San Mateo County
The Upper San Gregorio Headwaters area encompasses the ridge lands and valleys that run south of the Town of Portola Valley in San Mateo County. The area has important habitat, watershed, and agricultural functions and serves as a scenic viewshed. The area includes a variety of natural communities including grasslands, oak woodlands, and extensive forests of Douglas fir and redwoods. A number of remnant groves of old-growth redwoods are located along the tributaries to San Gregorio Creek. The area is also dotted with numerous seeps, springs, and ponds and is considered to be one of San Mateo County’s core habitat areas for the California red-legged frog and southwestern pond turtle, both listed species. The area futher includes one of the very few known populations of the San Francisco garter snake, a state and federally-listed endangered species. San Gregorio Creek and its principal tributaries further provide critical habitat for the threatened coho salmon and steelhead trout. The Upper San Gregorio Creek Headwaters area also forms one of the Bay Area’s most scenic backdrops. The area is highly visible from Highways 1, 35, and 84, as well as many other County-designated scenic roads. Typical views include rolling grasslands that are cut by deeply incised, forested canyons. Ridges located higher in the watershed are largely dominated by redwoods forests. Preserving ranching and farming in the area will help maintain connectivity of the area. Expanding and connecting existing open space preserves also presents tremendous opportunities for new public staging areas, natural and cultural/historic interpretation, and to increase the existing trail systems. The area includes two critical gaps in the Bay Area Ridge Trail. Ultimately, land conservation in this area will effectively fill in the gaps between the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District’s El Corte de Madera Creek, La Honda Creek, and Russian Ridge Open Space Preserves, resulting in a protected network of open space that enhances the San Francisco Bay Area’s greenbelt.
For more information about this area, please contact:
Stephen Abbors
Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
General Manager
sabbors@openspace.org
(650) 691-1200
http://www.openspace.org/
Sandy Sommer
Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
Senior Real Property Planner
ssommer@openspace.org
(650) 691-1200
http://www.openspace.org/
Casey Cleve
Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
GIS Coordinator
ccleve@openspace.org
(650) 691-1200
http://www.openspace.org/
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