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A Grazing Management Strategy is Key to Promoting Native Biodiversity

The Open Space Authority uses cattle grazing as a management tool to enhance the native biodiversity of California’s rare grasslands and oak savannas that support many native plants and animals, including endangered species. Grasslands have become rare due to development, and the remaining protected grasslands are under threat from invasive plant species. Invasive plants outcompete native plants for resources and suppressing natural wildfires have caused many shrubs and trees to establish themselves in grasslands. In the absence of fire or grazing, litter accumulates on the soil and can become fuel for extreme fires.

Silicon Valley farms? They're there, and they're worth millions

Written by Eric Kurhi. Published in the Mercury News September 24, 2017. Photo by Josie Lepe/Bay Area News Group

SAN MARTIN — As fourth-generation men of the earth, the Bonino brothers know their picked profession isn’t for everyone.

Their century-old LJB Farms has been around since long before the term “Silicon Valley” was coined, but it’s now an outlier in Santa Clara County, a throwback to days when it was known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight.

Coyote Valley Family Harvest Feast Celebrates Urban Farming and Healthy Food

The Open Space Authority cordially invites the community to the Coyote Valley Family Harvest Feast, a celebration of locally-grown food, local farms, and Silicon Valley’s agricultural roots. This free and family-friendly festival will take place on Saturday, September 10, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., at the Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve, 550 Palm Avenue in Morgan Hill. Attendees are encouraged to register in advance at www.CoyoteValley2016.eventbrite.com

County of Santa Clara Awarded Grant to Preserve At-risk Farmland for Climate Benefit

Preserving farmland has many benefits, including decreasing the carbon emissions associated with urban development. A recent $100,000 grant was awarded to the County of Santa Clara, in partnership with the Open Space Authority, that will identify and protect at-risk agricultural lands in order to help reduce greenhouse gas emission. “If agriculture is to survive in South County,” says Andrea Mackenzie, Open Space Authority General Manager, “we need an innovative action plan. The time is now to align plans, programs, policies and investment affecting undeveloped agricultural lands and demonstrate that conserving farmland from development is a critically important climate change strategy.”