Open space district celebrates 50,000 acres Open space district celebrates 50,000 acres (June 22, 2005)

By Marion Softky

Almanac Staff Writer

Fifty thousand acres of open space preserved in 33 years, in the hottest real estate market in the world: that's why the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District threw a party June 4.

"We're celebrating a major milestone in conserving the region's natural resources," said Larry Hassett, president of the district board, to some 200 people gathered at the historic Stevens Canyon Ranch in the Cupertino foothills.

An agreement with the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) in Menlo Park to manage the 238-acre ranch put the district over the mark of 50,000 Peninsula acres preserved since district was formed in 1972.

These acres, included in 25 open space preserves in the mountains and shorelines of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, extend from Saratoga Gap in the south, to San Carlos and Kings Mountain in the north. Their preservation has converted many Peninsula hills from developable real estate to public open space being managed for habitat and low-intensity recreation.

To get a feel for the scale of what the district has accomplished, Mr. Hassett noted that 50,000 acres is one and one half times the size of the city and county of San Francisco, which covers 28,918 acres.

With the latest management agreement for Stevens Canyon Ranch, the open space district now owns 45,010 acres outright, controls 2,682 acres through conservation easements, and manages 2,437 acres, for a grand total of 50,129 acres, reported General Manager Craig Britton.

"This public open space land will be there forever for people to enjoy," he said.

Open space buffs attending the party got to walk the old ranch roads, and stroll around the house, barns and orchards homesteaded by the Bordi family in 1881.

George Bordi, grandson of the original Bastido Bordi, who came from Italy and originally settled in Mounatin View, recalled visiting the ranch as a kid when his father and grandfather were making wine.

A team of mules would bring the grapes down to the upper barn, said Mr. Bardi, who still lives on a family ranch near Portola State Park. There the grapes would be crushed -- using electricity -- and the juice would run down a flume to the winery underneath the ranch house.

Mr. Bordi recalls his dad telling him to drink the fresh grape juice, but there were no cups. "He said, 'Put your face in.' So I did. It was real sweet," he said with a chuckle.

For the next 50,000 acres, the open space district is looking to the San Mateo County Coastside, where it expanded just last year to help save ranch and agricultural land.

"Persistence is what makes it work," said Audrey Rust, president of POST, the Menlo Park-based land trust that works closely with the district to preserve and manage open space.

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