MidPen Buys 190 Acres To Preserve, Link Trails Near La Honda

LA HONDA, CA — Walkers and nature enthusiasts west of Los Altos Hills got a boost recently when the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District approved the purchase of 190 acres above La Honda for $2.15 million last week.

The property comes with more assets and opportunities than the land itself. First, it's mixed with redwood and conifer trees flanking the forests, coastal grasslands and creeks in the San Gregorio watershed. The headwaters is a crucial watershed to the community.

The property will be added to Midpen’s existing La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve off State Route 84, adding to future public access opportunities such as the potential to connect with the encircling Bay Area Ridge Trail between La Honda Creek and Russian Ridge Open Space Preserves.

The possibilities answer the public's massive call for more trail access, but the property is closed for now and trail building is way down the road.

"I think we're more mature now in which our mission was in preservation and now we're more balanced in restoration and public access," MidPen spokeswoman Leigh Ann Gessner told Patch.

After all, balance is the name of the game in respect to the environment.

The deal will become final in late June and was made possible with funding through Measure AA, a $300 million bond initiative passed by local voters in 2014 to support the top 25 priority projects in Midpen’s community-supported vision plan.

“By preserving this land, Midpen is protecting the coast side’s rural character and scenic beauty,” General Manager Ana María Ruiz said after the board of directors made the decision June 12. “This purchase is important because it also protects some of the few remaining old-growth redwoods on the coast as well as the headwaters of San Gregorio Creek, which supplies water to people and farmers and provides critical spawning grounds for endangered Coho salmon and threatened steelhead trout.”

Currently, the Peninsula nonprofit organization based in Los Altos manages more than 63,000 acres of public open space land, including approximately 10,000 acres on the San Mateo County coast.