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A Newsletter Published by the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail Summer 2015

b a rezTrail lNONPROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE PAID

CUPERTINO, CA PERMIT NO. 466

Friends of Stevens Creek Trail22221 McClellan RoadCupertino, CA 95014

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

Board of DirectorsTim OeyPresidentGarth WilliamsVice PresidentAnne NgSecretaryAlan RossTreasurerDirectorsKathy BettmanTom BornheimerJohn Brazil Steve GarrityRoss HeitkampGeoffrey PaulsenGreg Unangst

Sarah Chekfa, Associate DirectorAaron Grossman, Executive Director

The Trailblazer is a publication sponsored by the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail. The Friends of Stevens Creek Trail is a nonprofit 501 (C) (3) or-ganization. All contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Mission: The Friends organization promotes community pride and citizen involvement in the completion, enhancement, and enjoyment of the Stevens Creek Trail and Wildlife Corridor.

Thank You Thank You Thank You

Newsletter Design and Production

Chris Mendible, Page Creations408-316-5299

chrismendible@gmail.com

Articles and Photos John Brazil, Sarah Chekfa, Stephen Garrity, Aaron Grossman,

Ross Heitkamp, Anne Ng, Tim Oey, Garth Williams

Larry Ames • Eric Anderson • Arlan Anderson • Kevin Ashley • Subramanya Avadani • George B. Bell • Kathy Bettman • Tom Bornheimer Peter Botsford • Susie & Sam Brain • John M. Brazil • Russell Brown • Hilton Brown • Matthew Burdick • Patricia J. Campbell • Anders Carlsson • Angela Chan • Chien • Steven Chin • Mary Turner & Clinton Gilliland • Reba Cohen • Kimberly Copher • Clare & Eugene Cordero • Thida Cornes • Sean D’Andrea • Bill Delaney • Curt & Joan Demele • Timothy Dobbins • Carla Dorow & Henry Pastorelli Mitsuko & Roderick Dunphy • Wallace Erichsen • Lori Fazeli • Samuel Feldman • Tom & Jan Frankum • Stephen Garrity • Joyce Gavino & Noble & Lorraine Hancock Fund • Heidi Gerster & Isaac M. Kikawada • Cindy Gilbert • Elliot Gillum • Paul & Carole Goldstein • Judy & Steve Gorin & Jim Meyerson • Waldo Griffin • Aaron Grossman • Scott Harger & Patricia Shriver • Diane & Steve Haze • Helen A. Heitkamp Ross Heitkamp • Rob Hurlston • Rune Jensen • Robert Karchevski • Bruce & Twana Karney • Jack Kay • Robert Kirby & Helen Landsman Anthony & Judith Kramer • Dean Kudlick • Eric Lee • Mark Lentczner • Steven W. Longcor • Julie B. Lovins • Darren Magda • Soma McCandless • Curt McDowell • Nancy McKown • Hugh McLaughlin • Miki Miller • Joe Mitchner • Charlene Miyashita • Julie & Chuck Muir • Tom Myers & Hartono Sutanto • Anne & Sam Ng • Alan Ng • Timothy Oey • Abraham & Anna Oren • Doug & Shirley Pearson Roberto & Dalia Perelman • Erik & Lisa Perkins • Bob Reay & Judith Fan • Randy Rhody & Sharon Storms • Philip Roemer • Michael M. Rogers • Larry Rosenberg • Alan Ross • Janette & Thomas Rudkin • D. Grover Sams • Owen & Barbara Saxton • Kathleen & John Schaefer Tom Schaefer & Diane Reedman • Jeffrey Segall • John Seyfarth • Ann Sievert • Andrea Stawitcke • Lennie & Madeline Stovel • Daniel Stutzbach • Art Takahara • Tommy Tam • Michelle Touton • Andrew Trick • Greg Unangst • Charles Utley • Donald Weden • Linda & Glenn Wegner • Tracy Wingrove • Keith Wood • Dale Yamamoto

Trail ProgressJoint Cities Working Team Publishes Draft Trail Feasibility StudyThe long-anticipated Trail Feasibility Study Report on ways to connect the existing Mountain View and Cupertino sections of Stevens Creek Trail was published in draft form on March 27, 2015. The report was produced for the Joint Cities Working Team, a collaborative effort of representatives from the four cities along Stevens Creek—Cupertino, Los Altos, Sunny-vale, and Mountain View—and the Santa Clara Valley Water District. The study divided the large gap in our trail into three separate reaches on four maps. Each map showed three or more feasible routes with different levels of improvements, ranging from unimproved neighborhood green ways to bike lanes to a Class-I trail completely separated from motor vehicle traffic. Three public meetings then followed in Sunnyvale, Cupertino, and Mountain View/Los Altos, on May 21, June 1, and June 8, respectively, to collect comments and preferences for a route alignment.

It is important to recognize that the Joint Cities Working Team and its Trail Feasibility Study were consequences of the 2008 completion of the Los Altos Stevens Creek Trail feasibility study and the 2009 removal of the Stevens Creek Trail prohibition from the Sunnyvale General Plan. FOSCT played a key role in each of these. After 2009, it became very clear that coordinated inter-city planning was required for a successful trail through Mountain View, Los Altos, Sunnyvale, and Cupertino, since it would cross borders between them. One city council member and one staff person from each city began meeting quarterly to formulate a plan. This all resulted in a thorough feasibility study of how to bridge the large gap from the Dale-Heatherstone bridge in Mountain View to Stevens Creek Boulevard in Cupertino. The Friends of Stevens Creek Trail has been a strong supporter of the Joint Cities Trail Feasibility Study since its beginning with constant participation in the meetings and with four of our board members serving as local trail experts on its Citizens Working Group since November 2012. We also contributed $5000 to help fund the study. Current study informa-tion is published at www.Stevenscreek.inSunnyvale.com.

Going forward, the feasibility study will conclude with the Joint Cities Working Team approving the study report and a set of recommendations that may include a preferred trail alignment. This package will then go to each city council to consider adopting. If adopted, this is just the beginning

of a long process. First comes a Master Plan including traffic and parking studies (one to three years), then Environmental Impact Reports (one to three years), detailed designs (one to three years), getting funding, and finally constructing the trail extensions, one segment at a time. Like any other long lasting and worthwhile facility, these trail extensions will take considerable time and effort to design and build, and will need continuing active public support to keep moving through all of these steps. We promise to closely watch the entire process and keep you informed.

Our PositionOur goal has always been to create a safe and beautiful real trail, direct and completely separated from motor vehicles, along or near Stevens Creek. There is only one alignment option in the feasibility study that meets this goal: the Creek Corridor/Bernardo Avenue path. It is a real trail from Dale-Heatherstone to Homestead, first through creek-side public land, and then along Bernardo, direct and completely separated from motor vehicles.

We strongly encourage the joint cities to move forward with a master plan for this option, because it is the only one that creates a real Stevens Creek Trail. This master plan needs to consider and address all the com-munity and neighborhood concerns that have been raised. While these concerns are very substantial, they are solvable if city staff considers them carefully and uses imagination and technical resources to address them. As for the segment three route from Homestead to Stevens Creek Boulevard, we prefer an off-street route that is direct, easy, and safe for children and families. We think further study is needed for this segment.

We want to reach out to local neighbors in the future trail area, as we share many important goals in common with them: protecting the environment, maintaining quiet local neighborhoods, using tax dollars responsibly, raising home values, and providing safe routes to nature, parks, schools and other neighbors for both children and adults. We believe a beautiful Stevens Creek Trail can be created that achieves all of these goals. There is still much more work to be done and much more discussion needed on how to get there. We look forward to working with the people living in this area to make it work for everyone.

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Follow us on Twitter #fosctLike us on Facebook, stevenscreektrail

Trailblazer Race 2015Sunday, September 27th

Run, Walk or Volunteer

Register Onlinewww.stevenscreektrail.org

President’s CornerWelcome Friends

In January I took over as President from Meghan Stawitcke after serving as Vice President for two years and before that as Secretary for three years. Meghan and

my other predecessors did a fantastic job for our organiza-tion and I hope to live up to their high standards.

I am a long time bicycle and environmental advocate and have been an active volunteer for the Charles River Wheelmen in Boston, Boston Area Bicycle Coalition, Sunnyvale Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, Western Wheelers, Almaden Cycle Tour-ing Club, International Mountain Biking Association, League of American Bicyclists, and Adventure Cycling.

For the past three years, I’ve been toiling away with 11 others on the Stevens Creek Trail Citizens Working Group as well as staff and the Joint Cities Working Team to identify feasible routes to connect the existing trail in Mountain View to the existing trail in Cupertino. At long last the Feasibility Study has been made public and you can read more about it on the cover.

We are at an exciting juncture for the future of the Stevens Creek Trail. This year we will finally see the Joint Cities recommend a route to connect Mountain View and Cupertino. This is just the beginning of a new chapter

of the Stevens Creek Trail adventure. This portion of trail then needs to have a Master Plan, Environmental Impact Study and Report, detailed design, and finally funding and approval for construction by the cities and agencies involved. This could take another five to ten years…or more.

On other fronts, we are working on logos to mark the entire length of the current and future trail from the bay to the ridge; finishing a trail-side plaque and rest area; better trail counts to track trail success as well as enhancement needs; “Creekipedia;” educating people about the trail at local art and wine festivals, Earth Day celebrations, and other events; and hiring a communications manager with web expertise so we can better communicate with all of you and our volunteers.

Stevens Creek Trail is a green jewel in the emerald necklace of trails and parks encircling the San Francisco Bay. We hope many of you will help out at one of our upcoming events to educate people about the trail and how to use it responsibly as well as help racers have fun at our 21st annual Trailblazer Race on Sunday, September 27th.

Happy Trails!

Tim Oey, Presidentpresident@stevenscreektrail.org Z

The second year of Creekipedia tool development wrapped up with a stand-alone tool running at creekipedia.com using the browser-based Google Earth application. The tool has multiple layers with features such as watersheds, trail points, creek networks, and historical points of inter-est. There are search functions by points of interest and zip codes. It also provides an automated “tour” function that enables a user to traverse the Stevens and Permanente Creeks from watershed to the bay in a virtual fly over. An initial demonstration of the tool was provided to a DeAnza class on the California Watershed Studies in Permanente Watershed in October, 2014. This demo and format can now be used for engaging other organizations seeking to contribute points of interest or learning about the creek watersheds.

FOSCT continues to see the Creekipedia tool as a flexible repository for knowledge about the Stevens and Permanente Creek watersheds. With the ability to add more points of interest and more layers, the tool can collect and organize inputs from a wide variety of environmental, educational, recreational, historical, volunteer and other nonprofit organizations seek-ing to contribute to the body of knowledge of these watersheds.

A link to the tool will be incorporated into the new FOSCT website planned for 2015. A new, user-friendly input function, added in 2014, will enable simpler uploading of more points of interest and photos. The input function utilizes geo-tagging to help locate the proposed points into the Creekipedia domain. Please contact Steve Garrity at creekipedia@steven-screektrail.org for Creekipedia information and contributions.

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FOSCT Completes Second Year of Creekipedia Tool Development

Social Media and UsIt may seem odd at first to connect fast-evolving social media with Stevens Creek Trail. But in our electronic age, and especially here at the heart of Silicon Valley, social media can play a huge role to popularize an idea or message, including that of nonprofits like ourselves. Realizing this, the Friends has embarked on the widely popular electronic path of the Twitter world and engaged its users to spread our message of trail-love and appreciation, and we have now grown to 694 followers! Notable

users following us include environmental group Acterra, the Silicon Val-ley Bicycle Coalition, and the U.S. Green Building Council. We intend to keep continuing on the Twitter trail to reach an even higher social media presence and tell more of the world about the Stevens Creek Trail. Follow us on Twitter @fosct or like us on Facebook at stevenscreektrail!

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Would you like to serve on our board? We meet the fourth Thursday of the month from 7pm-9pm at our office

in Cupertino. This is a volunteer position. Come meet a great group of people and help us in our mission to

promote community pride and citizen involvement in the completion, enhancement, and enjoyment of the Stevens Creek Trail and Wildlife Corridor. For more information

email us at exec-dir@stevenscreektrail.org.

Cupertino Residents Tom Schaefer and Diane Reedman are Our Volunteers of the Year

Saturday, April 18, was another fun and successful Trail Cleanup day at Whisman Park. A warm and pleasant day saw 26 volunteers spend the morning on various cleanup and painting activities. After time to check in, chat, and enjoy juice and snacks, Mountain View City staff passed out gloves, garbage bags and tools. Then everyone headed out to the creek and other park locations, supervised by the attentive Mountain View staff who, as always, helped make the event seamless, fun and safe for the volunteers.

It was fun to see several families out with their kids, some returning and others volunteering for the first time. Everyone was quite enthusiastic, and a common recurring thought we heard was “I use this beautiful trail

so often; the least I can do is give back by helping to keep it clean.” Several groups headed up and down the trail to collect trash, resulting in a very large truckload of trash by the end of the morning. One very hard work-ing team installed a large redwood post near the Sleeper Avenue trailhead that will soon support our new Memorial Trail Plaque. Meanwhile others spread out mulch below the trees at the edge of the park.

A lot was accomplished in one morning. We thank our dedicated volun-teers and the City of Mountain View for another successful clean-up day. See you next year!

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Trail Cleanup Day 2015

Certified math geek Tom came out from the East Coast to get a Ph.D. in math at UC Berkeley, but soon found his services in demand as a computer programmer at a small Silicon Valley company. For six years he split his time between theory classes in Berkeley by day and nitty-gritty coding in Sunnyvale by night. In 1978 he finally finished his degree, and presented a paper which can now be read about on Wikipedia under the heading “Schaefer’s Theorem.” He then immersed himself in Silicon Valley, where he worked for the next three decades in the field of electronic design automation. Along the way he settled into a house on Calabazas Creek, where he quietly pursued his interests in foreign language (Mandarin, among others) and math.

A constant feature of Tom’s life has been his adverseness to rising early. Long dedicated to fitness, he could be found many evenings running at Rancho San Antonio as darkness closed in. Morning races were harder for him, but, encouraged by Diane, he did run our first Trailblazer Race in 1994.

Denied the college education her brothers received, Diane left the tiny British Columbia community where she was raised as soon as she finished high school and headed for the big city of Vancouver, where she went to business school and was soon employed as a legal sec-retary. Unlike Tom, she hopped over the years from Vancouver to Hawaii to San Francisco to Colorado Springs to Denver before finally settling in Silicon Valley and becoming a paralegal, and meeting and eventually marrying Tom. After fifteen high-pressure years with Fenwick & West, she retired and is now happily a school crossing guard with more time for gardening, writing, and their cats.

Tom and Diane became “creekies” in 1995 when a notice came from the water district announcing a hearing about a bond issue. Perusing the fine print, Tom noticed that one of the projects to be funded was flood control work on the section of creek behind their house. Alarmed by the prospect that this tree-lined section of creek might be bulldozed and hardscaped, Tom produced a flyer and distributed it to 300 houses up and down the creek, resulting in an overflow crowd of concerned neighbors at the hearing. Perhaps in part owing to this show of activism, the water district withdrew the proposal, and went through an environmental awakening over the next years. A group of Tom and Diane’s neighbors continued to meet and learn about environmental issues on their creek. The bond measure, which finally

appeared on the ballot in 2000, was opposed by this group, but passed by a slim margin. Fortunately, the resulting projects focused on needed repairs and left the creek channel untouched.

Soon thereafter, Diane became involved with the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail, where she started volunteering very faithfully, year after year, registering participants at our annual Trailblazer Race. Thanks to her, Fenwick & West has been a faithful sponsor of the race. On occasion she also persuaded Tom to rise early and help out. Tom has, however, been a regular and eager volunteer on the afternoon shift staffing our information tables at Cupertino events. Diane is now a CERT (Cupertino Emergency Response Team) member and is often nearby at the CERT table. Tom is also a member of Save Our Trails of San Jose, and for them started attending the Stevens Creek Trail Joint Cities Feasibility Study meetings. We have benefited greatly from his detailed reporting of those meetings, and his thoughtful comments. Tom’s latest volunteer effort has him on the steering committee for a prostate cancer support group.

Thanks very much, Tom and Diane, for all you do for the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail and the community.

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Community Activists, Husband and Wife Team Tom Schaefer and Diane Reedman

Save Sunday, September 27, for the fun and exciting Trailblazer Race and Trail Walk on the scenic Stevens Creek Trail! This is our 21st annual fundraiser and features certified 10K and 5K races, a 3-mile scenic Trail Walk, and free kids’ events. This is truly an event with something for all ages and fitness levels. All proceeds benefit the nonprofit Friends of Stevens Creek Trail.

Paid events start at 8:30 am sharp, include a race T-shirt, and are open to anyone who can safely participate. Free for kids are ongoing inflatable mazes, games, and face painting. Our famous (and also free!) age-appro-priate children’s races are about 9:45 a.m.

This family-friendly celebration is for all ages and experience levels, from first-timers to competitive athletes and from children to senior citizens. One of our goals is to get more people outside for fun, healthy exercise while enjoying the trail. The event is made possible by support from the City of Mountain View, presenting sponsor Microsoft Corporation, and our other generous benefactors.

Everything starts and finishes at the Microsoft campus, 1065 La Avenida Avenue in Mountain View. The 5K (3.1-mile) and 10K (6.2-mile) footraces are certified by the U.S. Track and Field Association and officially timed. Runners head north to Shoreline Park before returning back to campus for a spirited finish in front of a crowd of cheering onlookers. The more relaxed, self-paced, and non-competitive 3-mile trail walk enters Stevens Creek Trail from the Microsoft campus and heads south away from the runners along a particularly scenic stretch of trail. Complimentary food, water and Starbucks coffee (while it lasts) are provided.

Paid race and walk participants and pre-registered volunteers receive a T-shirt with this year’s stylish race logo created by local artist Bill Murray. Free children’s events do not include a T-shirt. All registered participants including children are eligible for a post-race drawing of valuable prizes donated by race sponsors.

We need many adult and student volunteers to come early and help setup, hand out food and water, guide participants on the course, manage kids’ events, and then help clean up afterward. Pre-registered volunteers receive a free race T-shirt and become members of the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail!

Runners and walkers who register in advance at www.stevenscreektrail.org get $5 off the race-day price, by credit card online until September 24 or until September 12 using our downloadable mail-in registration form.

Register to Run, Walk, or Volunteer atwww.stevenscreektrail.org

TTCome Out and Enjoy the Trail!TTSunday, September 27

TTProceeds Benefit the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail

Contact us by September 7 if you need us to mail you a registration form. Volunteers need to register by September 18, at no cost, T-shirt included! We welcome additional sponsors, donations or gifts in kind; email us at exec-dir@stevenscreektrail.org or call 408-255-5780 for more information.

The Friends organization has been dedicated to the completion, en-hancement and enjoyment of the trail and wildlife corridor since 1992, and each Trailblazer Race helps raise the funds we need to continue our work. Thanks for your support!

Registration Advance At EventAdult 5K or 10K Race $25 $30Youth* 5K or 10K $10 $153-Mile Trail Walk Any Age $10 $15

*Youth rates are for ages 19 and under.

Mountain ViewNo new trail construction occurred in Mountain View over the last year, but we saw much trail-related activity. In October 2014, the city’s Parks & Recreation Commission passed motions recommending the study of speed limits on Stevens Creek Trail when pedestrians are present, and a one-year pilot project to allow non-motorized skateboards, motorized skateboards, and electronic assistive mobility devices. In November three new city council members were elected, all of whom expressed support for the Stevens Creek Trail and Wildlife Corridor. This bodes well for the preservation and possible enhancement of the trail, particularly in the northern part of Mountain View, which is seeing increased trail use and de-velopment proposals. With increasing development proposals in the north Shoreline area, the Friends have actively engaged advocacy organizations and employers in the area to insure a high level of trail accommodation is included for all current and future trail users.

On April 18 we hosted our annual Creek Cleanup Day and on May 14 hosted a Bike to Work Day Energizer Station at the Sleeper Avenue trail access point. This year we welcomed more than 300 cyclists, the third consecutive year of increased participation. Additionally, our organization continues to work with the City of Mountain View to seek funding for the completion of its remaining trail segments.

SunnyvaleThe Joint Cities Feasibility Study was the focus of our Sunnyvale activi-ties. In addition to our traditional community outreach at the Sunnyvale Art and Wine Festival, we held a community outreach meeting titled “Urban Trail Connections: Pros, Cons and Information” at West Valley Elementary School to provide general information on trail development and its effects on neighborhoods and to gather input from the neighbors. The meeting was well attended and provided a forum for many people to have their voices heard while the Joint Cities Working Team continued work on the feasibility study. All the feedback we received was forwarded directly to the Joint Cities Working Team. We also held private meetings with several neighborhood leaders to share information and ideas about the feasibility study.

Los AltosThe City of Los Altos has closely followed the Trail Feasibility Study. Manyresidents participated fully in the three public hearings and sent indetailed and thoughtful feedback on the possible alignments.

We really, really, really need one or more people from Los Altos to join our board! Have a great time with our other fun and nature loving board members, be a voice for our beautiful local trail, and help connect us to the Los Altos community! Email us at exec-dir@stevenscreektrail.org for more information. Thanks!

CupertinoCupertino residents and neighbors have been enjoying their extended one mile stretch of Stevens Creek Trail since the newest segment from Blackberry Farm Park to Stevens Creek Boulevard opened July 1 last year.

It now runs the full length of the Stevens Creek Corridor from McClellan Road to Stevens Creek Boulevard.

The City of Cupertino has been taking a long, hard look at land use in this corridor, consisting of McClellan Ranch Preserve, Blackberry Farm Park and Golf Course, and the Stocklmeir property. After considerable public input, the City decided to keep the area pretty much as is, with improvements compatible to its existing character. Acquiring the last piece of private property in the corridor last year, a home between the creek and the golf course parking lot on Stevens Creek Boulevard, was one element that inspired the rethinking.

Cupertino’s new Environmental Education Center in McClellan Ranch Preserve is near completion, and the meadow across the trail from it is be-ing restored. The environmental group Acterra (at www.acterra.org), in collaboration with the City of Cupertino and the Santa Clara Valley Water District, has organized a volunteer effort to replant native species there.

Extending the trail upstream to Stevens Creek County Park may become possible on land across the creek from the proposed “Parkside Trails” residential development on Stevens Canyon Road, as part of the deal. Extending the trail downstream to Sunnyvale/Los Altos and on to Moun-tain View’s five very popular miles of trail is being considered by the Joint Cities Stevens Creek Trail Feasibility Study, in which Cupertino has been actively participating along with Sunnyvale, Los Altos, and Mountain View.

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HELP WANTED: We want to hire a part-time Marketing and Volunteer Manager for approximately ten hours per week year-round, on a long-term basis. We are looking for a person familiar with Stevens Creek Trail, the Trailblazer Race, and the Friends organization. Preference will be given to self-directed candidates experienced with non-profit agencies, comfortable working with and directing volunteers, and knowledgeable about current social media. Pay is $18 per hour. A strong student intern would be considered. Contact exec-dir@stevenscreektrail.org. Thanks!

Trail Progress Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Cupertino

The newest stretch of trail to be opened lies at Stevens Creek Boulevard in Cupertino.