In a significant stride in our mission to preserve the environment of Santa Clara County, Valley Water recently provided $4,000,000 to the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency to secure a portion of Richmond Ranch in San Jose. The property at Richmond Ranch will ultimately be transferred to Santa Clara County with the long-term vision of converting it into a nature preserve with hiking trails.
This purchase marks an important moment in Valley Water’s ongoing commitment to safeguarding natural habitats through the Safe, Clean Water and Natural Flood Protection Program
One of the six priorities of the Safe, Clean Water Program is to restore wildlife habitat and provide open space. Work under this priority includes controlling non-native and invasive plants, replanting native species, and maintaining land. Under this restoration priority are seven different projects with specific goals to help restore wildlife habitat. This includes a project focusing on partnerships for the conservation of habitat lands.
Funding from this partnership project helps the community acquire and protect important habitat land to preserve local ecosystems. This project allows for multiple agencies to pool funding to protect or restore large areas of habitat land. Safe, Clean Water plans to provide up to $8 million dollars over 15 years to fund similar projects.
Richmond Ranch
Richmond Ranch is a 3,653-acre property in the eastern portion of unincorporated Santa Clara County. This ranch supports a variety of wildlife species, including Tule elk and mountain lion. It also contains habitat for 15 special status species, including occurrences of five special status plants. Nearly 800 acres of the ranch are designated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as critical habitat for the California red-legged frog, approximately 470 acres are designated for the California tiger salamander, and nearly 800 acres are designated for the Bay checkerspot butterfly. The purchase of Richmond Ranch ensures the property will be permanently protected from development, further protecting these species.
So while this is a nice project, exactly how is it related to Valley Water’s mission, and how does it help provide Safe, Clean water? Or in other words, why are you spending $4 million of our money on this?
Thanks for the qyestion. Valley Water has a three-pronged mission to provide Santa Clara County with a reliable supply of safe, clean water, flood protection and environmental stewardship. Our agency’s District Act outlines the powers and purposes of our agency, which include “to preserve open space in Santa Clara County and support the county park system.”
You can read more about the District Act at https://www.valleywater.org/how-we-operate/about-valley-water/district-act
Thank you for writing this blog. It makes me want to learn more about mitigation credits available to Valley Water from this purchase. Does Valley Water expect to secure mitigation credits for the $4 million contribution? What other arrangements might be set up to manage mitigation credits? What projects does Valley Water expect to need mitigation for, and what species are impacted? I think a blog on that would be very informative and interesting for the public.
Thanks for the question. The $4 million contribution made by Valley Water towards the purchase of Richmond Ranch used funding from the Safe, Clean Water and Natural Flood Protection Program’s Project D7: Partnerships for the Conservation of Habitat Lands. Project D7 funds help the community acquire and protect important habitat land to preserve local ecosystems. The project supports implementation of multi-agency agreements, such as the Valley Habitat Plan, that pool mitigation or conservation dollars to protect or restore large areas of habitat land. More information on Project D7 can be found here: https://www.valleywater.org/project-updates/d7-partnerships-conservation-habitat-lands-0
There are no specific mitigation credits associated with Valley Water’s Richmond Ranch funding contribution. However, Richmond Ranch will be enrolled into the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Plan (VHP) Reserve System, which acquires, protects, and enhances land as mitigation for impacts to VHP covered species, natural communities, biological diversity, and ecosystem function. More information on VHP mitigation, including covered Valley Water projects, can be found here: https://scv-habitatagency.org/ and more information on the Reserve System can be found here: https://scv-habitatagency.org/213/Reserve-System.
Do the ranch boundaries extend on both the west and east sides of San Felipe Road?
Hi – Yes, Richmond Ranch includes land both west and east of San Felipe Road.
Great, $4million to acquire more land to place new restrictions for humans, like not allowing SWIMMING OR NON MOTORIZED BOATS on Chesboro, Uvas and Almaden reservoirs. Why can’t we find some money to re-open these reservoirs to the public once again? One of the most expensive property value areas in Silicon Valley, but we can’t enjoy the water. How long will the list of “NO” be for this land eventually? No dogs. NO stepping off trail. NO drones. No bikes…..until one day it’s NO HUMANS😐