By Linda Hutchins-Knowles & Susan Butler-Graham

Mothers Out Front South Bay is celebrating another huge victory! Together with amazing allies in the Protect Coyote Valley campaign, we helped to convince the San Jose City Council to vote—unanimously –to protect a large chunk of Coyote Valley from development! At a special Council Meeting on November 6, Mayor Liccardo and the Councilmembers agreed to contribute $46 million in voter-approved Measure T bond funds for a joint land purchase agreement that will protect in perpetuity 937 acres of open space in North Coyote Valley that had long been zoned for industrial development.  

Situated in the original territory of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, Coyote Valley is a largely agricultural and undeveloped area on the southern edge of San Jose. One of the last remaining large open spaces in the South Bay, it serves as a critical wildlife corridor between the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Diablo Range, a flood control for Coyote Creek which flows into downtown San Jose, a fresh water aquifer, and a huge carbon sink, absorbing CO2out of the atmosphere. It also contains over 215 species of birds, over 1000 acres of wetlands, and over 4000 acres of farmland. Yet in the City’s master plan, the area has long been slated for industrial and eventually residential development. 

The new purchase agreement protects over half of North Coyote Valley, a historic win for local conservation groups, many of whom have been fighting to protect the Valley for decades.