install um 2600
plants across the three ponds. This was
no easy feat. It was a really big
planting project. So here are some
examples of the species that we planted.
They're all wetland water loving plants.
Here's some We got some really great
photos of the core coming out to help
us. Pretty tough planting conditions,
more of a remote site. They did a really
amazing job and it's really rewarding to
work with these young people who are
kind of just getting their foot in the
door with conservation. And our field
staff worked alongside them, which was
really, really helpful.
Found a big mushroom.
And while that was happening, our field
staff was working diligently in really
challenging conditions to install the
irrigation that's going to supply water
to these plants in the dry season and
what we thought would be before the pond
fills up, though that happened a lot
quicker than we thought.
So really a lot of gratitude to them. We
also had two volunteer days with the
public. So they came out and helped us
plant
a really fun project.
So, there'll be a five-year monitoring
and maintenance period. Um, we're going
to be looking at various things to
determine the success of the project.
Um, do the pond stay and the BMS stay
stable? Um, do all of those fun species
come back? Do we have NES and tree frogs
and red-legged frogs and western pond
turtles? And how long does it take? Are
their populations able to expand? Um, do
invasive species like bullfrogs come in?
um what's the vegetation cover and
success looking like after our plantings
and there's a lot of features to
maintain. Um so it'll be continue to be
a significant commitment from us over
the next few years but I think and I and
I hope it'll be a really worthwhile
commitment. It's been a really cool
project.
So here's just the summary slide again
to kind of um wrap things up comparing
and contrasting the two projects. um
similar in nature but very different in
the way they were executed and the in
the sites and the challenges that each
one presented.
I encourage you if you haven't seen
these, our communications team did a
really awesome job um publicizing this
work this summer. Feel really grateful
to them as well. These are really cool
videos that show some um some visuals
from the project and some some
interviews so you can get um insight
into specific components.
And our BDAS were featured in Nature
magazine which is really cool I think.
Um the article is about uh nature-based
solutions to flooding in urban areas. Um
so I hope that our humble little BDAS
can spark some greater conversation. um
about restoration like this and make it
more accessible for other people to um
to do this as well.
And lastly, I just want to point out the
partnerships that we had on these two
projects. Um for the building the BDAS,
we had representatives from POST, the
San Monteo Resource Conservation
District, City of San Jose, the Habitat
Agency, and Valley Water all come out
and physically help us build the BDAS,
which was really special. um and a great
learning exchange between agencies and
organizations.
Um and we worked with a great um company
called Nature's Engineers. They do they
specialize in BDAS and restoration work
like this and do a lot of great beaver
advocacy work in San Lucispo. Um and it
was awesome to to make a connection with
them. Um, like I mentioned before, the
Student Conservation Association and the
San Jose Conservation Corps came out to
help with the Rancho project and Point
Blue and Valley Water were both funders
of that project. So, you know, there's
the element of all the technical things
we did on the land to help um you know,
the the critters out there, but there's
also the ecosystem of people and um the
relationships we were able to build and
bolster that will help further this work
in our organization and also in the
region. So, I find that to be a really
rewarding part of these projects as
well. So, um, with that, I'd be happy to
take any questions and comments you have
about either project. And thanks for
listening.
>> Thank you very much, Rachel. Great
» Thank you very much, Rachel. Great
presentation.
>> Thanks.
» Thanks.
>> Um,
» Um,
Renet,
>> yeah,
» yeah,
sort of following along some of the
videos came before. It was kind of cool
to see that. Looking forward to going
out there and watching some critters for
around. Well done. Thank you. Thanks
>> Matthews.
» Matthews.
>> Good project. Good presentation.
» Great great presentation. Thank you very
much. I want to know when we can go out
there. I want to see this.
>> Yeah. Um I would love to to host a host
» Yeah. Um I would love to to host a host
a board outing. We I think we took one
of the committees out there. I can't
remember which one.
>> Which one?
» Which one?
>> Our expenditure oversight committ. Yeah,
» Our expenditure oversight committ. Yeah,
we took the expenditure plan and
oversight committee out there last year.
>> The board could come out. That'd be
» The board could come out. That'd be
really fun. Maybe we could put you to
work doing some weeding, too.
>> I'd be I'd be happy to do a tour.
» No question. So, thank you for the great
presentation.
>> Thanks, Dr. Gil.
» Thanks, Dr. Gil.
>> Um,
» Um,
no question, no comments, but really a
great presentation. Thank you. Thanks.
>> I have a question and this is me not
» I have a question and this is me not
understanding what I was hearing.
If it's a is it a stock pond and does
that mean it's there to provide water
for cattle?
>> Yes. So that is why the ponds were
» Yes. So that is why the ponds were
originally built when the land was
exclusively used for ranching. Um so
there's stock ponds. It's pretty common
in a lot of our preserves in this
region. Um, and some of them still are
used for cattle as well as habitat. And
that's kind of a sometimes a delicate
balance, but it definitely is possible
for them to be used for both
>> because you fenced them off.
» because you fenced them off.
>> That's correct.
» That's correct.
>> So, they're not they're still called
» So, they're not they're still called
stock ponds, but they're not available
for cattle.
>> Yeah. So, the the big pond can still be
» Yeah. So, the the big pond can still be
used for cattle. We're fencing some
portions of it off. the burm we're going
to keep cattle off just for the
stability of that construction project,
but they'll still have access to other
parts of the pond. And then pond 7, they
have actually been off that for a while.
Because of that, there's some
geotechnical concerns around that pond.
Um, and it may not last forever. So,
we're trying to keep the cattle off that
one. Um, but pond 10, it is fenced off
that there is a gate. So, we could work
with the grazer to do some flash grazing
inside the pond at certain times. And
then where does the water come from
besides the rain?
>> Um yeah, so that's a great question. I
» Um yeah, so that's a great question. I
would say with pond 10, it primarily
comes from rain, like surface water. Um
pond 7 and pond one definitely have a
strong groundwater component. There's
actually a spring up on that ridge. So
we found that um those two ponds
actually we had to continuously pump
them out during construction. So there
is a source of water even in the the dry
season at least during you know average
or above average precipitation years.
>> Thank you.
» Thank you.
>> And then
» And then
my last comment was that what a great
way to train people on how to use heavy
equipment. That was really impressive
seeing those big things out there. And
um it's not everywhere where you can get
that kind of training and experience. So
I find that to be just a huge benefit of
this organization that we can train and
use that kind of labor and trained labor
force.
>> Thank you.
» Thank you.
>> Yeah. Yeah. I will say the Rancho
» Yeah. Yeah. I will say the Rancho
project, we had a contractor come out
and do it, but they were an incredible
contractor. They they are a restoration
specific contractor, Triangle Land
Restoration. And I felt really grateful
to be able to work with them because
they've done a lot of um a lot of
similar projects and it's not standard
work to be in remote, steep, rocky
conditions like that where you're having
to work so closely together. It's a
little unconventional. Um and yeah, I
also feel really proud of our staff for
doing the work um on the stepping stone
project. It was a great learning
opportunity for all of us, you know,
equipment and by hand. So, I feel felt
really supported by our field team. They
are super competent.
>> And for the major most people who live
» And for the major most people who live
in the valley, when we see big equipment
like that, it's going to be building
something downtown and it's nice to see
it being used out preserving wildland.
So, thank you very much.
>> Yeah.
» Yeah.
>> And I think Director Matthews,
» And I think Director Matthews,
>> yeah, I did have a question. You
» yeah, I did have a question. You
mentioned removing a lot of the species
to do the pond restoration and then you
mentioned you were hoping they would
find their way back. Why wouldn't you
just introduce Why wouldn't you give
them a helping hand with that?
>> Yeah, just put one in my pocket and
» Yeah, just put one in my pocket and
um that could maybe be something to
consider in the future. Um there's a lot
of
I you could say complicated or
protective measures for species um for
actually handling the species. um you
have to have a qualified biologist who
has proper like permits and training to
even um handle the species at all. We
had to work with biologists to relocate
them. So, it's more of an extensive
process to do what you would call like a
reintroduction um to the ponds. Um I
have a lot of confidence that nes and
tree frogs will be returning. In fact,
I've I've already seen it. Um, and I
know turtles are coming back to pond
one. Um, my main thing that I'm
concerned about is the red-legged frog.
So, I think maybe it's a case of we wait
a couple years and see. Um, if they
because if they found their way there,
they're they're pretty resilient and um,
they should be able to find their way
back. So, I feel I feel good about that.
And maybe if it's been a few years,
that's why we have that fiveyear
monitoring period. and then maybe we
could look into additional options. But
it would be there'd be some logistics to
consider in in bringing them back to the
ponds from from Yagas Creek. The first
of which would be finding them. But
>> yeah, [clears throat] so yeah, good it's
» yeah, [clears throat] so yeah, good it's
a good good thing to think about.
>> That's
» That's
the chair if I may add one thing. Um,
you know, uh, the board may recall some
of the trail planning work at Rancho and
some of the presentations that Jen on
our staff has led. Um, all of those
trails, all the versions of them go by
Pond 7. So, um, whenever that project is
is ready or you're doing tours related
to that project, you'll drive right by
it. So, it's a good opportunity to see
it. Um the other thing I'll I'll just
kind of belabor even though Rachel
mentioned it is that you know a lot of
restoration work takes a long time. Um I
think you know six years in the case of
the ponds project plus five years of
monitoring right I mean this is like big
portions of people's careers. So um just
to you know understand how how long this
work takes for a bunch of reasons from
the design phase to the permitting to
the contracting to the biology to the
cultural resources. Um you know we don't
make widgets here and there's there's a
reason that that time period can get up.
Um the other thing I'll mention is you
know just that that's an a million
dollar project. You saw those all that
dirt and all that equipment and that's
and that's money. Um, you know, about
half of that or so was was funded by
Valley Water, a grant from them. Um, and
then a smaller portion was was a project
with Point Blue, which is a
long-standing partnership relationship
with their straw program that connects
students and teachers to watershed
restoration. So, um, you know, and just
time to I think Rachel told me the other
day that this last year she spent 950
hours on the Rancho project. So, you
know, that's like half of an employee,
right? And this is uh I don't want to
speak for you, but the maybe the biggest
project in your career.
>> Yeah, definitely. And yeah, the 900
» Yeah, definitely. And yeah, the 900
hours, I guess, is since I started, so
maybe two years, but still a really good
chunk of time. And definitely the
biggest project that I have personally
managed and um a lot so many different
it's so interdisciplinary. I've really
learned a lot about a I learned a little
about a lot of things, I'll say. And it
was I had also had to you know
coordinate with a lot of different
people. So big learning experience for
me personally and I think for the
organization and just in terms of what
it takes to do a project like this.
>> So kudos to Rachel for you know taking
» So kudos to Rachel for you know taking
[snorts] this one through. A lot of
complications all along the way. Um you
know but trusting staff with a million
dollars and a bunch of endangered
species is a big deal. So
» yeah. All right. Thank you all.
>> Thank you.
» Thank you.
>> Um, do we have any members of the public
» Um, do we have any members of the public
who would like to comment on this item?
There are none. Thank you. Uh, this item
isformational and there's no board
action needed. So, thank you very much.
And I think we are now ready to move on
to committee meeting summaries or there
will no there were no committee meetings
since the December meeting. So, there
are none. And nowformational reports
beginning with general manager.
>> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um I'm going to
» Thank you, Madam Chair. Um I'm going to
defer to Mark uh to start our report
outs.
>> And I'm going to hand it to
» And I'm going to hand it to
Heritage Oaks.
>> Thank you, Mark. U Lucas Shawheimer,
» Thank you, Mark. U Lucas Shawheimer,
planning design construction manager
again. um [clears throat] provide a
brief update, excuse me, on the proposed
Heritage Oak Cemetery project in the
city of San Jose. Um staff brought this
item to your board, I think it was in
October, uh and the board provided
direction for us to review the project
supplemental air findings. Um as well as
uh provide comments and do outreach to
local and state elected officials as we
see fit. um based on the findings. Um so
um basically in uh December 17th uh the
supplemental ER was released by the city
of San Jose for public comment. Uh staff
working closely with legal council uh is
reviewing the supplemental er findings
and preparing comments. Um the proposed
uh schedule is the public comment period
will close uh in February 18th, 2016.
Um [clears throat] NOSA will provide a
comment letter prior to that. We were
informed by uh city staff that the
project um and determination of adequacy
of the findings will go to a planning
director's hearing. Um and uh the date
of that is TBD. uh it would be following
the close of the uh comment period and
then preparation of the final E. So
we'll be tracking that very closely. Um
so as I mentioned, OSA is planning to
provide a comment letter um at that uh
public comment period and then it goes
to the director's hearing at which OSA
would plan to provide a comment letter
and depending on the decision at that
point of the planning director whether
to uh accept the supplemental e or not
um OSA would plan to potentially file an
appeal of that. Um, if that were the
case, uh, we would file the appeal for,
um, uh, appeal of that and it would go
to the city of the San Jose City
Council, uh, for final, uh, approval of
the supplemental ER. Um, and there's
actually two approvals. There's a
supplemental Y and then the project
approval for the plan development permit
which would both of those items would go
to the director hearing and if appealed
the city council hearing.
» Okay,
that's thanks Lucas. Do we have any
other managers with report outs? Pardon
me. Elizabeth,
>> just a quick bit of good news. In the
» just a quick bit of good news. In the
fall, we submitted our renewal
application for a CSDA transparency
certificate of excellence. And we're
excited to share that we received notice
in late December that our application
was approved. Uh just this certificate
commemorates the authorities's continued
dedication to being transparent and open
and accessible to the public. So, we're
very excited to uh have a renewal of
this and we'll be coordinating at the
time with CSDA for them to come and
present the certificate to the board at
a future meeting in the coming month.
That's it.
» A bare natural resources manager. Um,
just real quick, um, obviously you see
the excellent work my team is up to, so
I don't need to cover that, but um, I'll
share, um, just last week, uh, for for a
couple years running now, we've worked
in partnership with the California
Department of Fish and Wildlife to
track, um, elk on the various properties
that we own and manage in Coyote Ridge.
Um, got this nice note. Thanks again for
coordinating and permitting CDFW to use
OSA property for a helicopter base camp.
Yesterday we were able to collar an
additional five cows and two bulls in
the vicinity of Kite Ridge south of
Anderson Lake. There's a total of 13 10
cows and three bulls out collared in
this area. Now we're also able to collar
another eight elk in herds to the east
and to the north. So Lillian did a good
job of describing the different methods
of understanding where wildlife moved.
Um this is obviously a little bit more
exciting with the helicopter and
tranquilizers and all of that, but um it
it really does help us sort of uh
understand the the landscape. Um the
other thing I'll report is that um staff
is working very hard to um develop some
of the alternatives for the board's
consideration. We'll talk about that at
a future board meeting, next boarding
meeting. So looking forward to sharing
that. Um, another thing I'll mention is
um, staff has presented in the past
about um, the county's rural zoning
update um, which is very complicated
topic on a number of fronts. Um, and
similarly at the same time uh, you may
recall that Anna on my team has also
started our agricultural strategic plan
and uh, members of the public who don't
you know always know their alphabet soup
of government agencies do get us
confused a little bit. So, um, some of
the broad concern that people have about
the rural zoning update, maybe
particularly in the equestrian community
or other sort of niche groups, um, some
of that is confusion is coming our way.
So, we're doing our best to get talking
points out there just to make sure for
folks to know who's on first and what
our work is about versus what the
county's works are about. Um, and I I'm
telling the board, so in case you hear
anything, um, please direct it to staff
and we can, um, help help guide them in
the right direction for what resources
they might need with the county or if
they are in fact interested in our
agricultural work that we can share that
as well. Thank you.
>> Through the chair, I think uh, Erin just
» Through the chair, I think uh, Erin just
uh, reminded me of something. If your
board remembers, I don't know exactly
which board meeting it was in the fall,
you approved anou and a $30,000
uh contract of support with the
University of California Cooperative
Extension for agricultural marketing to
help the public understand better the
importance of our working lands, our
local food, what farmers do, etc. And
that was called for in the Santa Clara
Valley. um a plan which we were a
co-author of and Alex sat on the
technical advisory committee for that.
So Julie Morris of UC Cooperative
Extension is leading that up. They've
come up with [clears throat] their
marketing and branding strategy for
agriculture. Um we're helping them out
with that and um they're trying to take
advantage of some of the big sporting
events and other things where people are
coming to San Jose. So you keep your
eyes peeled. you may start to see uh
billboards about natural and working
lands on uh billboards along Highway 101
um in the very near future. Thanks.
>> Thank you.
» Thank you.
>> And through through the chair, if I may,
» And through through the chair, if I may,
I have two more quick project
announcements uh that are worth
mentioning. Uh the first is our Rancho
Canada Regional Trails Pro expansion
project which Aaron mentioned earlier.
Uh we'll be releasing on the 16th an RFP
for SQUA uh for an environmental
consultant for that project. We'll begin
that analysis. Uh and then the second
big one is the um your board tonight uh
adopted uh the NEPA documents for the
Kite Valley Open Space Preserve uh
public access improvements project. uh
we'll be transmitting that now to the
county of Santa Clara and that will go
to the uh county of Santa Clair Board of
Supervisors on February 23rd is the plan
for their approval and that would be the
final hurdle we need for a $800,000
grant from the federal government from
HUD for that. Um so that's a big
milestone. And then uh related to that,
on January 23rd, uh we plan to issue a
request for construction bids for the
construction project.
» Thank you, Madam Chair. I was looking at
Helen and now I have to kind [laughter]
of shift shift my games.
» [laughter]
» I believe there is no legal report.
>> How'd you guess?
» How'd you guess?
>> It says no legal report on my cheat
» It says no legal report on my cheat
sheet. [laughter]
» I'll surprise you sometime.
>> And [clears throat] then uh board member
» And [clears throat] then uh board member
reports.
>> Hi there, Alex.
» Hi there, Alex.
>> Nothing really happened since our last
» Nothing really happened since our last
meeting. I wish everybody a happy new
year and it's going to be negative soon.
No reports you
um no I'm just looking forward to a very
vibrant and exciting 2026 for a lot of
reasons.
» Oh thank you Alex for nominating me but
I want to say congratulation to our
newly elected chair
Dr. Southerntherland and then newly
elected vice chair director Domingus
right so thank you very much and we will
work together and will we achieve many
many task this year's
right
>> and then I would just like to report
» and then I would just like to report
that I did go to Patrick Erin's assembly
member Erin's holiday event and had a
table there with open space information
Um, and to remind all of us as board
members to please, if you have a few
minutes, reach out to the other electeds
that you share areas in the district
with, just to give an update on the
great work that we are doing. There are
sheets to that we can pass out. We can
leave behind the coloring books. It's
it's just like I think a yearly check-in
with folks would be great just so we
stay on everybody's top of mind because
there are so many other distractions out
there but we would be a happy
distraction
>> and um yeah thank you madam chair I
» and um yeah thank you madam chair I
really appreciate what you just said um
and uh and yeah agree I think it's great
to make those uh connections on an
ongoing basis with our elected leaders
in each of your respective districts and
I also wanted to mention that Charlotte,
our public information manager, has set
up two outreach to go boxes, which they
don't have sandwiches or anything in
them, but they've got um the kit that if
you are um going to an event and say
it's near-term, so it's not on our
long-term schedule or including
volunteers, you just want to go, it's
got a tablecloth, uh collateral, pins,
giveaways, um everything you need to, uh
put up [clears throat] a table at one of
those events. I know director you have
done that.
>> Really nice.
» Really nice.
>> Yeah.
» Thank you. Any other
comments?
Then I think I will adjourn the meeting
at 8:16.