The Peninsula Open Space Trust purchased a nearly 2,500-acre portion of the Sargent Ranch in southern Santa Clara County, according to the organization’s president. The property is located near the site of a proposed sand and gravel mine.
POST President Gordon Clark spoke with this newspaper Tuesday and said the nonprofit land preservation organization’s purchase will “protect its natural resources in perpetuity.” The sale closed May 29, for $25 million.
“POST’s model is to look for long-term owners of lands that can preserve those lands in a way that serves some public good,” Clark added. Such uses could include recreational trails, agriculture, grazing, natural resource protection and streamside conservation efforts, he said.
Previous POST conservation buys included lands around Mt. Madonna County Park, Clark said. POST partnered with the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency (VHA) and Santa Clara County Parks (SCCP) in 2023 to purchase and protect a 735-acre portion of the former Bates Ranch. Previously, POST was involved in the 2013 purchase of the 490-acre Della Maggiora ranch west of Gilroy to expand Mt. Madonna County Park.
Sargent Ranch “is part of what is also known as the Juristac cultural landscape,” Clark said in a statement. “We are very pleased to have had the opportunity to collaborate with the previous landowner to achieve such a positive outcome.”
Juristac is the ancestral home of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, which has advocated for preservation of the land ever since a mining operation was proposed on a portion of Sargent Ranch more than four years ago.
Sargent Ranch, located about four miles south of Gilroy, occupies about 6,200 acres in Santa Clara, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties.
The owner of a portion of the property and county planning staff in 2024 began the environmental study process for a 298-acre mining site and 105-acre setback area. The mining operation, known as the Sargent Ranch Quarry, was proposed by landowner Sargent Ranch LLC.
During the public comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Report, the county received more than 10,000 letters offering input—the vast majority of those opposing the mining proposal.
The Sargent Mine application seeks a 30-year mining permit from Santa Clara County, according to the draft EIR.
