The Peninsula Open Space Trust purchased a 408-acre ranch off
Highway 152 from private owners for $2.9 million.
The Peninsula Open Space Trust purchased a 408-acre ranch off Highway 152 from private owners for $2.9 million.
POST purchased the land, formerly known as Clark Canyon Ranch, from relatives of the original owners, Burt and Veda Clark, who bought the land in 1948 when they owned Clark’s Jewelry Store in downtown Gilroy. They had no children of their own and willed the property to several nieces and nephews. The couple delighted in creating a modest retreat where friends and family could hunt, fish, swim and hike through the woods, nephew John Toth said. The family had the ranch on the market for more than a year when a series of inquiries led them to POST. When they came across the organization, they knew they had found something their aunt and uncle would have admired, he said.
“I know my aunt and uncle would have been very pleased to see this land protected forever,” Toth said. “Now, thanks to this sale to POST, their legacy will live on and a whole new generation will be able to experience this special place.”
“POST’s goal in acquiring Clark Canyon Ranch is to have it added eventually to the chain of public open space taking shape along the western hillsides of southern Santa Clara County,” said POST President Audrey Rust. “Had POST not stepped in now to protect this land, as many as six large estate houses could have been built here, interrupting wonderful natural scenery, wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation possibilities for people.”
The land is on Whitehurst Road off Highway 152. “Given the property’s close proximity to downtown Gilroy and dense development nearby, we considered this the last opportunity to save this land,” Rust said.
The ranch stretches toward the wooded foot of a box canyon that drains into Bodfish Creek, a spawning ground for endangered steelhead trout. Lined with sycamores, a tributary of the creek cuts through the property. Mixed forest rises steeply to one side; across the water lie more meadows and part of the former walnut orchard rising to a high wall of chaparral. Trees and shrubs include madrone, big leaf maple, bay laurel, scrub oak, snowberry and California buckeye. Eagles, wild turkeys and mountain lions make their home on the land.
POST is a private, nonprofit land trust dedicated to preserving the beauty, character and diversity of the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Cruz Mountain range. Since its founding in 1977, the organization has been responsible for saving 60,000 acres as permanent open space and parkland in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.
