Property is key to connect Uvas Park to Uvas Reservoir and West Valley Trail

Published in the Nov. 12-25, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life

By Staff Report

Docent Kathy Dollard shows a group a serpentine rock during the inaugural hike of the Open Space Authority’s new Melchor Ranch west of Morgan Hill near Uvas Reservoir. Serpentine is the state rock of California. Photo by Marty Cheek

Docent Kathy Dollard shows a group a serpentine rock during the inaugural hike of the Open Space Authority’s new Melchor Ranch west of Morgan Hill near Uvas Reservoir. Serpentine is the state rock of California. Photo by Marty Cheek

As the last of an autumn rain storm drifted overhead, about a dozen nature enthusiasts became the first group of public hikers to ever trek into the Open Space Authority’s newly purchased 285-acres of open space land that use to be belong to the Melchor family as a horse ranch off McKean Road

“It’s like a connector to various open spaces which is very important,” said Kathy Dollard, the OSA docent who led the group on the two-hour morning hike Nov. 2. “It’s at the head of Uvas Reservoir so it can provide a wildlife corridor and it can provide an ongoing program for watershed protection. And just for personal enjoyment, it has a lot of habitats and lovely ponds that have tremendous potential for endangered species.”

The land lies in the southern Santa Cruz Mountains a few miles west of Morgan Hill. It was purchased for $1.4 million as part of an innovative private/public partnership between the Open Space Authority, the Peninsula Open Space Trust and the Santa Clara County Parks Department.
The OSA offers docent-led hikes on the property by reservation. Future plans include creating an open space preserve open to the public 365 days per year free of charge.

“Purchase of the property is key to completing a critical trail route to connect Uvas Canyon County Park to Uvas Reservoir County Park and the West Valley Trail,” said County Supervisor Mike Wasserman, in whose district this parcel is located.

One interesting aspect of the property is that it contains a lot of serpentine rock which is a good habitat for native plant species to grow. It also has several ponds and oak and grey pine-covered hills that look out at mountain vistas.

Dollard considers the property a special place that will be developed over time by the OSA for public use.

OSA-Hike-Nov-web

A bird observed on the first hike at the Melchor Ranch site recently purchased by the Open Space Authority. Photo by Marty Cheek

“I would suspect that they will do resource inventories and see what they’ve got and they will look at the roads and see what can be used for trail development,” she said. “Other roads will need to be abandoned because they are subject to erosion or they might be too close to resources that need to be protected.”

Several members of the group who participated in the inaugural hike were brought there by Jean Reed who organizes a walking group for the San Jose branch of the American Association of University Women. It was a “spur of the moment” hike and the group particularly appreciated that Dollard provided interesting information about the wonders located in the rolling hill terrain, she said.

“I was glad to have someone who could talk about the plant life and the geology and the animals and the history of the area,” Reed said. “It really makes it a great experience. So I hope when they open it they’ll continue to provide some docent-led walks.”

Judy Burt, a member of the AAUW group, said she was impressed by the scenic beauty of the property.

“It’s very impressive,” she said. “Having a docent today helps give us a good tour and provides a lot of information. I’d like to come back and see how it develops.”

Martin Kazliner, a San Jose resident, saw the posting for the hike on Facebook and signed up for it on the OSA’s website.

“It’s peaceful, it’s fresh, you can tell there hasn’t been a lot of pedestrians through here,” he said. “It’s very clean and untouched, and I don’t get in a lot of hikes in places that are this untouched.”

Dollard said said that open space land such as the Melchor ranch site is vital to the quality of life for human and non-human residents of the Silicon Valley region.

“It has multiple uses not just for providing open space for the growing population of the Bay Area, particularly the South Bay but for wildlife corridors, watershed protection, resource protection, providing a refuge for endangered species,” she said. “It’s a wonderful package. It’s good for us and good for the wild life.”