[0:01] Yeah, I just
[32:18] and happy new year. I would like to call
[32:21] the board of directors meeting for the
[32:23] Vander Valley Open Space Authority to
[32:25] order. It's January 8th, 2020 minutes.
[32:32] » Director Tank
[32:33] >> here.
[32:34] » here.
[32:34] >> Director Matthews
[32:35] » Director Matthews
[32:35] >> here.
[32:36] » here.
[32:36] >> Director Chapman
[32:37] » Director Chapman
[32:37] >> here.
[32:37] » here.
[32:37] >> Director Sutherland
[32:38] » Director Sutherland
[32:38] >> here. Director Dominguez
[32:39] » here. Director Dominguez
[32:39] >> here.
[32:40] » here.
[32:40] >> Director Gil. Yes, I'm good.
[32:44] » Director Gil. Yes, I'm good.
[32:44] >> Okay, excellent. This portion of the
[32:47] » Okay, excellent. This portion of the
[32:47] meeting is reserved for persons desiring
[32:48] to address the board on any matter not
[32:50] on the agenda. Speakers are limited to
[32:52] three minutes. Do we have anyone either
[32:54] via Zoom or in person
[32:58] strangely?
[33:05] All righty then. We'll then move on to
[33:08] the approval of the December 11th
[33:11] meeting minutes.
[33:12] >> Move to approve.
[33:14] » Move to approve.
[33:14] >> I'll second.
[33:22] » Uh, Director Kent,
[33:24] >> yes.
[33:24] » yes.
[33:24] >> Director Matthews,
[33:25] » Director Matthews,
[33:25] >> yes. Director Chapman,
[33:27] » yes. Director Chapman,
[33:27] >> yes.
[33:27] » yes.
[33:27] >> Director Sutherland, yes. Director
[33:29] » Director Sutherland, yes. Director
[33:29] Dominguez, yes. Director Gil,
[33:31] >> yes.
[33:33] » yes.
[33:33] >> That motion pass unison. Great.
[33:36] » That motion pass unison. Great.
[33:36] All right. Now we'll move on to the
[33:38] approval of the consent items. There are
[33:41] two items from consent. Does anybody
[33:43] wish to pull any items from the consent
[33:45] calendar?
[33:49] Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion.
[33:51] I'll [clears throat] move approval for
[33:52] the consent calendar.
[33:55] Second.
[33:59] Okay. Okay. So, we have a motion from
[34:01] Director Matthews with a second by
[34:02] Director Dominguez.
[34:05] >> Director Kennet,
[34:06] » Director Kennet,
[34:06] >> yes.
[34:06] » yes.
[34:06] >> Director Matthews,
[34:07] » Director Matthews,
[34:07] >> yes.
[34:08] » yes.
[34:08] >> Director Chapman,
[34:09] » Director Chapman,
[34:09] >> yes.
[34:09] » yes.
[34:09] >> Director Sutherland,
[34:10] » Director Sutherland,
[34:10] >> yes. Director Dominguez,
[34:12] » yes. Director Dominguez,
[34:12] >> yes.
[34:12] » yes.
[34:12] >> Director Gail,
[34:13] » Director Gail,
[34:13] >> yes.
[34:14] » yes.
[34:14] >> That passes unanimously. We are moving
[34:17] » That passes unanimously. We are moving
[34:17] right along.
[34:19] And the next item, business,
[34:23] is to be approved a resolution
[34:25] recognizing district 5 director Vicki
[34:29] Alexander for her years of service to
[34:31] the Santa Clair Valley Open Space
[34:32] Authority.
[34:34] >> Mark, are you going to lead us offer?
[34:36] » Mark, are you going to lead us offer?
[34:36] >> Good evening, directors. Mark Landraph,
[34:38] » Good evening, directors. Mark Landraph,
[34:38] assistant general manager. I invite the
[34:40] hen baton to our general manager.
[34:44] >> Sorry, I pulled rank on Mark tonight. I
[34:46] » Sorry, I pulled rank on Mark tonight. I
[34:46] uh
[34:48] bother
[34:49] >> [laughter]
[34:49] » [laughter]
[34:49] >> I wanted to be able to do this. Good
[34:51] » I wanted to be able to do this. Good
[34:51] evening, directors. Um, it's my honor
[34:54] this evening to bring before you a
[34:56] resolution of the governing board of the
[34:58] Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority
[35:01] recognizing District 5 Director Vicky
[35:03] Alexander for her years of service to
[35:06] the Santa Clara Valley Open Space
[35:07] Authority.
[35:10] Whereas Vicky Alexander was appointed to
[35:12] the Santa Clara Valley Open Space
[35:14] Authority Citizens Advisory Committee by
[35:17] the board of directors as its district 5
[35:20] representative on August 22nd, 2019
[35:24] and was elected CAC chairperson in 2021
[35:27] and 2022.
[35:30] And whereas Vicki was appointed to the
[35:31] district 5 position on the open space
[35:34] authority board of directors on February
[35:37] 24th, 2022 and was elected vice
[35:40] chairperson in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
[35:45] And whereas Vicki submitted her
[35:47] resignation announcement on December
[35:49] 4th, 2025, indicating her impending
[35:52] resignation for the board of directors
[35:54] effective midnight on December 11th,
[35:57] 2025.
[35:59] Whereas Vicki taught fourth grade
[36:01] classes at Linhaven Elementary School in
[36:04] the Campbell Union High School District
[36:06] and also provided English as a second
[36:08] language instruction through
[36:10] Metropolitan Adult Education in San
[36:12] Jose.
[36:14] And whereas Vicki served in leadership
[36:16] roles at her family business in Santa
[36:17] Clara for over 27 years.
[36:20] And whereas Vicki has served as a member
[36:22] of the board of directors for the League
[36:24] of Women Voters for over five years and
[36:27] has led or co-led multiple initiatives
[36:29] related to climate and local governance
[36:32] within that capacity.
[36:34] And whereas Vicki was known by
[36:36] colleagues on the board as a leveling
[36:38] force in that after listening to others
[36:41] on a given topic, she typically provided
[36:43] a few well-chosen words that brought
[36:45] other thoughts and opinions together.
[36:49] And whereas Vicki was considered to be
[36:51] thoughtful and articulate especially
[36:53] when dealing with sensitive you issues.
[36:56] Whereas Vicki could be relied upon to be
[36:59] wellprepared and knowledgeable
[37:00] [clears throat] on the issues to be
[37:01] discussed in a board meeting or at all
[37:05] board meetings for that matter
[37:07] especially while serving as vice
[37:08] chairperson. And whereas Vicki was a
[37:11] strong proponent of those aspects of the
[37:13] authorities's mission that relate to the
[37:16] support of agriculture and the
[37:17] enhancement of biodiversity
[37:18] [clears throat]
[37:19] and consistently expressed support for
[37:21] the AY's urban grant program.
[37:25] And whereas Vicki has been dedicated in
[37:27] her enjoyment of open space and trails,
[37:29] inspiring others to follow in her
[37:31] footsteps.
[37:34] Whereas Vicki demonstrated her
[37:35] understanding of the importance of
[37:37] maintaining solid intergovernmental
[37:39] relationships and would appear at
[37:42] numerous off-site agency events, being
[37:44] very active in welcoming guest speakers,
[37:47] including partner agency staff and any
[37:49] elected officials and their
[37:50] representatives.
[37:52] Whereas Vicki served as a role model to
[37:54] others through her steady support and
[37:57] informed comments during board meetings.
[38:01] Now therefore, be it resolved that the
[38:03] Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority
[38:06] Board of Directors honors the service of
[38:09] Director Vicky Alexander to the Open
[38:11] Space Authority and its constituents.
[38:14] Passed, approved, and adopted on January
[38:16] 8th, 2026.
[38:19] And Madame Chair, I'd like to turn it
[38:21] back over to the board for your
[38:22] discussion. And then we have a
[38:24] presentation to uh Director Alexander.
[38:29] Thank you, Andrew.
[38:33] >> I will go first, Vicki. It's been an
[38:35] » I will go first, Vicki. It's been an
[38:35] absolute honor and privilege to work
[38:37] with you, you know, as chair and vice
[38:39] chair. I think we we made a really good
[38:42] team. I will miss you solidly. We had a
[38:46] lot of good conversations. We had to
[38:47] navigate a lot of difficult things
[38:50] together. Um, I will miss your steadfast
[38:53] support of the agency, especially in
[38:55] close session. We were very principled
[38:59] and very a calm guiding voice. Sometimes
[39:02] you know we would get emotional and we
[39:04] would did you think about this
[39:08] that that is so appreciative and I I
[39:12] said I cannot
[39:14] stress enough how I will miss you and I
[39:17] look hopeful that you will um continue
[39:20] the work in other areas. You know keep
[39:21] in touch with us. Thank you. Thank you
[39:24] from the bottom of my heart. Um
[39:32] » actually I specially come today for for
[39:35] definitely I was sick. I informed the
[39:37] clerk uh I think two days ago I'm not
[39:40] attending this meeting. uh but this
[39:42] morning I feel much better and then I
[39:45] realized that oh our dear friend
[39:47] director Alexander has the last board
[39:50] meeting and I should has to be go and
[39:52] visha that's why I'm here
[39:55] as we know that director Alexander with
[39:59] us almost last four years on the board
[40:04] and during that time she did a fantastic
[40:07] job to achieve many important milestone
[40:11] to bring the agency to the next level of
[40:14] its progress.
[40:16] Thank you Vicki
[40:18] for your dedications
[40:21] and your leaderships on the board. Your
[40:24] passion really made a big difference and
[40:28] we miss you
[40:31] and I personally wishing you a
[40:34] [clears throat] great success and
[40:36] fulfill on your next endeavor. Good
[40:40] luck. God bless you and keep
[40:43] [clears throat] in touch with us. Thank
[40:44] you.
[40:49] » Doing good,
[40:50] >> Vicki. Thank you so much for your years
[40:54] » Vicki. Thank you so much for your years
[40:54] of service and leadership. And even
[40:56] though we worked together for a short
[40:58] time, um it definitely stood out that
[41:02] your your steadfast
[41:05] approach to how we handle situations and
[41:09] your calmness and more importantly your
[41:12] passion to the mission of this
[41:13] organization is really what helped us
[41:17] all work together collaboratively as a
[41:20] group. Um and it just made a real
[41:23] difference in how we all show up. So, we
[41:25] appreciate you and I'm thankful for the
[41:28] short time that we had to work together.
[41:30] I appreciate your guidance and your
[41:32] mentorship and I wish you the best and I
[41:36] hope that I could call on you anytime in
[41:39] the future if I need some support.
[41:44] » Director Matthews.
[41:46] >> Yes. Well, I'm really glad that our
[41:48] » Yes. Well, I'm really glad that our
[41:48] paths crossed however briefly. However,
[41:51] um what's great about Santa Clara County
[41:54] in general is that all of our paths are
[41:56] crossing all the time. I just learned
[41:58] that you taught ESL for Metropolitan,
[42:00] which I also did. So, I don't remember
[42:03] you exactly, probably different times,
[42:05] but there's another example of our paths
[42:07] crossing. I'm sure you're going to
[42:09] continue on your own individual path and
[42:12] do good things for the community. And um
[42:15] thank you for your service.
[42:19] and director Kenn.
[42:24] » Well, the part of uh you being the
[42:26] leveling force that was mentioned is uh
[42:29] really the truth and I appreciate you
[42:31] being that person on our board and it's
[42:35] funny that you took us through the
[42:37] pandemic and I kind of first remember
[42:40] really meeting you in person after you
[42:43] know we were able to get back. So,
[42:46] >> um I'm I'm glad you were here. I'm glad
[42:48] » um I'm I'm glad you were here. I'm glad
[42:48] you're uh moving forward to something
[42:53] um in your life that uh looking forward
[42:57] to [clears throat]
[43:00] despite uh I don't know if you feel
[43:03] guilty yet about leaving this
[43:06] in our time of need but I wish you well
[43:09] and uh good luck
[43:13] >> director
[43:15] » director
[43:15] thank you Vicki I think I've known you
[43:18] longer than almost anyone here because
[43:19] we met on the CAC.
[43:22] I remember when you came to the CAC,
[43:25] what you say about Vicki being a very
[43:27] leveling force is so true. Um, your work
[43:31] on the CAC was so important. It was so
[43:34] great to get to know you there and then
[43:37] I was so delighted
[43:40] and a little bit sad when you were going
[43:42] through the board. like a but but the
[43:46] CAC learned from you. I know you do
[43:49] great work on the board and the board
[43:51] has obviously learned from you. Your
[43:54] impact on this organization is going to
[43:57] be deep because you've gone through so
[43:59] many different steps. Um I know that
[44:02] you're going to continue to shine and do
[44:04] great things wherever you go. And I know
[44:07] that there's somebody out there who's
[44:08] probably really little who's going to
[44:10] really benefit from from you and all
[44:14] your love and and all your your love and
[44:18] calmness and and great sense of value.
[44:21] So, thank you so much for sharing your
[44:22] time with us and um knowing you're going
[44:26] to go on and do great things. Thank you.
[44:31] » That we'll bring it back to staff.
[44:37] Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, I think a
[44:39] lot of things have been said about you,
[44:40] Vicki, but I first of all, I just want
[44:42] to say thank you for your support of me
[44:45] uh and staff. Always so respectful and
[44:49] just very fruitful conversations we've
[44:51] had. I was always so impressed when we
[44:53] had our one-on- ons. You always had deep
[44:56] questions for me. you knew what was
[44:58] happening in the community, what was
[45:00] happening around the state and you
[45:02] brought that awareness to our business
[45:04] and in really thoughtful questions that
[45:07] you would ask.
[45:09] I also was so impressed with how well
[45:11] prepared you always are and especially
[45:13] in close session uh the thoughtful
[45:16] questions you would you would have and
[45:20] you were somebody said here a leveling
[45:22] force around the table to get us to yes
[45:25] or to no as the case might be. And last
[45:30] but not least, I have really enjoyed
[45:32] getting to know you as a fellow hiker
[45:34] and open space lover. Um the only thing
[45:37] is um you continue to show me up.
[45:40] [laughter] You
[45:42] you are out there like nobody's business
[45:44] hiking the trails and visiting wild
[45:47] places all over the country and the
[45:49] world and it's really impressive. Um, so
[45:52] stay in touch, keep telling us where the
[45:54] best places are and um, we'll be just
[45:57] down the trail trying to catch up with
[45:58] you. Thanks.
[46:03] » Yeah, Vicki, it's been such a pleasure
[46:05] working with you both on the CP um, and
[46:07] on the board. uh like you know has been
[46:10] said uh you've been such a a steady
[46:13] force and provided really strong
[46:15] leadership and will I will always
[46:17] appreciate that and I I learned a lot
[46:19] from from you over those years. Um
[46:22] you've also been such a great listener.
[46:24] So um not everybody is such a good
[46:28] listener and and like was um put in the
[46:30] resolution, you know, you have a really
[46:32] good way of bringing people's thoughts
[46:34] together and coalesing them. Um I I
[46:37] think that helped bring a lot of unity
[46:39] and uh cohesiveness to to the group. So
[46:43] just really appreciate having gotten to
[46:46] know you and uh and do hope you stay in
[46:48] touch with us.
[46:54] » Hi Vicki, I also want to thank you for
[46:56] your service and uh like Mark, I really
[46:58] appreciate working with you um while you
[47:01] were on the CAC as well as uh while you
[47:03] were on the board. Um, so many great
[47:06] things have been said. I hate to repeat
[47:08] them. Um, but your your calmness, your
[47:11] graciousness,
[47:12] um, being able to take in information,
[47:15] uh, be very rational about it, ask great
[47:18] questions. Um, again, it's clear you
[47:21] were so well informed and committed and
[47:23] just really appreciate your dedication
[47:25] to the mission, to staff, um, and just
[47:29] helping move the agency forward. uh wish
[47:31] you the best of luck uh in what you uh
[47:33] what you do after this and I know it
[47:35] must be wonderful because it was clear
[47:36] that you enjoyed your time here so it
[47:38] must be really great. Enjoy.
[47:44] » Director Alexander Vicki um want to just
[47:48] uh shout out to all your accomplishments
[47:50] and supporting staff on all of our
[47:52] public access projects in particular
[47:54] over the last few years and and one to
[47:56] come very soon. um you played an
[47:58] instrumental role in shaping those both
[48:00] on the CAC and on the board and so you
[48:03] can always look back and hike those
[48:04] trails and and think of your time here
[48:06] at OSA.
[48:12] » Thank you for thank you for your
[48:14] service. One thing I'll share is that I
[48:17] became a board member of a small
[48:18] nonprofit about four years ago and um I
[48:22] don't know if I'm very good at it, but
[48:24] you know seeing folks like you excel as
[48:26] board members and just contribute to the
[48:28] organization really does all you know us
[48:31] uh upand cominging folk uh you know
[48:33] learn from people who can really um do
[48:35] it and so you know good board members
[48:37] are really hard to find and and we'll
[48:38] definitely miss you. Thank you.
[48:43] Uh,
[48:45] hi Vicki. Feels weird to say that. Uh,
[48:48] [laughter] I really, uh, our most
[48:51] regular interaction was probably at the
[48:53] administration and budget committee
[48:54] meeting over these last handful of
[48:56] years. we were in our vice chair role
[48:58] and those were always such exciting
[49:00] meetings which might not sound like
[49:03] plausible but part of that was again
[49:05] that just very honest and legitimate
[49:09] curiosity that you would bring to the
[49:10] topics that staff is bringing to you and
[49:12] to the board. So I appreciate so greatly
[49:15] uh how you helped us frame and shape
[49:18] things like our governance principles
[49:19] and our uh processes around budget and
[49:24] recruiting or finding new CAC members
[49:26] and all sorts of those things. So
[49:28] appreciate kind of the curiosity that
[49:31] you brought to those kind of mundane
[49:33] sounding processes to people who aren't
[49:35] in the room. Thank you. We'll miss you
[49:40] Caroline or Ivy. Anything you'd like to
[49:42] would be
[49:44] >> Mickey. Sure.
[49:46] » Mickey. Sure.
[49:46] >> Hello. Um
[49:48] » Hello. Um
[49:48] yeah, it was it's been wonderful. Um I
[49:51] think uh both of our tenurs started at
[49:54] the same time um right before the
[49:57] pandemic. So um you know it was it's
[50:00] nice to have helped facilitate your
[50:02] growth uh with the agency as well. And
[50:05] I've always enjoyed our conversations
[50:07] about hiking and our trips. And I'm I'm
[50:10] uh I aspire to uh have the gumption to
[50:14] travel and to do like the really amazing
[50:17] traveling that that you do um that you
[50:20] set aside time for and I'm I'm I'm
[50:23] always in awe of that. So um hopefully
[50:27] uh you know we'll keep in touch and I
[50:29] can continue to hear about your your
[50:31] great travels
[50:32] >> and yours too.
[50:33] » and yours too.
[50:33] >> [laughter]
[50:41] » And while she's doing that, do we have
[50:42] any anyone of them that must be the
[50:45] public?
[50:53] » Director Alexander, we have two things
[50:55] we'd like to present to you. The board
[50:56] from the board and staff tonight.
[51:00] Sure.
[51:02] First of all, we have the official
[51:04] resolution that was read into the
[51:05] record. And I want to thank Mark
[51:07] Landraph uh who uh does such a wonderful
[51:11] job in putting these together and staff
[51:13] as well in in admin for uh putting this
[51:17] together and making it look so good. So
[51:19] from up to you.
[51:21] >> Thank you.
[51:21] » Thank you.
[51:21] >> Yeah.
[51:26] And then um we really had a hard time
[51:28] deciding what photo to give um Director
[51:31] Alexander, but this particular one is of
[51:34] a a lovely property that the Open Space
[51:37] Authority has protected. Um we have um
[51:41] guided tours there for the public. It's
[51:42] not yet a full-fledged open space
[51:44] preserve, but this is Diablo Foothills
[51:46] in South County, and anytime you'd like
[51:48] to go and explore there some,
[51:50] >> I would love to.
[51:51] » I would love to.
[51:51] >> We'd be happy to take you there. [gasps]
[51:53] » We'd be happy to take you there. [gasps]
[51:53] So, um, Madam Chair, I thought maybe,
[51:56] um, Director Alexander could take a
[51:58] picture with the board members. And
[52:00] >> I was hoping you would say, "Okay." Yes.
[52:03] » I was hoping you would say, "Okay." Yes.
[52:03] [clears throat]
[52:03] >> All right.
[52:04] » All right.
[52:04] >> I'm wearing my uniform.
[52:08] » Okay. So,
[52:10] >> maybe up behind there. So, yeah.
[52:46] There you go. There we go.
[53:13] There's a greater problem.
[53:15] >> Yes.
[53:41] Madam chair, I like to move.
[53:58] Okay. We have a motion to approve the
[54:00] resolution recognizing district 5
[54:02] director Vicky Alexander for her years
[54:04] of service the San Valley open space
[54:06] authority
[54:08] by director Kenn with a second by
[54:10] director Gil
[54:12] roll.
[54:12] >> Director Kenn.
[54:13] » Director Kenn.
[54:13] >> Yes.
[54:14] » Yes.
[54:14] >> Director Matthews.
[54:15] » Director Matthews.
[54:15] >> Yes.
[54:15] » Yes.
[54:15] >> Director Chapman.
[54:16] » Director Chapman.
[54:16] >> Yes.
[54:17] » Yes.
[54:17] >> Director Sutherland.
[54:18] » Director Sutherland.
[54:18] >> Yes.
[54:18] » Yes.
[54:18] >> Director Dominguez.
[54:20] » Director Dominguez.
[54:20] >> Yes.
[54:20] » Yes.
[54:20] >> Director Gil.
[54:21] » Director Gil.
[54:21] >> Yes.
[54:24] » Congratulations and best luck.
[54:34] Thank you. Thank you all. I look forward
[54:36] to all the great things that are going
[54:38] to be happening in the future.
[54:48] » Okay.
[54:51] You're now on to electing board
[54:54] officers, chairperson and vice
[54:56] chairperson for 2026
[54:59] where
[55:01] three years I get some pass. [laughter]
[55:07] » Uh Caroline, did you want to do
[55:08] presentation first?
[55:09] >> Yes, really quick. Um just to go through
[55:11] » Yes, really quick. Um just to go through
[55:11] a couple of things and to kind of uh
[55:13] help uh describe the process that we'll
[55:15] take to to make the nominations and to
[55:17] vote.
[55:19] Uh so uh pursuant to public resources
[55:22] code 35130 and section 2.10 of the board
[55:27] operating rules and procedures adopted
[55:28] by the board the board of directors
[55:30] shall elect a new board off new board
[55:32] officers at the first regular meeting in
[55:35] January of each year and the term of
[55:37] each office is for one year and the
[55:40] responsibilities of each officer chair
[55:42] and vice chair are outlined in the staff
[55:44] report.
[55:47] Um the following officers have served
[55:50] over the past four years. So as uh
[55:52] director Chapman has mentioned uh um
[55:55] well starting in 22 uh our chairperson
[55:58] was Dr. Gil and our vice chairperson was
[56:01] director Chapman and then subsequently
[56:04] it has been director Chapman and
[56:06] director Alexander.
[56:09] Um so the first step we'll do each vote
[56:12] for the officer respectively one at a
[56:15] time. Um so we'll start with the
[56:18] election of the chair and once we have
[56:20] uh a vote for um for chairperson then
[56:24] that uh person will take over the the
[56:28] position immediately and that uh the new
[56:31] chair will preside over the election of
[56:33] the vice chair. So step one uh we'll
[56:37] open the floor to nominations and uh
[56:40] there can be up to three nominations on
[56:42] the floor at one time. Uh the chair will
[56:46] close the floor to nominations once we
[56:48] have all of them and then you can take
[56:50] public comments. Um the next step will
[56:52] be to vote uh starting with the last
[56:56] nomination received first per
[56:58] Rosenberg's rules of orders and then the
[57:00] final step uh whomever gets uh four
[57:03] votes will then be uh elected chair.
[57:07] >> Okay. Thank you. Before I do that, I
[57:10] » Okay. Thank you. Before I do that, I
[57:10] just wanted to say the last three years
[57:12] have been an extreme honor and privilege
[57:14] to serve as the chair. I've enjoyed it
[57:16] very much. Um, but it is time to
[57:19] relinquish the gavl onto somebody else.
[57:21] And I I I what I think is very exciting
[57:25] about this agency is when I took on vice
[57:28] chair, I had only been with the agency I
[57:29] think I'd only been position for a year.
[57:31] So I think it's it's wonderful to rotate
[57:34] the positions and to give leadership
[57:36] experiences to all the board members
[57:38] because I think it's a really good
[57:39] learning experience and a good way to
[57:40] know kind of the ins and out what's
[57:42] going on with the agency. So thank you
[57:44] for for allowing me to serve for three
[57:46] years. So with that I'm going to make a
[57:49] motion or I'm going to make a nomination
[57:51] to nominate Director Sutherland as
[57:53] position chair.
[57:56] >> I'll second that.
[57:59] » I'll second that.
[57:59] >> Do we have any other nominations? Any
[58:06] other nominations
[58:09] going once?
[58:11] Okay, we will close the nominations.
[58:15] [laughter]
[58:17] All right. So, we have a motion and a
[58:20] second to uh elect Director Sin as the
[58:25] next chair.
[58:27] >> And there are no uh no public no public.
[58:30] » And there are no uh no public no public.
[58:30] Okay.
[58:33] You ready?
[58:37] You want it?
[58:45] » He's not She's not leaving the room now.
[58:49] >> Okay.
[58:51] » Okay.
[58:51] All right. Let's call roll.
[58:54] >> Director Ken,
[58:55] » Director Ken,
[58:55] >> yes.
[58:55] » yes.
[58:55] >> Director Matthews,
[58:56] » Director Matthews,
[58:56] >> yes.
[58:57] » yes.
[58:57] >> Director Chapman,
[58:58] » Director Chapman,
[58:58] >> yes.
[58:58] » yes.
[58:58] >> Director Sutherland,
[58:59] » Director Sutherland,
[58:59] >> yes. Director Dominguez.
[59:01] » yes. Director Dominguez.
[59:01] >> Yes.
[59:01] » Yes.
[59:01] >> Director G.
[59:02] » Director G.
[59:02] >> Yes.
[59:03] » Yes.
[59:03] >> All right. That motion passes
[59:05] » All right. That motion passes
[59:05] unanimously and so I will now pass over.
[59:09] >> Thank you.
[59:14] » And just Helen and I have known each
[59:18] other
[59:19] years.
[59:20] >> Our children were very young. We first
[59:22] » Our children were very young. We first
[59:22] met when she was trying to put a
[59:24] playground in behind the rose garden
[59:28] library and her children were small
[59:30] enough to play on a playground. So
[59:33] Helen, it's been years that you and I
[59:35] have been working together and playing
[59:36] outside and I appreciate your
[59:39] nomination. And to my fellow board
[59:41] members, thank you very much for your
[59:43] support. Look forward to this.
[59:50] And then I do have the cheat sheet.
[59:54] [clears throat]
[59:56] >> That's a standing up.
[59:58] » That's a standing up.
[59:58] >> Um, and so now we need we need to I want
[1:00:02] » Um, and so now we need we need to I want
[1:00:02] to open
[1:00:04] nominations for
[1:00:07] uh accept nominations for vice chair.
[1:00:10] And do we have a nomination?
[1:00:14] >> I'd like to nominate uh director Gil.
[1:00:17] » I'd like to nominate uh director Gil.
[1:00:17] >> Thank you. And does this require a
[1:00:20] » Thank you. And does this require a
[1:00:20] second?
[1:00:23] >> It does not, madam chair.
[1:00:24] » It does not, madam chair.
[1:00:24] >> It does not. Okay.
[1:00:27] » It does not. Okay.
[1:00:27] Um, are there any other nominations for
[1:00:29] vice chair? Yes. I'd like to nominate
[1:00:31] Director Dominguez.
[1:00:33] Thank you.
[1:00:35] Um,
[1:00:37] and so it doesn't require a second. We
[1:00:41] now need to move to the next step. Or
[1:00:43] are there any other nominations? We can
[1:00:45] take up to three.
[1:00:49] going once, going twice.
[1:00:51] Okay, I'd like to close nominations for
[1:00:54] the vice chair. Um, and then
[1:00:59] Carolyn, can you lead us through the
[1:01:04] » Yes. Oh, thank you. Yes. Let me catch up
[1:01:07] because I'm typing these out. Okay. Give
[1:01:10] me one second.
[1:01:13] Let's
[1:01:17] see.
[1:01:35] Okay. Uh so we will vote so uh we will
[1:01:39] vote the last nomination that was
[1:01:42] received first. So we will vote on
[1:01:45] director Chapman nominating director
[1:01:47] Dominguez to be vice chairperson for the
[1:01:49] board of directors for 2026.
[1:02:00] » Excuse me. through the chair. Um, clerk
[1:02:02] of the board, could I ask councel and
[1:02:04] you um there's been a motion made to
[1:02:07] advance the vice chair position for
[1:02:09] director Dominguez. Correct.
[1:02:11] >> Does there need to be a second or is
[1:02:12] » Does there need to be a second or is
[1:02:12] there just a
[1:02:14] >> you just
[1:02:15] » you just
[1:02:15] >> Okay. Thank you.
[1:02:28] » Okay. All
[1:02:30] right, I'm ready. So, the uh motion on
[1:02:33] the floor uh is for Director Chapman uh
[1:02:36] nominating Director Dominguez to be vice
[1:02:38] chairperson for board of directors for
[1:02:40] 2026.
[1:02:43] Um, Director Kennet,
[1:02:45] >> no.
[1:02:47] » no.
[1:02:47] >> Director Matthews,
[1:02:48] » Director Matthews,
[1:02:48] >> yes.
[1:02:49] » yes.
[1:02:49] >> Director Chapman,
[1:02:50] » Director Chapman,
[1:02:50] >> yes.
[1:02:51] » yes.
[1:02:51] >> Director Sutherland, yes. Director
[1:02:53] » Director Sutherland, yes. Director
[1:02:53] Dominguez,
[1:02:54] >> yes.
[1:02:55] » yes.
[1:02:55] >> Director Gil,
[1:02:57] » Director Gil,
[1:02:57] >> no.
[1:03:02] The motion passes. So, uh, director
[1:03:04] Dominguez is
[1:03:18] » Thank you. Thank you. Um, and then I
[1:03:21] guess we move on now to new business
[1:03:24] item number three, which is receive a
[1:03:27] presentation on the American Badger
[1:03:30] Corridor modeling in the open space
[1:03:32] authorities jurisdiction. And I hope
[1:03:34] that you all got to watch the video
[1:03:36] because it's really fun.
[1:03:44] » Thanks.
[1:03:46] Good evening, board of directors and
[1:03:48] staff.
[1:03:50] My name is Lillian Amarol. I'm the GIS
[1:03:52] technician here at the Open Space
[1:03:54] Authority. I'm very excited to be here
[1:03:56] tonight to share with you all the
[1:03:57] project I've been working on since
[1:03:59] joining OSA and to highlight the work
[1:04:02] that we've been a part of for the
[1:04:03] conservation of American Badgers and
[1:04:05] wildlife connectivity throughout our
[1:04:07] region.
[1:04:09] There will be no action needed from the
[1:04:11] board tonight. The purpose of our time
[1:04:13] is to receive a presentation on the
[1:04:14] American Badger Corridor Modeling
[1:04:16] Project. I'll start by describing OSA's
[1:04:19] commitment to grassland conservation and
[1:04:22] tell you about the wildlife corridor
[1:04:24] modeling itself, how we collaborated
[1:04:26] with post on the project and how the
[1:04:29] data produced from this project will be
[1:04:31] used to inform management planning.
[1:04:35] So the open space authority is a part of
[1:04:37] the Santa Cruz Mountain Stewardship
[1:04:39] Network and the stewardship network
[1:04:43] formed a wildlife working group that
[1:04:45] ultimately decided to select American
[1:04:47] badgers to help guide the network's
[1:04:50] conservation goals of enhancing
[1:04:52] grassland habitat connectivity and
[1:04:55] grassland stewardship throughout the
[1:04:56] region.
[1:04:58] And the interest in uh selecting
[1:05:00] American badgers as a species of
[1:05:02] interest really comes from the status
[1:05:04] that we observe today. They're listed as
[1:05:06] a uh species of special concern by the
[1:05:09] California Department of Fish and
[1:05:11] Wildlife. And um this comes from
[1:05:16] their the fact that badgers and their
[1:05:19] habitats are quite adverse to the
[1:05:21] effects of development and human
[1:05:23] disturbance on the land landscape. And
[1:05:26] the reason being they are quite wide
[1:05:28] ranging mammals. So they require uh
[1:05:31] large swaths of connected grassland
[1:05:34] habitat in order to roam and fulfill uh
[1:05:37] find the resources that are essential to
[1:05:39] them. So, um, historically they their
[1:05:44] population numbers have declined
[1:05:46] throughout the state and, um,
[1:05:50] and there's been a statewide initiative
[1:05:53] to learn more about badgers and better
[1:05:56] understand their movement patterns and,
[1:05:59] uh, how the population is doing on a
[1:06:01] statewide basis. So following the
[1:06:04] interest in learning more about badgers,
[1:06:06] there's been uh sufficient data that has
[1:06:08] come out of these efforts that are now
[1:06:10] being used to drive conservation
[1:06:11] measures and specifically here in our
[1:06:14] region. Uh badgers are proposed for
[1:06:17] listing under the coming amendment to
[1:06:20] the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Plan. So
[1:06:24] throughout the habitat plan permit area,
[1:06:26] this listing would enhance the level of
[1:06:29] protection that badgers receive. Um,
[1:06:32] which is important because the
[1:06:33] California Department of Fish and
[1:06:35] Wildlife species of special concern
[1:06:37] listing is quite limited in terms of the
[1:06:41] uh what sort of protection it provides
[1:06:43] for badgers. So under the habitat plan
[1:06:47] uh they would receive enhanced
[1:06:49] protection while allowing for the future
[1:06:51] devel development um in this in this
[1:06:55] particular region
[1:06:57] and to look at the types of data that
[1:07:00] are being produced and leveraged to
[1:07:02] inform management planning. I would like
[1:07:04] to highlight the project that I got to
[1:07:06] work on as a GIS intern with Mid
[1:07:09] Peninsula Regional Open Space District.
[1:07:12] Um, Midpen published data in 2024 of
[1:07:17] their computer model that they produced
[1:07:19] that identifies likely movement pathways
[1:07:22] for American badgers between patches of
[1:07:25] grassland habitat found throughout Mid
[1:07:28] Pen's uh jurisdiction and beyond. So the
[1:07:33] corridor model identified movement
[1:07:35] pathways
[1:07:37] uh between grassland through their core
[1:07:39] preserves but also identified linkages
[1:07:42] that extend down the Pacific coast to
[1:07:45] the badger population found in Santa
[1:07:47] Cruz. And then the modeling efforts also
[1:07:51] identified a a linkage to across the
[1:07:56] Santa Cruz Mountains and into Santa
[1:07:58] Clair County. And the modeling efforts
[1:08:02] identified Coyote Valley as a likely
[1:08:04] movement pathway for American Badgers.
[1:08:07] And so I was brought on to the Open
[1:08:09] Space Authority to continue these
[1:08:11] modeling efforts and extend the model
[1:08:14] across open space authorities
[1:08:16] jurisdiction in the interest of better
[1:08:19] understanding just how badgers might be
[1:08:21] moving across the landscape. Um,
[1:08:27] so to learn a little bit about badgers,
[1:08:31] uh, I'll tell you that they are small to
[1:08:33] medium-sized mammals and everything
[1:08:36] about them has evolved to allow them to
[1:08:38] become expert diggers and digging is a
[1:08:41] very essential adaptation for their life
[1:08:43] cycle. Um, they use digging to build out
[1:08:48] the dens that they rest and mate in. And
[1:08:51] they also rely on digging to excavate
[1:08:54] their prey from the ground. They prey on
[1:08:56] mostly um burrowing rodents like gophers
[1:09:00] and ground squirrels, but badgers are
[1:09:02] extremely preydriven and as they move
[1:09:05] across the landscape, you could call
[1:09:07] them opportunistic omnivores because
[1:09:10] they'll eat mostly anything. So if they
[1:09:13] encounter insects, birds, bird eggs,
[1:09:15] reptiles, and amphibians, those are fair
[1:09:18] game as well. One of my favorite parts
[1:09:20] of this project was um collaborating
[1:09:23] with the communications team and we
[1:09:26] produced the Badger banter video that
[1:09:28] you just uh mentioned. Um, yeah. So,
[1:09:32] being able to talk with or consult with
[1:09:34] Badger biologists and experts is really
[1:09:37] critical to these types of computer
[1:09:40] modeling and wildlife corridor modeling
[1:09:43] efforts because you could only create a
[1:09:46] computer model based on what you know
[1:09:47] about the species. So, I'll leave it to
[1:09:50] Dr. Jesse Quinn to describe to you the
[1:09:52] ways in which badgers provide ecosystem
[1:09:55] services to a variety of wildlife
[1:09:57] throughout our region in grassland
[1:09:59] ecosystems.
[1:10:02] >> Don't think of the grassland ecosystem
[1:10:03] » Don't think of the grassland ecosystem
[1:10:03] in California very much. But where we do
[1:10:06] think of that grassland system is on the
[1:10:09] great plains and we kind of have a mini
[1:10:10] version of that in California. But their
[1:10:13] burrows provide habitat for other
[1:10:15] species. So for weasels, burrowing owls,
[1:10:19] our buring owls are one of the main
[1:10:20] species that will reoccupy a badger
[1:10:23] burrow. Down cell kit fox, the
[1:10:25] Sanwalking kit fox will use badger
[1:10:27] burrows. So uh they do provide habitat
[1:10:31] for animals that live in burrows but
[1:10:34] don't necessarily dig their own burrows.
[1:10:37] And then they also serve as kind of a
[1:10:39] control for some of those rodent
[1:10:41] populations, California ground squirrels
[1:10:44] and gophers. moles uh where they occur
[1:10:48] and then they also because of the
[1:10:50] turning over the soil that's another
[1:10:52] kind of benefit that they provide to the
[1:10:54] ecosystem is providing this fresh soil
[1:10:57] for new plants to colonize
[1:11:00] >> I brought in this badger pelt for your
[1:11:02] » I brought in this badger pelt for your
[1:11:02] reference I'll pass it along the table
[1:11:05] here
[1:11:12] » so yeah as Dr. Jesse Quinn explained
[1:11:15] they really provide an ecosystem service
[1:11:17] to a variety of wildlife in grassland
[1:11:20] landscapes. And by selecting American
[1:11:24] badgers as just one of our many focal
[1:11:27] species, um we at OSA, we are hoping to
[1:11:33] incorporate what we know and what we
[1:11:35] learn about these species as we focus on
[1:11:37] them and um take into account their
[1:11:41] considerations when informing uh
[1:11:44] planning through CVA camp. So the aspect
[1:11:47] of CV camp that I'm getting at here is
[1:11:49] the enhancement of wildlife habitat and
[1:11:52] ecological connectivity.
[1:11:54] And this is critical to focus on here in
[1:11:57] Coyote Valley because uh the landscape
[1:12:00] as we know it today has some pretty
[1:12:02] significant barriers to wildlife
[1:12:04] movement. And those barriers are the US
[1:12:07] Route 101, Monterey Road, and the Union
[1:12:11] Pacific Rail Line. So by using
[1:12:14] geospatial analysis to produce a
[1:12:17] computer model that predicts um likely
[1:12:21] movement pathways for badgers across
[1:12:23] this region while also taking into
[1:12:26] account these barriers that impede their
[1:12:29] movement. we can hopefully or we seek to
[1:12:33] identify um the most critically
[1:12:36] important areas on the landscape that
[1:12:38] are helping to facilitate the successful
[1:12:41] movement. And the main point of this is
[1:12:44] to maintain maintain the genetic
[1:12:47] diversity that we see in badger
[1:12:49] populations and help facilitate the
[1:12:52] exchange of genetic material from the
[1:12:54] Santa Cruz Mountain population of
[1:12:56] badgers with the Diablo Range population
[1:12:58] of badgers. theoretically.
[1:13:01] And so there are a couple approaches uh
[1:13:04] that are out there to studying wildlife
[1:13:07] movement. And one is by collaring the
[1:13:12] species that you're hoping to track uh
[1:13:15] with a GPS collar. And you can use that
[1:13:18] data to produce a map like this where
[1:13:21] I'm displaying uh bobcat telemetry
[1:13:24] tracking um that reveals critical
[1:13:27] movement corridors in Coyote Valley for
[1:13:29] bobcats. However, badgers are quite
[1:13:32] unique because of their adaptation to uh
[1:13:36] dig underground. Their skin is very
[1:13:38] loose to help them not get stuck
[1:13:40] underground. Um and so this makes
[1:13:43] coloring them uh difficult.
[1:13:46] So the open space authority has taken
[1:13:48] another approach where we are using
[1:13:51] computer models to predict where the
[1:13:54] wildlife are likely to be in this case
[1:13:56] where badgers are likely to be moving
[1:13:58] and again these models are completely
[1:14:01] informed by applied science and expert
[1:14:03] opinion.
[1:14:06] So to start uh a project like this, we
[1:14:08] had to compile a comprehensive data set
[1:14:12] of badger occurrences throughout our
[1:14:15] region. Um and we use this data to help
[1:14:18] us inform questions that are critical to
[1:14:22] ask when you're creating something
[1:14:24] called a habitat suitability analysis.
[1:14:27] Um, we used what we know about where we
[1:14:30] find badgers in our region to answer
[1:14:32] questions like, "What things on the
[1:14:34] landscape do badgers care about? What
[1:14:36] don't they care about?" And you roll it
[1:14:39] all up into a model that reveals highly
[1:14:42] suitable and and uh fairly unsuitable or
[1:14:46] low suitability habitat types across our
[1:14:49] region.
[1:14:50] And when you take um the results of all
[1:14:54] this modeling and sort of simplify it
[1:14:56] down to just that core badger habitat
[1:15:00] um it reveals an [clears throat] image
[1:15:04] like on the screen. Uh so the the
[1:15:06] habitat suitability modeling revealed
[1:15:09] that there is lots of grassland and
[1:15:11] badger habitat throughout the Diablo
[1:15:13] range for them to utilize. However, west
[1:15:17] across the valley in the Santa Cruz
[1:15:19] Mountains, there is fairly limited
[1:15:22] habitat for badgers to utilize. And in
[1:15:25] the regions where there is habitat
[1:15:26] patchiness, um the vegetation types that
[1:15:30] you'll find there are mostly forested
[1:15:32] and shrub communities. And as I
[1:15:35] mentioned, badgers are very prey driven.
[1:15:38] So the movements they make across the
[1:15:40] landscape are driven by where they're
[1:15:42] going to find their next meal. and
[1:15:43] burrowing rodits just typically aren't
[1:15:45] found in in the uh forested and shrub
[1:15:49] communities that badgers just aren't
[1:15:51] likely to move through for that reason.
[1:15:54] So um after
[1:15:57] the efforts to figure out where in our
[1:15:59] jurisdiction is there a good quality
[1:16:02] badger habitat, we use these results to
[1:16:07] produce a wildlife corridor model that
[1:16:10] predicts badger movement across our
[1:16:13] jurisdiction.
[1:16:14] And the um the modeling efforts reveal
[1:16:19] that there is quite extensive uh
[1:16:23] connectivity for badger movement
[1:16:25] throughout the Diablo range in in the
[1:16:28] eastern part of our study area. uh again
[1:16:31] because there is abundant uh connected
[1:16:33] badger habitat and conversely on the
[1:16:36] other side of the valley in the Santa
[1:16:38] Cruz Mountains um we see those corridors
[1:16:43] become very narrow and thin and
[1:16:45] constrained to the already limited
[1:16:47] grassland habitat that's there and on
[1:16:50] this regional level it produced uh cross
[1:16:53] valley connections from the east to west
[1:16:56] that um identifies many roads and
[1:16:59] overcrossing things that
[1:17:02] are likely movement pathways for
[1:17:04] badgers, but it's not easily
[1:17:06] uh modeled on this regional scale. So,
[1:17:08] in a couple minutes, I'll highlight our
[1:17:11] efforts to zoom in on Coyote Valley and
[1:17:13] model movement [clears throat] across
[1:17:16] across the valley there. But to look at
[1:17:19] the Santa Cruz Mountains uh corridor,
[1:17:23] um we're seeing limited pathways because
[1:17:26] of that densely forested and shrub
[1:17:28] communities. And here in uh here in this
[1:17:32] region, for example, Little Uvisas Creek
[1:17:35] Preserve is identified as a likely
[1:17:37] movement pathway. And um the image that
[1:17:41] you see here is of Little Uvisis Creek
[1:17:43] Preserve. And it just demonstrates that
[1:17:46] transition zone between badger habitat
[1:17:48] and less uh less compatible habitat for
[1:17:52] badger and their prey. Um this is what
[1:17:55] much of the Santa Cruz Mountains look
[1:17:57] like. So these thin constrained
[1:18:00] corridors really communicate that
[1:18:02] there's relatively poor connection for
[1:18:05] uh to reach the Badger population and
[1:18:08] the rest of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
[1:18:14] And so to go sort of on the fine scale,
[1:18:18] we wanted to start thinking about how
[1:18:22] badgers encounter the valley and the
[1:18:24] many um
[1:18:26] barriers that they face while crossing
[1:18:29] the valley and roads are a big one. Our
[1:18:33] occurrence data revealed 53 out of 163
[1:18:37] total records are made up of badger
[1:18:39] roadkill. So, this communicates that
[1:18:42] badgers do cross roads, although not
[1:18:44] always successful.
[1:18:46] And there's been um a fair bit of effort
[1:18:50] to get boots on the ground and survey
[1:18:53] Coyote Valley for roadkill data, which
[1:18:55] is very informative for management
[1:18:58] planning. [snorts] And so, uh, we, um,
[1:19:02] once we get this valuable data, we could
[1:19:04] start asking ourselves questions like
[1:19:07] what what are ways that what what are
[1:19:10] things that we can do to reduce vehicle
[1:19:12] wildlife collisions here in Coyote
[1:19:14] Valley and ensure successful dispersal?
[1:19:18] And I'll show you a little snippet of
[1:19:21] the ways in which we're exploring or an
[1:19:24] avenue of how we're doing that. You
[1:19:27] maybe have seen this video before.
[1:19:34] So this is a badger and a coyote
[1:19:36] captured traveling through a culvert. Um
[1:19:39] which is um
[1:19:43] yeah culverts human humans have placed
[1:19:45] culverts under roadways as an as an
[1:19:48] attempt to make our lives more
[1:19:50] convenient by diverting water instead of
[1:19:53] over a roadway under a roadway. And
[1:19:56] while it's not aimed at enhancing
[1:19:58] wildlife movement, um, wildlife are so
[1:20:01] resilient that they have come to realize
[1:20:04] that they can use these culverts as
[1:20:07] passages across otherwise impenetrable
[1:20:10] barriers. And so
[1:20:13] open space authority collaborated with
[1:20:16] post on this project because POST has
[1:20:18] been spending quite a bit of time boots
[1:20:21] on the ground in Coyote Valley uh
[1:20:24] surveying culverts and um assessing
[1:20:27] their conditions along a stretch of US
[1:20:30] 101 in the valley. And post delivered
[1:20:34] data to us that communicated which
[1:20:36] coverts are badgers likely to be
[1:20:39] utilizing.
[1:20:40] And we incorporated this data into a
[1:20:43] finecale version of the corridor model.
[1:20:47] Um, and
[1:20:49] the results of incorporating that
[1:20:52] actually provided additional movement
[1:20:54] pathways where the model identified the
[1:20:56] covert as a a likely route for badgers.
[1:21:00] In addition to the covert, the model
[1:21:02] also identifies overpasses over highways
[1:21:06] like Metaf Road and Bailey overpass as
[1:21:09] likely routes for successful dispersal
[1:21:11] across the valley. Um that covert that I
[1:21:15] mentioned that the model identified is
[1:21:16] by Coyote Creek Parkway allowing badgers
[1:21:19] to enter into the parkway and um
[1:21:22] hopefully enter the valley through to
[1:21:24] Meadows. So these results data like this
[1:21:28] are very telling and will be used uh to
[1:21:31] inform management decisions.
[1:21:34] OSA can work with part uh with uh
[1:21:37] agencies like Calrans to make sure that
[1:21:40] they are properly maintaining their
[1:21:42] coverts under their roadways so that
[1:21:44] wildlife have a fair chance of utilizing
[1:21:46] them. And additionally, we can look at
[1:21:49] in the installment of uh directional
[1:21:52] wildlife fencing that will help guide
[1:21:56] the the wildlife to um to the culverts
[1:22:00] that we anticipate that they will be
[1:22:02] using for uh movement.
[1:22:07] So from this project um it really comes
[1:22:11] at the the core of it is that we're one
[1:22:15] of many regional stakeholders in
[1:22:17] grassland and ecological connectivity
[1:22:19] and stewardship throughout our region.
[1:22:22] And through this project we have
[1:22:24] significantly improved spatial models
[1:22:26] that exist of badger habitat here in our
[1:22:30] region. And this data that we've
[1:22:32] improved
[1:22:34] will be a resource for management
[1:22:36] planning and will help guide the future
[1:22:39] future plans through CVAMP, the Santa
[1:22:42] Clara Valley Habitat Plan, future
[1:22:44] permitting, and general plan updates,
[1:22:47] which are required by law to include
[1:22:49] wildlife corridors.
[1:22:53] So, if you guys are interested in
[1:22:55] learning more about badgers, I'll plug
[1:22:57] one more time badger banter. the public
[1:23:00] um has had public loves learning about
[1:23:02] badgers. This has been a very successful
[1:23:06] long form video that we have. So, this
[1:23:09] is a great resource if you're interested
[1:23:11] in learning more. And additionally, the
[1:23:14] program and and um communications
[1:23:17] collaborated to create a story map that
[1:23:21] is just another resource to learn about
[1:23:24] um OSA's work and then it's also focused
[1:23:26] on like regional efforts as well. So
[1:23:28] with that, thank you so much for your
[1:23:31] time tonight and I'm open for questions.
[1:23:34] This is Oh, this badger this cameas uh
[1:23:37] Sierra Vista open space preserve which
[1:23:40] is where we see most of our badgers
[1:23:42] because there is such a consistent
[1:23:44] ground squirrel population there.
[1:23:49] » Thank you very much. This was a great
[1:23:51] presentation and um your banter is a lot
[1:23:54] of fun.
[1:23:56] Um, I'd like to open the floor for any
[1:23:59] board questions or comment.
[1:24:02] I think we'll start with Director Kennet
[1:24:04] and then just go around.
[1:24:07] >> I I watched the whole video and it was
[1:24:10] » I I watched the whole video and it was
[1:24:10] really great.
[1:24:13] I [clears throat] simply didn't either
[1:24:14] pay attention or realize there was so
[1:24:17] much involved these critters that are
[1:24:20] around and what they do. I'd love to
[1:24:22] have a couple on my property.
[1:24:25] are inundated with brown squirrels.
[1:24:29] >> Thank you. That was really well done.
[1:24:31] » Thank you. That was really well done.
[1:24:31] >> Thank you.
[1:24:35] » I think there might be one in my
[1:24:36] backyard because I have a huge mound. I
[1:24:38] think it was the whole half the
[1:24:41] property.
[1:24:41] >> It's way bigger than a than a mole. But
[1:24:44] » It's way bigger than a than a mole. But
[1:24:44] uh thank you for the presentation. Very
[1:24:46] very good. And I was happy to see that
[1:24:48] not only are they the badgers are
[1:24:50] following prey for food, but they're
[1:24:53] creating habitat for some of the prey.
[1:24:55] So that they're compensating as well.
[1:24:58] >> Thank you very much. It's a good
[1:24:59] » Thank you very much. It's a good
[1:24:59] present.
[1:25:00] >> Thank you.
[1:25:03] » Thank you.
[1:25:03] >> Thank you for the great presentation. I
[1:25:05] » Thank you for the great presentation. I
[1:25:05] really en I've learned a lot and I said
[1:25:07] I continue to learn every time you bring
[1:25:10] forward. Um I have a question. Does the
[1:25:13] city of San Jose are they going to get
[1:25:14] copied in on some of this because of the
[1:25:16] wildlife corridor study? I think this
[1:25:18] would be fascinating to update them, you
[1:25:21] know, that you've identified a species
[1:25:22] that we didn't even think about. You
[1:25:24] know, it's like getting hit by cars and
[1:25:28] >> through the chair. I'd like to refer uh
[1:25:31] » through the chair. I'd like to refer uh
[1:25:31] Aaron.
[1:25:33] >> Yeah. Through the chair. Aaron Abear,
[1:25:35] » Yeah. Through the chair. Aaron Abear,
[1:25:35] natural resources manager. Um, as
[1:25:37] Lillian mentioned, um, there's a a
[1:25:40] relatively new law that requires
[1:25:42] wildlife corridors to be analyzed in
[1:25:44] general plan updates. Um, this is kind
[1:25:47] of a new frontier of, you know, general
[1:25:50] plan practice. So, um, there not a lot
[1:25:53] of examples out there that that are done
[1:25:55] under this law, but um, we work some of
[1:25:58] the consultants with some of the
[1:25:59] consultants who are actually under
[1:26:00] contract, for instance, with Morgan Hill
[1:26:02] to do some of their updates. So, um,
[1:26:04] we're finishing up kind of the technical
[1:26:07] documentation that's kind of behind
[1:26:08] everything Lillian described. And once
[1:26:11] we have that package, probably in the
[1:26:12] next couple weeks, we'll submit it to a
[1:26:14] variety of folks. So, this is kind of
[1:26:17] the, you know, science of record for for
[1:26:19] badgers in our area, including, you
[1:26:20] know, San Jose, really any jurisdiction
[1:26:23] for their general plan updates.
[1:26:25] >> Sounds like you're giving in a credible
[1:26:26] » Sounds like you're giving in a credible
[1:26:26] resource and data point to back up this,
[1:26:29] you know, what we're trying work we're
[1:26:30] doing out there. It's great. Thank you.
[1:26:33] Thank you, director.
[1:26:36] >> Yeah, just two really good questions.
[1:26:37] » Yeah, just two really good questions.
[1:26:38] Are these like is this a live cam that I
[1:26:40] could get on if
[1:26:42] that possible? Um because that would be
[1:26:45] fantastic to do. And then the second one
[1:26:48] was very similar to um director around
[1:26:51] the data sharing. Is there been data
[1:26:54] sharing with higher ed institutions or
[1:26:57] their departments of DIS to learn more
[1:26:59] there collaboration around that? through
[1:27:02] the chair. Um, yeah, I'll answer the
[1:27:04] first question. These are static
[1:27:06] cameras. We set them up. Um, you know,
[1:27:08] I'll have to ask our field staff if
[1:27:10] there's any way to get a badger stream
[1:27:13] going forth. So, get back on that.
[1:27:16] >> The huge fascination with our community
[1:27:19] » The huge fascination with our community
[1:27:19] and kids, our kids would love to watch
[1:27:21] that live stream.
[1:27:22] >> Yeah, absolutely. It's it's a good idea.
[1:27:24] » Yeah, absolutely. It's it's a good idea.
[1:27:24] Um, yeah, I'll say, uh, you know, right
[1:27:26] now the the conversation's mostly been
[1:27:29] kind of within the conservation
[1:27:30] community. Lily mentioned the Santa Cruz
[1:27:32] Mountain Stewardship Network. So,
[1:27:34] distributing to all of those land
[1:27:36] managers in our area as well as the the
[1:27:39] habitat plan will actually be coming at
[1:27:41] the next meeting of the board of
[1:27:42] directors to give you an update. So, I
[1:27:45] don't know if they'll they might menture
[1:27:46] badger by name once there, but um, yeah,
[1:27:49] it's a good question. How can we roll
[1:27:52] this out into the broader community?
[1:27:53] We've been kind of racing towards the
[1:27:55] finish line. Um we'll be sharing a
[1:27:58] poster at the Santa Cruz Mountain
[1:27:59] Stewardship Network Science and
[1:28:01] Symposium thing on on January 30th. So
[1:28:04] we're in the academic kind of space. So
[1:28:06] there might be some of those higher ed
[1:28:08] folks there. So we haven't quite got
[1:28:10] into the uh the roll out phase, but
[1:28:12] that's a great idea.
[1:28:14] >> And director Gil,
[1:28:18] » it's really a great presentation. You
[1:28:21] did a fantastic job for that. I learned
[1:28:23] a lot. I don't know about badges before
[1:28:27] but uh when I just watch this video and
[1:28:30] your presentation
[1:28:32] quite a bit understand is the badges
[1:28:35] that can we see that one face to face
[1:28:38] that badger somewhere?
[1:28:41] >> Can you see one?
[1:28:43] » Can you see one?
[1:28:43] >> Go to the any property then we can see
[1:28:45] » Go to the any property then we can see
[1:28:45] there.
[1:28:46] >> Yeah through the chair. Um, if you want
[1:28:48] » Yeah through the chair. Um, if you want
[1:28:48] to see a badger in OSA's preserves,
[1:28:51] you're probably most likely to see one
[1:28:53] at Sierra Vista Open Space Preserve.
[1:28:56] >> Yeah, our staff have seen them there
[1:28:58] » Yeah, our staff have seen them there
[1:28:58] over the years relatively frequently.
[1:29:01] >> Thank [clears throat] you very much.
[1:29:03] » Thank [clears throat] you very much.
[1:29:03] >> Good job.
[1:29:03] » Good job.
[1:29:03] >> Thank you.
[1:29:06] » Thank you.
[1:29:06] I think my comment is that um this is
[1:29:10] all great and lovely and amazing
[1:29:13] information, but I was really sad when I
[1:29:15] saw the little triangles where there
[1:29:18] there are a lot of badger road kills and
[1:29:21] um
[1:29:22] >> so I'm hoping that this well I know this
[1:29:25] » so I'm hoping that this well I know this
[1:29:25] information will be used to somehow
[1:29:27] knock that number down.
[1:29:29] >> I don't want to say I'm on the road.
[1:29:30] » I don't want to say I'm on the road.
[1:29:30] >> Yeah.
[1:29:31] » Yeah.
[1:29:31] >> But thank you for your great
[1:29:32] » But thank you for your great
[1:29:32] presentation and your great work. Oh,
[1:29:34] I'm sorry. Go ahead.
[1:29:38] >> Sorry. I was just trying to catch your
[1:29:39] » Sorry. I was just trying to catch your
[1:29:39] eye.
[1:29:40] >> No, no. Um, through the chair, may I
[1:29:42] » No, no. Um, through the chair, may I
[1:29:42] just thank Lillian for her work on this
[1:29:44] project. It's been a pleasure to have
[1:29:46] you on board and through this great
[1:29:48] work, you've gotten to earn a a position
[1:29:51] with us as a GIS technician. We can't
[1:29:53] wait to see what else you're able to
[1:29:55] accomplish on behalf of the Open Space
[1:29:56] Authority. Um and I also want to
[1:29:59] acknowledge as well that this work is
[1:30:01] really a culmination of the uh or like
[1:30:04] an action of the landscape linkage and
[1:30:07] Monterey Road report where a lot of that
[1:30:09] roadkill data was generated from those
[1:30:11] studies. So um kind of as a
[1:30:13] recommendation from those reports of
[1:30:14] doing further studies and geospatial
[1:30:16] analysis that's what you're seeing um
[1:30:19] this evening. So here's us progressing
[1:30:22] on on that great work accomplished by
[1:30:24] our colleagues in the last five years.
[1:30:26] Thank you.
[1:30:29] >> Thank you. Um
[1:30:33] are there any members of the public who
[1:30:35] wish to comment? There are none.
[1:30:42] Do I ask
[1:30:45] now? Okay to just say this item
[1:30:46] isformational only and no board actions
[1:30:49] need. Okay. Thank you very much.
[1:30:54] And new business item number four is to
[1:30:58] receive a presentation on the completion
[1:31:02] the completed restoration projects for
[1:31:04] Rancho Pinata delural stock ponds and
[1:31:07] Laguna Seika stepping stone restoration.
[1:31:10] And this is Rachel.
[1:31:12] Yes. Hello. Good evening, colleagues and
[1:31:14] board members. My name is Rachel
[1:31:16] Clemens. I am our watershed restoration
[1:31:18] specialist and I'm going to be giving a
[1:31:20] summary of the two restoration projects
[1:31:23] that I implemented um with our staff
[1:31:26] this summer. Um it's a bit of a longer
[1:31:29] pres presentation, but I have a lot of
[1:31:30] cool visuals and photos. So, I'm really
[1:31:33] proud of our work that we did this
[1:31:35] summer, and I hope that you find it as
[1:31:36] fascinating as I did.
[1:31:40] I'll start by just giving a sideby-side
[1:31:42] highle summary of the two projects and
[1:31:44] then I'll dive into each one a little
[1:31:46] bit more in detail, giving some
[1:31:48] background and uh on why we did the
[1:31:50] project and what we actually did on the
[1:31:53] land and then I'll talk about any
[1:31:55] learnings that we had and next steps and
[1:31:58] then at the end hopefully we have some
[1:31:59] time for questions and comments.
[1:32:03] So um like I said we had two projects
[1:32:06] this summer. The first one was the
[1:32:08] Laguna Sega stepping stone project and
[1:32:11] it was a small project really designed
[1:32:13] as a pilot what we hope will be the
[1:32:15] first of many restoration actions that
[1:32:17] take place in North Laguna Secika which
[1:32:19] is a very central area to the Coyote
[1:32:22] Valley area's master plan. So we planned
[1:32:25] for about a year and a half and the
[1:32:27] project took two weeks to implement.
[1:32:30] I'll say that we did most of the
[1:32:32] implementation inhouse with our own
[1:32:33] staff, which was really neat to see and
[1:32:36] helped build a lot of capacity to do
[1:32:38] more restoration work like this in the
[1:32:40] future. The main goals were to retain
[1:32:43] more water in the wetland after it's
[1:32:45] experienced a lot of modification and
[1:32:47] degradation over the last century and
[1:32:51] also to experiment and test some
[1:32:53] hypotheses and gather some information
[1:32:56] that will help us in future restoration
[1:32:59] projects there. I would say our target
[1:33:01] species um were really a lot of species.
[1:33:04] It was maybe more general of just
[1:33:06] species that use wetland areas, but
[1:33:08] specifically California tiger salamander
[1:33:11] um perhaps red-legged frogs and a lot of
[1:33:13] water birds um use Laguna
[1:33:15] [clears throat] Secika. You can see it
[1:33:16] was quite a relatively smaller project
[1:33:18] as compared to the Rancho Kenyatta
[1:33:20] Deloro project both in terms of just
[1:33:24] planning time and cost.
[1:33:26] Um at Rancho Kinyatta um we restored
[1:33:29] three stock ponds to kind of extend
[1:33:31] their life and utility for wildlife. Um,
[1:33:34] you can see the project was in planning
[1:33:36] for a very long time. That was because
[1:33:38] primarily of we had some staff turnover
[1:33:40] and the COVID 19 pandemic kind of right
[1:33:43] in the middle of planning everything.
[1:33:45] Um, so it took quite a while to get to
[1:33:47] the finish line. So, we were really
[1:33:48] happy to get this one done this summer.
[1:33:51] It took pretty much all summer to do,
[1:33:53] about four months, and we'll have a
[1:33:55] 5-year monitoring period. So, this is um
[1:33:58] definitely a big investment from the
[1:33:59] authority to do a project like this. Um,
[1:34:02] like I mentioned, we wanted to extend
[1:34:04] the life of three man-made stock ponds
[1:34:06] that were built in the early 1960s, late
[1:34:10] 1950s, and enhance habitat for species
[1:34:13] we knew that were using the ponds, which
[1:34:15] were western pond turtle and California
[1:34:18] red-legged frog.
[1:34:20] Um, the project um was a significant
[1:34:24] investment, about a million-doll
[1:34:25] project, quite a bit of staff time. Um
[1:34:28] however about 40% was grant funded um
[1:34:31] which is great to see and on both
[1:34:33] projects we engaged a number of partners
[1:34:35] that I'll talk about more.
[1:34:38] So first up is the stepping stone
[1:34:40] project. This is the location. Laguna
[1:34:42] Secika is a historic wetland in North
[1:34:44] Coyote Valley. Um the figure on the
[1:34:46] right is the historical ecology. The
[1:34:49] wetland used to extend over a mile long
[1:34:52] from north to south and it used to have
[1:34:54] perennial parts to it. um and now it is
[1:34:57] quite a bit smaller in extent and um the
[1:35:01] time that water sticks around later into
[1:35:04] the season. So the habitat has been
[1:35:06] degraded in various ways. Um, a little
[1:35:09] bit of historical context on that is in
[1:35:12] 1916 they started the reclamation of
[1:35:14] Laguna Secika where they drained the
[1:35:17] wetland in about 10 different ways, all
[1:35:20] the ways that they knew how in order to
[1:35:22] try to um clear the land for farming and
[1:35:25] other developments. This is a machine
[1:35:27] that dug a really big ditch right to the
[1:35:29] center of the wetland and they um
[1:35:32] connected it to other canals and
[1:35:33] drainage ditches. Um,
[1:35:37] this is you can kind of see here on the
[1:35:39] photo there's like a white line that you
[1:35:41] can see on this vegetation. That's where
[1:35:43] the water stood before they dug that
[1:35:46] ditch. So, we have evidence that the
[1:35:48] water used to be at least 4 feet high.
[1:35:52] Now, it doesn't really get anywhere near
[1:35:54] that for a long period of time.
[1:35:58] Um, this is a photo of them digging um
[1:36:01] ditches and installing what we call tile
[1:36:03] drains. These are underground drains
[1:36:05] that extend that drainage network out
[1:36:08] into the wetland area and um funnel all
[1:36:11] that water into the drainage ditch.
[1:36:15] And they also removed and burned
[1:36:17] vegetation including willows and tulies.
[1:36:20] So quite on this wetland and this is
[1:36:23] kind of our current landscape that we're
[1:36:25] working with. You can see the extent of
[1:36:27] the wetland is much smaller. Um there's
[1:36:29] that artificial drainage channel right
[1:36:31] in the middle. There's also now a
[1:36:33] connection to Coyote Creek, which wasn't
[1:36:35] there historically. So everything on
[1:36:38] this landscape is designed to shuttle
[1:36:40] water off as fast as possible um rather
[1:36:43] than sticking around for the benefit of
[1:36:45] wildlife.
[1:36:46] And so when I refer to the drainage
[1:36:49] channel, that's kind of what I'm talking
[1:36:50] about. And then the general wetland area
[1:36:52] you can see is what's wetted in this
[1:36:54] picture in the winter.
[1:36:57] So our goals with the stepping stone
[1:36:58] project, like I mentioned, it was a
[1:37:00] pilot project. We really wanted to get
[1:37:01] out there and explore and restore some
[1:37:03] of that natural hydrarology. We were
[1:37:06] particularly interested in those tile
[1:37:08] drains. Um we wanted to know are the
[1:37:10] tile drains from 1916 still functioning?
[1:37:13] Are they there? Um we also had evidence
[1:37:16] that potentially more tile drains were
[1:37:18] put on to expand that system. So we
[1:37:21] wanted to kind of fact check that. We
[1:37:24] also wanted to modify that artificial
[1:37:26] drainage channel. It's it's super um
[1:37:28] super straight and super um kind of
[1:37:31] homogeneous and gets water out as fast
[1:37:34] as possible. We wanted to use a
[1:37:35] technique called beaver dam analogs. And
[1:37:37] I'll show you some photos in a minute,
[1:37:39] but to help back water up and keep it
[1:37:41] from draining out so so fast.
[1:37:46] So, this is a complex and beautiful
[1:37:48] figure. I'm going to walk you through
[1:37:49] what it's showing. We went out there in
[1:37:52] the wetland with an excavator and I
[1:37:54] watched our equipment mechanic operator
[1:37:55] dig holes for several days and um all
[1:37:59] these lines on the map here are where we
[1:38:01] thought we might find something
[1:38:03] interesting. um be that a a tile drain
[1:38:06] from 1916 or which is the yellow and
[1:38:10] purple lines or the um the orange lines
[1:38:15] which we thought would be PVC pipes from
[1:38:19] uh additional construction drawings that
[1:38:20] we found um that we thought were
[1:38:22] installed sometime after 1950.
[1:38:25] So quite an extensive drainage network.
[1:38:28] Um and we wanted to see firstly if the
[1:38:32] the tile drains from 1916 were there and
[1:38:36] they were which was really interesting.
[1:38:38] Um though largely we found that they
[1:38:40] were not intact. A lot of them appeared
[1:38:42] to be collapsed but it was really cool
[1:38:45] that we were able to georreerence these
[1:38:48] blueprints from over a hundred years ago
[1:38:50] and pretty much nail it with where we uh
[1:38:52] dug into the ground. So that was really
[1:38:54] neat.
[1:38:56] Um, we found tile drain one. So, the one
[1:38:59] by the tree line here, uh, the one
[1:39:01] that's making a T in the center, we
[1:39:03] actually were not able to locate. So,
[1:39:05] that means it was either removed at some
[1:39:07] point or never put in. So, um, either
[1:39:09] way, that's really good information to
[1:39:11] know.
[1:39:12] Um, digging around the orange and green
[1:39:16] lines, we expected to find PVC pipes.
[1:39:19] Um, and we didn't find PVC pipes. What
[1:39:22] we found um were these uh linear
[1:39:25] features of gravel. So this is a wetland
[1:39:27] that has clay soils. These gravels are
[1:39:29] obviously put there by humans. Um so
[1:39:32] this was a really interesting and
[1:39:33] unexpected finding and we found them
[1:39:37] usually right where we expected to find
[1:39:39] the VC pipes. Really interesting because
[1:39:42] they were holding on to a lot of water.
[1:39:44] You can see in this photo on the right
[1:39:46] we dug in one area hit a pocket of
[1:39:49] gravel. bunch of water would gush in and
[1:39:51] then just a couple feet over we where
[1:39:54] there's the water would be much much
[1:39:56] lower. Um so you know and they appeared
[1:40:00] to sort of be linear and going towards
[1:40:02] the drainage channel. So that was an
[1:40:05] interesting finding. Um
[1:40:08] and not all of them had water um but
[1:40:11] most of them did and they tended to be
[1:40:13] concentrated near the center of the
[1:40:14] wetland.
[1:40:16] So, um, our findings here, you know,
[1:40:20] tile drains no longer functional. We
[1:40:22] probably don't have to worry much about
[1:40:24] them in our future restoration planning.
[1:40:26] Um, we only found PVC pipes in one area.
[1:40:30] So, it's definitely uh our image of
[1:40:33] where we thought the PVC pipes would be
[1:40:35] was not accurate and it's definitely not
[1:40:37] as extensive as we thought. And we have
[1:40:39] this gravel that we're going to have to
[1:40:41] deal with um in in future restoration
[1:40:44] scenarios. So, it's good to know that
[1:40:45] it's there. Good to know that it's
[1:40:47] shuttling water away from the wetland to
[1:40:49] some extent. So, we'll have to think
[1:40:51] about how we want to address that in
[1:40:53] future restoration planning.
[1:40:56] So, finding complete. Um, the next thing
[1:41:00] that we did for the stepping stone
[1:41:01] project was build these beaver d logs or
[1:41:03] BDAS. So, these are structures that
[1:41:06] mimic the natural function of beaver
[1:41:08] dams in the wild. So they back up water,
[1:41:10] they create habitat complexity,
[1:41:13] um they keep water around for longer
[1:41:15] into the season. So they're basically
[1:41:17] made out of um vegetated branches and
[1:41:20] dirt, kind of like a lasagna. You just
[1:41:23] keep stacking them on top of each other
[1:41:24] and it creates a mound that spans the
[1:41:26] channel. Um BDAS are a really hot topic
[1:41:29] in the world of restoration right now
[1:41:30] because they're simple, cost effective,
[1:41:33] you can build them with materials on
[1:41:35] site, um and they're easily modified or
[1:41:37] removed. So, it was cool to try out this
[1:41:40] technique on our land, and I hope we can
[1:41:41] continue doing this um into the future.
[1:41:44] These are some photos of us building it.
[1:41:45] We had a lot of people from partnering
[1:41:47] organizations come out and help, and
[1:41:50] that's a good thing because it's really
[1:41:52] labor intensive to build these, but also
[1:41:54] super rewarding. This is a picture of um
[1:41:57] what they look like completed. You can
[1:41:59] see there's logs that are stacked on the
[1:42:01] downstream end to kind of give the
[1:42:03] structure some weight and hold it in
[1:42:05] place.
[1:42:07] And this is a post rain photo from
[1:42:09] December. So you can kind of see the
[1:42:11] water on the upstream side is maybe a
[1:42:13] little bit higher. And I'll be
[1:42:15] particularly interested to see how this
[1:42:17] performs when the water starts to draw
[1:42:19] down in the spring. The goal is to keep
[1:42:21] more water on the upstream side rather
[1:42:23] than it going down the drainage channel.
[1:42:25] So I'll continue monitoring these and
[1:42:27] see if they're effective and see if it's
[1:42:28] something we want to replicate in other
[1:42:30] areas.
[1:42:32] So again, I'm going to keep monitoring
[1:42:35] the site. I think this project provided
[1:42:37] a lot of valuable information and
[1:42:39] experience for our staff. Um, we're
[1:42:42] going to maintain the BDAS, maybe um,
[1:42:44] build them up a little bit higher in the
[1:42:45] springtime. And like I said, hopefully
[1:42:48] future phases of this stepping stone
[1:42:50] project in the Laguna Sega area will
[1:42:52] continue.
[1:42:55] Moving on to our second project, which
[1:42:57] is the Rancho Ponds project.
[1:43:08] They're about a half a mile from each
[1:43:09] other. Pond one is quite big. It's about
[1:43:13] an acre and it's very deep. Um the issue
[1:43:16] there was that the burm was leaking and
[1:43:18] there were a ton of invasive catfish. Uh
[1:43:21] making it really difficult for any
[1:43:23] native frogs and amphibians to have a
[1:43:26] sustainable population. So, we wanted to
[1:43:29] drain the pond to actually do the
[1:43:31] construction work with the added benefit
[1:43:33] of killing off all those invasive fish
[1:43:35] and um repair the berm by lining it with
[1:43:38] a with a kind of a waterproof liner
[1:43:41] essentially. Pond seven and 10 are much
[1:43:44] smaller and they're very similar. um
[1:43:47] more of a classic stock pond in the
[1:43:49] sense that they just they they all
[1:43:51] typically need maintenance every so
[1:43:53] often to because they sediment in over
[1:43:55] time and they become much less of a
[1:43:57] pond. So, you kind of got to muck them
[1:43:59] out. Um and there were also some erosion
[1:44:02] issues going on there.
[1:44:06] Um, before we worked on any of the
[1:44:07] ponds, we had to drain them and we had
[1:44:09] to relocate some of the critters that
[1:44:11] were living in them, which was a little
[1:44:14] bit chaotic and a really interesting
[1:44:16] experience. Um, and also a really great
[1:44:18] window into what was living in there.
[1:44:21] So, really good some baseline data. You
[1:44:23] can see at pond one, this is where the
[1:44:25] all those catfish were. There were
[1:44:27] almost no or tree frogs or red-legged
[1:44:30] frogs or really anything. We do have a
[1:44:32] good western pond turtle population
[1:44:34] there, but only because they're big
[1:44:35] enough to not get eaten by a catfish.
[1:44:38] Um, so that was a really eye opening
[1:44:40] thing to see. Pond 7 had a lot more
[1:44:43] diversity than we expected. We found
[1:44:45] adult and um, uh, juvenile and tadpole
[1:44:49] uh, red-legged frogs there, as well as
[1:44:51] western pond turtles, which we were not
[1:44:53] expecting. We relocated um all the
[1:44:56] adults and all the tadpoles that we
[1:44:58] could downstream to Yagas Creek so they
[1:45:01] would have a chance to um still stay
[1:45:04] alive and hopefully they or their
[1:45:07] children or grandchildren can make their
[1:45:08] way back up to the ponds in the future.
[1:45:12] So, not as cute as a badger, but still
[1:45:14] has a special place in my heart. This is
[1:45:17] the California red-legged frog. Um on
[1:45:19] the left is an adult female. She's not
[1:45:21] too happy to be taken out of her pond,
[1:45:24] but there she is surveying her new
[1:45:26] kingdom in Yagas Creek. And I told her
[1:45:28] to to come on back up in a few months.
[1:45:31] Um, and this is on the on the um right
[1:45:34] hand side. There's a red-legged frog
[1:45:37] tadpole. You can see the one on the
[1:45:38] right is just starting to grow legs.
[1:45:40] They undergo this incredible
[1:45:41] metamorphosis where they um convert from
[1:45:46] essentially getting oxygen and water to
[1:45:47] on land and they grow legs and absorb
[1:45:50] their tail and it's pretty alien stuff.
[1:45:54] These are the pond turtles. We found
[1:45:55] some really tiny cute ones. Help them
[1:45:57] get relocated. The one on the bottom
[1:45:59] left is actually self- relocating
[1:46:01] [snorts] which is how the majority of
[1:46:02] the ones from the big pond pond number
[1:46:04] one uh got out. They're actually adapted
[1:46:07] to do that. They go up into the uplands
[1:46:10] and they dig a hole and they just wait
[1:46:12] for it to start raining and then they
[1:46:13] make their way back to the pond. We've
[1:46:15] already seen them back in the pond this
[1:46:16] year, which is really great.
[1:46:19] So, I just have a few before and after
[1:46:21] photos, and I'm going to start with the
[1:46:22] two small ponds because they're a little
[1:46:24] more straightforward. Um, this is
[1:46:26] before. You can see there's a lot of
[1:46:28] vegetation in there. Not really much of
[1:46:30] a pond anymore. And this is after. Um, I
[1:46:34] was worried about those tulies, but
[1:46:36] they're already starting to come back.
[1:46:37] They're pretty aggressive growers.
[1:46:41] And it's a little tough to see in this
[1:46:42] photo, but this is where we repaired the
[1:46:44] burm. Essentially, where the burm
[1:46:46] collapsed was our um was our new outfall
[1:46:49] location, which was not good. Um and
[1:46:52] this is uh after.
[1:46:56] So, this is that collapsed berm. A
[1:46:57] little bit more of a closeup. And this
[1:47:00] is repaired.
[1:47:02] There was also quite a bit of um erosion
[1:47:04] issues with this outfall pipe. So, we um
[1:47:08] relocated the outfall pipe, put in this
[1:47:11] new overflow structure um and relocated
[1:47:14] it away from the old head cut and
[1:47:16] erosion area and took the pipe all the
[1:47:19] way down the hillside so that hopefully
[1:47:20] we um won't experience that same type of
[1:47:23] erosion.
[1:47:25] Pond 10's very similar. This is a before
[1:47:28] picture and after. So, the pond is a bit
[1:47:30] deepened. It's a little bit wider. Um,
[1:47:32] we installed fencing around both of
[1:47:34] these ponds as well to protect from
[1:47:35] cattle impacts.
[1:47:38] So, before from this angle, we put in um
[1:47:41] a lot of container plants, which I'll
[1:47:43] talk about a little bit more in a
[1:47:44] second. There's a floating turtle ramp
[1:47:46] in the center of that pond where the
[1:47:48] turtles can bask if they choose to come
[1:47:51] on over.
[1:47:53] This is looking into the pond. There
[1:47:54] were there was actually no um like
[1:47:57] formal spillway or outflow structure. it
[1:47:59] was kind of just sliding off and
[1:48:01] creating a really big head cut. So, we
[1:48:03] installed an overflow pipe. Um on the
[1:48:06] left is the the old erosion. Um and then
[1:48:09] on the right is the the new outflow
[1:48:11] pipe.
[1:48:14] Pond one was kind of our trickiest pond.
[1:48:16] Um in some ways it's the biggest one.
[1:48:18] It's about an acre and it's in a very
[1:48:20] steep valley.
[1:48:23] The reason we did this is because the
[1:48:25] burm that's pictured here on the left
[1:48:26] was leaking. The photo on the right is
[1:48:28] just some um photo evidence of water
[1:48:31] seeping through the burm in previous
[1:48:32] years.
[1:48:35] So what we were doing was installing a
[1:48:37] bentonite clay liner on the burm from
[1:48:40] about where the first person is standing
[1:48:42] to where the furthest person is
[1:48:44] standing, maybe a little bit more in. Um
[1:48:46] we had to drain the pond first, which
[1:48:48] actually proved to be pretty
[1:48:49] complicated. It's a lot of water and
[1:48:51] it's really wet even after all the water
[1:48:54] is gone. There was a lot of this just
[1:48:56] kind of standing around looking at the
[1:48:58] ponds. When's it going to dry out?
[1:49:01] Because you really couldn't walk more
[1:49:02] than two feet into the pond without
[1:49:04] sinking up to your waist. It was a real
[1:49:06] safety hazard, much less getting a
[1:49:08] 20,000lb excavator out there. So, there
[1:49:11] was a lot of back and forth of like, how
[1:49:12] do we dry out the pond and can we get
[1:49:14] machinery out there and what are the
[1:49:16] logistics of this going to look like? Um
[1:49:18] there was about 3 to four feet of
[1:49:20] unexpected
[1:49:22] clay sediment built up over the last 60
[1:49:25] 70 years of everything washing down into
[1:49:27] this valley. So um we had to actually
[1:49:30] remove all that mud and sediment out of
[1:49:32] the way before we could even begin
[1:49:33] placing the bentonite liner. So it was
[1:49:36] pretty logistically complicated but an
[1:49:38] interesting case.
[1:49:40] So, this is once they got that mock out
[1:49:42] of the way, um, this is them starting to
[1:49:45] put these bags of bentonite onto the
[1:49:48] pond. Um, and then they just mix it with
[1:49:51] the native soil and kind of compress it
[1:49:53] back in. And the bentonite when it's
[1:49:55] exposed to water, it gets um, it
[1:49:57] essentially just becomes like really
[1:50:00] tight and compact and prevents water
[1:50:02] from uh, [clears throat] seeping into
[1:50:04] the burm and acts as a waterproof layer.
[1:50:08] So, three excavators walk into a bar.
[1:50:11] Here's what they're all doing. The top
[1:50:14] left is doing what I just said. It's
[1:50:15] mixing that bentonite with the top layer
[1:50:17] of soil. The one on the right is
[1:50:21] clearing out all of the the sediment so
[1:50:24] that we can even get to the base layer
[1:50:25] of the pond. And the one at the bottom
[1:50:28] is digging a cut off trench. So, that's
[1:50:30] kind of the end of the liner. And it
[1:50:32] forces all the water to go beneath the
[1:50:33] liner instead of through the burm. So, a
[1:50:37] complicated and graceful dance of
[1:50:39] machinery in this very small confined
[1:50:41] area.
[1:50:42] And because we had to move all uh all
[1:50:45] the sediment to work on the actual pond
[1:50:48] bottom, we had to do one half. We had to
[1:50:51] move all the sediment to one side, do
[1:50:54] one half, and then flop it back over and
[1:50:57] then do the other half. So, it was kind
[1:50:59] of a creative solution and um worked out
[1:51:01] well despite a lot of uh uncertainty in
[1:51:05] the beginning. So, here's some after
[1:51:07] photos. I will say these are from
[1:51:09] November since all the rain we just got.
[1:51:12] This pond is completely full, way sooner
[1:51:15] than expected, which has presented a few
[1:51:17] challenges, but I am happy to have
[1:51:18] received the rain.
[1:51:21] So, here's some after photos. Got some
[1:51:23] erosion control blanket on the work
[1:51:25] area. floating turtle ramps in here as
[1:51:28] well.
[1:51:29] Some plantings here, too.
[1:51:32] All the ponds uh have water depth gauges
[1:51:35] installed and fencing installed. Now,
[1:51:37] here's a closeup of those turtle basking
[1:51:39] ramps. I hope they use them. Um and then
[1:51:42] we also seated some areas of disturbance
[1:51:45] in the project work site.
[1:51:48] So, here's some photos. We partnered
[1:51:50] with the student conservation
[1:51:51] association. They came out and helped
[1:51:52] with our with some fencing. So they
[1:51:55] worked alongside our field staff. This
[1:51:56] is a great opportunity for them to learn
[1:51:59] about the conservation field,
[1:52:01] do some projects on the land.
[1:52:04] We also worked with the San Jose
[1:52:06] Conservation Corps to install um 2600
[1:52:09] plants across the three ponds. This was
[1:52:11] no easy feat. It was a really big
[1:52:13] planting project. So here are some
[1:52:15] examples of the species that we planted.
[1:52:17] They're all wetland water loving plants.
[1:52:20] Here's some We got some really great
[1:52:23] photos of the core coming out to help
[1:52:25] us. Pretty tough planting conditions,
[1:52:28] more of a remote site. They did a really
[1:52:30] amazing job and it's really rewarding to
[1:52:32] work with these young people who are
[1:52:34] kind of just getting their foot in the
[1:52:35] door with conservation. And our field
[1:52:37] staff worked alongside them, which was
[1:52:39] really, really helpful.
[1:52:43] Found a big mushroom.
[1:52:46] And while that was happening, our field
[1:52:48] staff was working diligently in really
[1:52:49] challenging conditions to install the
[1:52:51] irrigation that's going to supply water
[1:52:53] to these plants in the dry season and
[1:52:56] what we thought would be before the pond
[1:52:58] fills up, though that happened a lot
[1:53:00] quicker than we thought.
[1:53:02] So really a lot of gratitude to them. We
[1:53:04] also had two volunteer days with the
[1:53:06] public. So they came out and helped us
[1:53:09] plant
[1:53:11] a really fun project.
[1:53:16] So, there'll be a five-year monitoring
[1:53:17] and maintenance period. Um, we're going
[1:53:19] to be looking at various things to
[1:53:21] determine the success of the project.
[1:53:23] Um, do the pond stay and the BMS stay
[1:53:25] stable? Um, do all of those fun species
[1:53:29] come back? Do we have NES and tree frogs
[1:53:31] and red-legged frogs and western pond
[1:53:33] turtles? And how long does it take? Are
[1:53:34] their populations able to expand? Um, do
[1:53:37] invasive species like bullfrogs come in?
[1:53:41] um what's the vegetation cover and
[1:53:44] success looking like after our plantings
[1:53:46] and there's a lot of features to
[1:53:48] maintain. Um so it'll be continue to be
[1:53:51] a significant commitment from us over
[1:53:52] the next few years but I think and I and
[1:53:55] I hope it'll be a really worthwhile
[1:53:57] commitment. It's been a really cool
[1:53:59] project.
[1:54:01] So here's just the summary slide again
[1:54:03] to kind of um wrap things up comparing
[1:54:06] and contrasting the two projects. um
[1:54:09] similar in nature but very different in
[1:54:12] the way they were executed and the in
[1:54:13] the sites and the challenges that each
[1:54:15] one presented.
[1:54:18] I encourage you if you haven't seen
[1:54:19] these, our communications team did a
[1:54:21] really awesome job um publicizing this
[1:54:24] work this summer. Feel really grateful
[1:54:25] to them as well. These are really cool
[1:54:27] videos that show some um some visuals
[1:54:30] from the project and some some
[1:54:32] interviews so you can get um insight
[1:54:34] into specific components.
[1:54:38] And our BDAS were featured in Nature
[1:54:40] magazine which is really cool I think.
[1:54:43] Um the article is about uh nature-based
[1:54:47] solutions to flooding in urban areas. Um
[1:54:50] so I hope that our humble little BDAS
[1:54:53] can spark some greater conversation. um
[1:54:56] about restoration like this and make it
[1:54:59] more accessible for other people to um
[1:55:01] to do this as well.
[1:55:05] And lastly, I just want to point out the
[1:55:06] partnerships that we had on these two
[1:55:08] projects. Um for the building the BDAS,
[1:55:12] we had representatives from POST, the
[1:55:14] San Monteo Resource Conservation
[1:55:16] District, City of San Jose, the Habitat
[1:55:18] Agency, and Valley Water all come out
[1:55:20] and physically help us build the BDAS,
[1:55:22] which was really special. um and a great
[1:55:27] learning exchange between agencies and
[1:55:29] organizations.
[1:55:31] Um and we worked with a great um company
[1:55:34] called Nature's Engineers. They do they
[1:55:37] specialize in BDAS and restoration work
[1:55:39] like this and do a lot of great beaver
[1:55:42] advocacy work in San Lucispo. Um and it
[1:55:45] was awesome to to make a connection with
[1:55:47] them. Um, like I mentioned before, the
[1:55:50] Student Conservation Association and the
[1:55:52] San Jose Conservation Corps came out to
[1:55:54] help with the Rancho project and Point
[1:55:56] Blue and Valley Water were both funders
[1:55:58] of that project. So, you know, there's
[1:56:00] the element of all the technical things
[1:56:03] we did on the land to help um you know,
[1:56:06] the the critters out there, but there's
[1:56:07] also the ecosystem of people and um the
[1:56:11] relationships we were able to build and
[1:56:13] bolster that will help further this work
[1:56:16] in our organization and also in the
[1:56:18] region. So, I find that to be a really
[1:56:20] rewarding part of these projects as
[1:56:22] well. So, um, with that, I'd be happy to
[1:56:26] take any questions and comments you have
[1:56:28] about either project. And thanks for
[1:56:30] listening.
[1:56:32] >> Thank you very much, Rachel. Great
[1:56:33] » Thank you very much, Rachel. Great
[1:56:33] presentation.
[1:56:34] >> Thanks.
[1:56:35] » Thanks.
[1:56:35] >> Um,
[1:56:37] » Um,
[1:56:38] Renet,
[1:56:39] >> yeah,
[1:56:40] » yeah,
[1:56:40] sort of following along some of the
[1:56:42] videos came before. It was kind of cool
[1:56:45] to see that. Looking forward to going
[1:56:46] out there and watching some critters for
[1:56:49] around. Well done. Thank you. Thanks
[1:56:55] >> Matthews.
[1:56:56] » Matthews.
[1:56:56] >> Good project. Good presentation.
[1:57:02] » Great great presentation. Thank you very
[1:57:04] much. I want to know when we can go out
[1:57:05] there. I want to see this.
[1:57:07] >> Yeah. Um I would love to to host a host
[1:57:10] » Yeah. Um I would love to to host a host
[1:57:10] a board outing. We I think we took one
[1:57:13] of the committees out there. I can't
[1:57:15] remember which one.
[1:57:17] >> Which one?
[1:57:17] » Which one?
[1:57:17] >> Our expenditure oversight committ. Yeah,
[1:57:19] » Our expenditure oversight committ. Yeah,
[1:57:19] we took the expenditure plan and
[1:57:20] oversight committee out there last year.
[1:57:24] >> The board could come out. That'd be
[1:57:26] » The board could come out. That'd be
[1:57:26] really fun. Maybe we could put you to
[1:57:28] work doing some weeding, too.
[1:57:31] >> I'd be I'd be happy to do a tour.
[1:57:36] » No question. So, thank you for the great
[1:57:37] presentation.
[1:57:38] >> Thanks, Dr. Gil.
[1:57:42] » Thanks, Dr. Gil.
[1:57:42] >> Um,
[1:57:43] » Um,
[1:57:43] no question, no comments, but really a
[1:57:46] great presentation. Thank you. Thanks.
[1:57:50] >> I have a question and this is me not
[1:57:53] » I have a question and this is me not
[1:57:53] understanding what I was hearing.
[1:57:55] If it's a is it a stock pond and does
[1:57:58] that mean it's there to provide water
[1:58:01] for cattle?
[1:58:02] >> Yes. So that is why the ponds were
[1:58:04] » Yes. So that is why the ponds were
[1:58:04] originally built when the land was
[1:58:06] exclusively used for ranching. Um so
[1:58:08] there's stock ponds. It's pretty common
[1:58:10] in a lot of our preserves in this
[1:58:12] region. Um, and some of them still are
[1:58:16] used for cattle as well as habitat. And
[1:58:18] that's kind of a sometimes a delicate
[1:58:20] balance, but it definitely is possible
[1:58:21] for them to be used for both
[1:58:23] >> because you fenced them off.
[1:58:25] » because you fenced them off.
[1:58:25] >> That's correct.
[1:58:26] » That's correct.
[1:58:26] >> So, they're not they're still called
[1:58:27] » So, they're not they're still called
[1:58:28] stock ponds, but they're not available
[1:58:30] for cattle.
[1:58:31] >> Yeah. So, the the big pond can still be
[1:58:34] » Yeah. So, the the big pond can still be
[1:58:34] used for cattle. We're fencing some
[1:58:36] portions of it off. the burm we're going
[1:58:37] to keep cattle off just for the
[1:58:39] stability of that construction project,
[1:58:41] but they'll still have access to other
[1:58:43] parts of the pond. And then pond 7, they
[1:58:46] have actually been off that for a while.
[1:58:48] Because of that, there's some
[1:58:50] geotechnical concerns around that pond.
[1:58:52] Um, and it may not last forever. So,
[1:58:56] we're trying to keep the cattle off that
[1:58:58] one. Um, but pond 10, it is fenced off
[1:59:00] that there is a gate. So, we could work
[1:59:02] with the grazer to do some flash grazing
[1:59:04] inside the pond at certain times. And
[1:59:06] then where does the water come from
[1:59:08] besides the rain?
[1:59:09] >> Um yeah, so that's a great question. I
[1:59:11] » Um yeah, so that's a great question. I
[1:59:11] would say with pond 10, it primarily
[1:59:14] comes from rain, like surface water. Um
[1:59:17] pond 7 and pond one definitely have a
[1:59:20] strong groundwater component. There's
[1:59:22] actually a spring up on that ridge. So
[1:59:25] we found that um those two ponds
[1:59:28] actually we had to continuously pump
[1:59:30] them out during construction. So there
[1:59:32] is a source of water even in the the dry
[1:59:34] season at least during you know average
[1:59:36] or above average precipitation years.
[1:59:39] >> Thank you.
[1:59:39] » Thank you.
[1:59:39] >> And then
[1:59:41] » And then
[1:59:42] my last comment was that what a great
[1:59:44] way to train people on how to use heavy
[1:59:49] equipment. That was really impressive
[1:59:51] seeing those big things out there. And
[1:59:54] um it's not everywhere where you can get
[1:59:56] that kind of training and experience. So
[1:59:58] I find that to be just a huge benefit of
[2:00:01] this organization that we can train and
[2:00:04] use that kind of labor and trained labor
[2:00:07] force.
[2:00:07] >> Thank you.
[2:00:08] » Thank you.
[2:00:08] >> Yeah. Yeah. I will say the Rancho
[2:00:10] » Yeah. Yeah. I will say the Rancho
[2:00:10] project, we had a contractor come out
[2:00:11] and do it, but they were an incredible
[2:00:13] contractor. They they are a restoration
[2:00:15] specific contractor, Triangle Land
[2:00:17] Restoration. And I felt really grateful
[2:00:19] to be able to work with them because
[2:00:21] they've done a lot of um a lot of
[2:00:23] similar projects and it's not standard
[2:00:25] work to be in remote, steep, rocky
[2:00:28] conditions like that where you're having
[2:00:30] to work so closely together. It's a
[2:00:32] little unconventional. Um and yeah, I
[2:00:35] also feel really proud of our staff for
[2:00:38] doing the work um on the stepping stone
[2:00:41] project. It was a great learning
[2:00:42] opportunity for all of us, you know,
[2:00:44] equipment and by hand. So, I feel felt
[2:00:47] really supported by our field team. They
[2:00:49] are super competent.
[2:00:50] >> And for the major most people who live
[2:00:53] » And for the major most people who live
[2:00:53] in the valley, when we see big equipment
[2:00:55] like that, it's going to be building
[2:00:57] something downtown and it's nice to see
[2:01:00] it being used out preserving wildland.
[2:01:03] So, thank you very much.
[2:01:04] >> Yeah.
[2:01:05] » Yeah.
[2:01:05] >> And I think Director Matthews,
[2:01:07] » And I think Director Matthews,
[2:01:07] >> yeah, I did have a question. You
[2:01:09] » yeah, I did have a question. You
[2:01:09] mentioned removing a lot of the species
[2:01:11] to do the pond restoration and then you
[2:01:14] mentioned you were hoping they would
[2:01:15] find their way back. Why wouldn't you
[2:01:17] just introduce Why wouldn't you give
[2:01:19] them a helping hand with that?
[2:01:20] >> Yeah, just put one in my pocket and
[2:01:24] » Yeah, just put one in my pocket and
[2:01:24] um that could maybe be something to
[2:01:26] consider in the future. Um there's a lot
[2:01:28] of
[2:01:30] I you could say complicated or
[2:01:33] protective measures for species um for
[2:01:36] actually handling the species. um you
[2:01:38] have to have a qualified biologist who
[2:01:41] has proper like permits and training to
[2:01:43] even um handle the species at all. We
[2:01:46] had to work with biologists to relocate
[2:01:49] them. So, it's more of an extensive
[2:01:52] process to do what you would call like a
[2:01:54] reintroduction um to the ponds. Um I
[2:01:58] have a lot of confidence that nes and
[2:02:01] tree frogs will be returning. In fact,
[2:02:03] I've I've already seen it. Um, and I
[2:02:06] know turtles are coming back to pond
[2:02:07] one. Um, my main thing that I'm
[2:02:11] concerned about is the red-legged frog.
[2:02:12] So, I think maybe it's a case of we wait
[2:02:15] a couple years and see. Um, if they
[2:02:18] because if they found their way there,
[2:02:19] they're they're pretty resilient and um,
[2:02:22] they should be able to find their way
[2:02:24] back. So, I feel I feel good about that.
[2:02:27] And maybe if it's been a few years,
[2:02:29] that's why we have that fiveyear
[2:02:31] monitoring period. and then maybe we
[2:02:32] could look into additional options. But
[2:02:36] it would be there'd be some logistics to
[2:02:39] consider in in bringing them back to the
[2:02:40] ponds from from Yagas Creek. The first
[2:02:42] of which would be finding them. But
[2:02:44] >> yeah, [clears throat] so yeah, good it's
[2:02:46] » yeah, [clears throat] so yeah, good it's
[2:02:46] a good good thing to think about.
[2:02:50] >> That's
[2:02:52] » That's
[2:02:52] the chair if I may add one thing. Um,
[2:02:54] you know, uh, the board may recall some
[2:02:56] of the trail planning work at Rancho and
[2:02:59] some of the presentations that Jen on
[2:03:01] our staff has led. Um, all of those
[2:03:04] trails, all the versions of them go by
[2:03:07] Pond 7. So, um, whenever that project is
[2:03:10] is ready or you're doing tours related
[2:03:12] to that project, you'll drive right by
[2:03:14] it. So, it's a good opportunity to see
[2:03:16] it. Um the other thing I'll I'll just
[2:03:18] kind of belabor even though Rachel
[2:03:20] mentioned it is that you know a lot of
[2:03:23] restoration work takes a long time. Um I
[2:03:27] think you know six years in the case of
[2:03:29] the ponds project plus five years of
[2:03:33] monitoring right I mean this is like big
[2:03:34] portions of people's careers. So um just
[2:03:37] to you know understand how how long this
[2:03:40] work takes for a bunch of reasons from
[2:03:42] the design phase to the permitting to
[2:03:44] the contracting to the biology to the
[2:03:46] cultural resources. Um you know we don't
[2:03:49] make widgets here and there's there's a
[2:03:52] reason that that time period can get up.
[2:03:54] Um the other thing I'll mention is you
[2:03:56] know just that that's an a million
[2:03:57] dollar project. You saw those all that
[2:03:59] dirt and all that equipment and that's
[2:04:01] and that's money. Um, you know, about
[2:04:03] half of that or so was was funded by
[2:04:06] Valley Water, a grant from them. Um, and
[2:04:09] then a smaller portion was was a project
[2:04:12] with Point Blue, which is a
[2:04:13] long-standing partnership relationship
[2:04:15] with their straw program that connects
[2:04:18] students and teachers to watershed
[2:04:20] restoration. So, um, you know, and just
[2:04:23] time to I think Rachel told me the other
[2:04:25] day that this last year she spent 950
[2:04:28] hours on the Rancho project. So, you
[2:04:31] know, that's like half of an employee,
[2:04:33] right? And this is uh I don't want to
[2:04:35] speak for you, but the maybe the biggest
[2:04:36] project in your career.
[2:04:38] >> Yeah, definitely. And yeah, the 900
[2:04:39] » Yeah, definitely. And yeah, the 900
[2:04:39] hours, I guess, is since I started, so
[2:04:41] maybe two years, but still a really good
[2:04:43] chunk of time. And definitely the
[2:04:44] biggest project that I have personally
[2:04:46] managed and um a lot so many different
[2:04:50] it's so interdisciplinary. I've really
[2:04:52] learned a lot about a I learned a little
[2:04:54] about a lot of things, I'll say. And it
[2:04:57] was I had also had to you know
[2:05:00] coordinate with a lot of different
[2:05:01] people. So big learning experience for
[2:05:04] me personally and I think for the
[2:05:05] organization and just in terms of what
[2:05:07] it takes to do a project like this.
[2:05:10] >> So kudos to Rachel for you know taking
[2:05:12] » So kudos to Rachel for you know taking
[2:05:12] [snorts] this one through. A lot of
[2:05:14] complications all along the way. Um you
[2:05:17] know but trusting staff with a million
[2:05:19] dollars and a bunch of endangered
[2:05:21] species is a big deal. So
[2:05:25] » yeah. All right. Thank you all.
[2:05:27] >> Thank you.
[2:05:30] » Thank you.
[2:05:30] >> Um, do we have any members of the public
[2:05:34] » Um, do we have any members of the public
[2:05:34] who would like to comment on this item?
[2:05:36] There are none. Thank you. Uh, this item
[2:05:39] isformational and there's no board
[2:05:40] action needed. So, thank you very much.
[2:05:44] And I think we are now ready to move on
[2:05:46] to committee meeting summaries or there
[2:05:49] will no there were no committee meetings
[2:05:51] since the December meeting. So, there
[2:05:53] are none. And nowformational reports
[2:05:56] beginning with general manager.
[2:06:00] >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um I'm going to
[2:06:02] » Thank you, Madam Chair. Um I'm going to
[2:06:02] defer to Mark uh to start our report
[2:06:04] outs.
[2:06:07] >> And I'm going to hand it to
[2:06:11] » And I'm going to hand it to
[2:06:11] Heritage Oaks.
[2:06:14] >> Thank you, Mark. U Lucas Shawheimer,
[2:06:17] » Thank you, Mark. U Lucas Shawheimer,
[2:06:17] planning design construction manager
[2:06:19] again. um [clears throat] provide a
[2:06:21] brief update, excuse me, on the proposed
[2:06:24] Heritage Oak Cemetery project in the
[2:06:26] city of San Jose. Um staff brought this
[2:06:29] item to your board, I think it was in
[2:06:31] October, uh and the board provided
[2:06:34] direction for us to review the project
[2:06:36] supplemental air findings. Um as well as
[2:06:40] uh provide comments and do outreach to
[2:06:44] local and state elected officials as we
[2:06:46] see fit. um based on the findings. Um so
[2:06:50] um basically in uh December 17th uh the
[2:06:55] supplemental ER was released by the city
[2:06:57] of San Jose for public comment. Uh staff
[2:07:01] working closely with legal council uh is
[2:07:04] reviewing the supplemental er findings
[2:07:06] and preparing comments. Um the proposed
[2:07:10] uh schedule is the public comment period
[2:07:12] will close uh in February 18th, 2016.
[2:07:17] Um [clears throat] NOSA will provide a
[2:07:19] comment letter prior to that. We were
[2:07:21] informed by uh city staff that the
[2:07:25] project um and determination of adequacy
[2:07:28] of the findings will go to a planning
[2:07:30] director's hearing. Um and uh the date
[2:07:34] of that is TBD. uh it would be following
[2:07:37] the close of the uh comment period and
[2:07:40] then preparation of the final E. So
[2:07:43] we'll be tracking that very closely. Um
[2:07:45] so as I mentioned, OSA is planning to
[2:07:46] provide a comment letter um at that uh
[2:07:50] public comment period and then it goes
[2:07:51] to the director's hearing at which OSA
[2:07:54] would plan to provide a comment letter
[2:07:56] and depending on the decision at that
[2:07:59] point of the planning director whether
[2:08:01] to uh accept the supplemental e or not
[2:08:06] um OSA would plan to potentially file an
[2:08:08] appeal of that. Um, if that were the
[2:08:12] case, uh, we would file the appeal for,
[2:08:16] um, uh, appeal of that and it would go
[2:08:18] to the city of the San Jose City
[2:08:20] Council, uh, for final, uh, approval of
[2:08:24] the supplemental ER. Um, and there's
[2:08:27] actually two approvals. There's a
[2:08:28] supplemental Y and then the project
[2:08:30] approval for the plan development permit
[2:08:32] which would both of those items would go
[2:08:34] to the director hearing and if appealed
[2:08:39] the city council hearing.
[2:08:44] » Okay,
[2:08:47] that's thanks Lucas. Do we have any
[2:08:50] other managers with report outs? Pardon
[2:08:53] me. Elizabeth,
[2:08:56] >> just a quick bit of good news. In the
[2:08:59] » just a quick bit of good news. In the
[2:08:59] fall, we submitted our renewal
[2:09:01] application for a CSDA transparency
[2:09:03] certificate of excellence. And we're
[2:09:06] excited to share that we received notice
[2:09:07] in late December that our application
[2:09:09] was approved. Uh just this certificate
[2:09:12] commemorates the authorities's continued
[2:09:14] dedication to being transparent and open
[2:09:16] and accessible to the public. So, we're
[2:09:18] very excited to uh have a renewal of
[2:09:21] this and we'll be coordinating at the
[2:09:23] time with CSDA for them to come and
[2:09:26] present the certificate to the board at
[2:09:28] a future meeting in the coming month.
[2:09:30] That's it.
[2:09:34] » A bare natural resources manager. Um,
[2:09:36] just real quick, um, obviously you see
[2:09:38] the excellent work my team is up to, so
[2:09:41] I don't need to cover that, but um, I'll
[2:09:43] share, um, just last week, uh, for for a
[2:09:46] couple years running now, we've worked
[2:09:48] in partnership with the California
[2:09:49] Department of Fish and Wildlife to
[2:09:51] track, um, elk on the various properties
[2:09:53] that we own and manage in Coyote Ridge.
[2:09:56] Um, got this nice note. Thanks again for
[2:09:59] coordinating and permitting CDFW to use
[2:10:01] OSA property for a helicopter base camp.
[2:10:03] Yesterday we were able to collar an
[2:10:05] additional five cows and two bulls in
[2:10:07] the vicinity of Kite Ridge south of
[2:10:09] Anderson Lake. There's a total of 13 10
[2:10:12] cows and three bulls out collared in
[2:10:14] this area. Now we're also able to collar
[2:10:16] another eight elk in herds to the east
[2:10:18] and to the north. So Lillian did a good
[2:10:21] job of describing the different methods
[2:10:23] of understanding where wildlife moved.
[2:10:25] Um this is obviously a little bit more
[2:10:27] exciting with the helicopter and
[2:10:29] tranquilizers and all of that, but um it
[2:10:32] it really does help us sort of uh
[2:10:34] understand the the landscape. Um the
[2:10:37] other thing I'll report is that um staff
[2:10:39] is working very hard to um develop some
[2:10:42] of the alternatives for the board's
[2:10:44] consideration. We'll talk about that at
[2:10:46] a future board meeting, next boarding
[2:10:48] meeting. So looking forward to sharing
[2:10:50] that. Um, another thing I'll mention is
[2:10:53] um, staff has presented in the past
[2:10:55] about um, the county's rural zoning
[2:10:58] update um, which is very complicated
[2:11:00] topic on a number of fronts. Um, and
[2:11:03] similarly at the same time uh, you may
[2:11:05] recall that Anna on my team has also
[2:11:08] started our agricultural strategic plan
[2:11:10] and uh, members of the public who don't
[2:11:13] you know always know their alphabet soup
[2:11:15] of government agencies do get us
[2:11:17] confused a little bit. So, um, some of
[2:11:19] the broad concern that people have about
[2:11:21] the rural zoning update, maybe
[2:11:23] particularly in the equestrian community
[2:11:24] or other sort of niche groups, um, some
[2:11:27] of that is confusion is coming our way.
[2:11:29] So, we're doing our best to get talking
[2:11:32] points out there just to make sure for
[2:11:34] folks to know who's on first and what
[2:11:36] our work is about versus what the
[2:11:38] county's works are about. Um, and I I'm
[2:11:40] telling the board, so in case you hear
[2:11:42] anything, um, please direct it to staff
[2:11:44] and we can, um, help help guide them in
[2:11:46] the right direction for what resources
[2:11:48] they might need with the county or if
[2:11:50] they are in fact interested in our
[2:11:51] agricultural work that we can share that
[2:11:53] as well. Thank you.
[2:11:57] >> Through the chair, I think uh, Erin just
[2:11:59] » Through the chair, I think uh, Erin just
[2:11:59] uh, reminded me of something. If your
[2:12:01] board remembers, I don't know exactly
[2:12:04] which board meeting it was in the fall,
[2:12:06] you approved anou and a $30,000
[2:12:11] uh contract of support with the
[2:12:15] University of California Cooperative
[2:12:16] Extension for agricultural marketing to
[2:12:20] help the public understand better the
[2:12:22] importance of our working lands, our
[2:12:24] local food, what farmers do, etc. And
[2:12:26] that was called for in the Santa Clara
[2:12:29] Valley. um a plan which we were a
[2:12:32] co-author of and Alex sat on the
[2:12:34] technical advisory committee for that.
[2:12:37] So Julie Morris of UC Cooperative
[2:12:39] Extension is leading that up. They've
[2:12:42] come up with [clears throat] their
[2:12:43] marketing and branding strategy for
[2:12:44] agriculture. Um we're helping them out
[2:12:47] with that and um they're trying to take
[2:12:50] advantage of some of the big sporting
[2:12:52] events and other things where people are
[2:12:54] coming to San Jose. So you keep your
[2:12:57] eyes peeled. you may start to see uh
[2:12:59] billboards about natural and working
[2:13:02] lands on uh billboards along Highway 101
[2:13:05] um in the very near future. Thanks.
[2:13:10] >> Thank you.
[2:13:11] » Thank you.
[2:13:11] >> And through through the chair, if I may,
[2:13:13] » And through through the chair, if I may,
[2:13:13] I have two more quick project
[2:13:15] announcements uh that are worth
[2:13:16] mentioning. Uh the first is our Rancho
[2:13:18] Canada Regional Trails Pro expansion
[2:13:20] project which Aaron mentioned earlier.
[2:13:23] Uh we'll be releasing on the 16th an RFP
[2:13:26] for SQUA uh for an environmental
[2:13:29] consultant for that project. We'll begin
[2:13:31] that analysis. Uh and then the second
[2:13:33] big one is the um your board tonight uh
[2:13:36] adopted uh the NEPA documents for the
[2:13:40] Kite Valley Open Space Preserve uh
[2:13:42] public access improvements project. uh
[2:13:45] we'll be transmitting that now to the
[2:13:46] county of Santa Clara and that will go
[2:13:49] to the uh county of Santa Clair Board of
[2:13:51] Supervisors on February 23rd is the plan
[2:13:53] for their approval and that would be the
[2:13:55] final hurdle we need for a $800,000
[2:13:58] grant from the federal government from
[2:13:59] HUD for that. Um so that's a big
[2:14:02] milestone. And then uh related to that,
[2:14:05] on January 23rd, uh we plan to issue a
[2:14:08] request for construction bids for the
[2:14:11] construction project.
[2:14:21] » Thank you, Madam Chair. I was looking at
[2:14:23] Helen and now I have to kind [laughter]
[2:14:24] of shift shift my games.
[2:14:29] » [laughter]
[2:14:32] » I believe there is no legal report.
[2:14:34] >> How'd you guess?
[2:14:36] » How'd you guess?
[2:14:36] >> It says no legal report on my cheat
[2:14:38] » It says no legal report on my cheat
[2:14:38] sheet. [laughter]
[2:14:41] » I'll surprise you sometime.
[2:14:44] >> And [clears throat] then uh board member
[2:14:46] » And [clears throat] then uh board member
[2:14:46] reports.
[2:14:47] >> Hi there, Alex.
[2:14:47] » Hi there, Alex.
[2:14:48] >> Nothing really happened since our last
[2:14:50] » Nothing really happened since our last
[2:14:50] meeting. I wish everybody a happy new
[2:14:53] year and it's going to be negative soon.
[2:14:59] No reports you
[2:15:03] um no I'm just looking forward to a very
[2:15:06] vibrant and exciting 2026 for a lot of
[2:15:09] reasons.
[2:15:14] » Oh thank you Alex for nominating me but
[2:15:17] I want to say congratulation to our
[2:15:20] newly elected chair
[2:15:24] Dr. Southerntherland and then newly
[2:15:27] elected vice chair director Domingus
[2:15:30] right so thank you very much and we will
[2:15:34] work together and will we achieve many
[2:15:37] many task this year's
[2:15:41] right
[2:15:42] >> and then I would just like to report
[2:15:44] » and then I would just like to report
[2:15:44] that I did go to Patrick Erin's assembly
[2:15:47] member Erin's holiday event and had a
[2:15:49] table there with open space information
[2:15:54] Um, and to remind all of us as board
[2:15:56] members to please, if you have a few
[2:15:58] minutes, reach out to the other electeds
[2:16:01] that you share areas in the district
[2:16:03] with, just to give an update on the
[2:16:05] great work that we are doing. There are
[2:16:08] sheets to that we can pass out. We can
[2:16:11] leave behind the coloring books. It's
[2:16:13] it's just like I think a yearly check-in
[2:16:17] with folks would be great just so we
[2:16:19] stay on everybody's top of mind because
[2:16:21] there are so many other distractions out
[2:16:23] there but we would be a happy
[2:16:25] distraction
[2:16:28] >> and um yeah thank you madam chair I
[2:16:29] » and um yeah thank you madam chair I
[2:16:30] really appreciate what you just said um
[2:16:32] and uh and yeah agree I think it's great
[2:16:34] to make those uh connections on an
[2:16:36] ongoing basis with our elected leaders
[2:16:38] in each of your respective districts and
[2:16:40] I also wanted to mention that Charlotte,
[2:16:43] our public information manager, has set
[2:16:45] up two outreach to go boxes, which they
[2:16:49] don't have sandwiches or anything in
[2:16:50] them, but they've got um the kit that if
[2:16:53] you are um going to an event and say
[2:16:56] it's near-term, so it's not on our
[2:16:58] long-term schedule or including
[2:17:00] volunteers, you just want to go, it's
[2:17:02] got a tablecloth, uh collateral, pins,
[2:17:06] giveaways, um everything you need to, uh
[2:17:09] put up [clears throat] a table at one of
[2:17:11] those events. I know director you have
[2:17:13] done that.
[2:17:13] >> Really nice.
[2:17:14] » Really nice.
[2:17:14] >> Yeah.
[2:17:18] » Thank you. Any other
[2:17:22] comments?
[2:17:25] Then I think I will adjourn the meeting
[2:17:28] at 8:16.