'Long-sought milestone': Over 2,000 acres of Bay Area land preserved for $23M

The Peninsula Open Space Trust has purchased 2,284 acres of Sargent Ranch near the southern border of Santa Clara County along Highway 101, marking the largest land deal in the 49-year-old nonprofit’s history. The $23 million acquisition is the latest of three properties the trust has secured in its overarching goal to permanently conserve the entire 6,500-acre ranch that was once slated for commercial development as a quarry. It’s also one of the largest pieces of undeveloped private property in the South Bay.

“POST and our partners are on our way to achieving a long-sought milestone,” president Gordon Clark wrote in a Thursday statement on the trust’s website, revealing the nonprofit has acquired 6,114 acres of the sweeping property to date. “The remaining 480 acres are under contract and we expect to conserve them in late 2026.”

The Mercury News, one of the first outlets to report on the acquisition, noted the total amount of land is six times the size of Golden Gate Park.

With its rolling hills and native grasslands dotted by oak trees and steep ravines, Sargent Ranch “hosts a scenic natural beauty that is distinctly Californian,” the trust wrote. Not only does it provide corridors for species ranging from mountain lions and badgers to bald eagles and hawks, allowing them to move more easily between the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Diablo Range through the Upper Pajaro Valley, but it also protects local watersheds. The streams within the property are also home to California red-legged frogs, California tiger salamanders, northwest pond turtles and steelhead trout.

In the early 1800s, the land was claimed by Mission San Juan Bautista; by 1835, it was named Rancho Juristac under a Mexican land grant. After the Gold Rush, James P. Sargent purchased the property...

I saw the Mercury article. It doesn't say what they plan to do with it. POST sometimes donates to one of the Open Space districts. I went to Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve the day it opened and did 10 miles, which was the loop about 2.5 times. I would say that property is probably within 5 miles of this Sargent Ranch. But POST and the Open Space have lots of land that isn't open to the public. They need more pressure to move it along. They already have the property to make a trail connecting Almaden Quicksilver County Park, and Calero County Park, which abuts Rancho Canada Del Oro Open Space. The Open Space Authority also owns Blair Ranch connecting that property, which they let people hike for a day 15 years ago, but still isn't open to the public. They could connect that with Uvas Canyon County Park, and you could hike all the way up, over to The Forrest of Nisene Marks State Park to the ocean.

Some people hike Uvas Canyon to the beach. It definitely is steep and far. If they added these connectors, you could start out at Lexington Resevoir, hike through Almaden Quicksilver, to Calero, to Rancho Canada to Uvas, to Nisene Marks to the beach. It would be a tough hike, but I bet it could be done in a day.

I stand corrected. They may have opened the trail between Almaden Quicksilver and Calero County Park. My apologies.

Bay Area Ridge Trail Dedication at Calero County Park and Rancho Cañada del Oro Open Space Preserve

Anybody want to do a full run? We could park a car at Rancho Canada Del Oro, then drive to the Lexington trailhead, and nike through Sierra Azul to Almaden Quicksilver to Calero to Rancho Canada. Need to get an early starts I am guessing about 2O miles or more. The first section is incredibly steep.

that’s correct.

But they purchased the land and government was not involved.

If somebody wanted to develop the land the should have bought it first. It was for sale.

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