Bill's Backyard

While there are many trails in the Santa Clara Valley, none connect the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Diablo Range and tie the Santa Clara Valley into the Bay Area Ridge Trail, a 375-mile network of trails that unites the ridges circling the Bay Area. The Authority is helping to fund the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council’s feasibility study to consider and identify a preferred Ridge Trail alignment between Santa Teresa County Park and the Coyote Creek Trail as part of ongoing efforts to fix this South Bay “trail-gap.”

The Authority contributed funds towards the County’s efforts to open a new 288-acre urban park on the Martial Cottle Family Ranch. The Cottle family farmed the land for 150 years and the park reflects this agricultural history through providing land for farmers and educational activities. The park also features a trail system and several group picnic areas.

In September 2007 the City of Campbell dedicated a trail development and revegetation project that offers the public a small oasis in a busy urban neighborhood. An allocation of $109,000 from the Open Space Authority helped fund trails, landscaping, and benches on the site of percolation ponds along Hacienda Avenue.