Albertson Parkway

Growing Sustainably, a signature CommUniverCity SJSU program, is developing and delivering new curriculum connecting wildlife appreciation, Green STEM careers, and climate resilience to expand its programming. It is teaching 905 Central San Jose k-8th grade students living in underserved communities about local flora and fauna through urban habitat gardening. Additionally, the program is organizing grade level-appropriate environmental science career fairs using hands-on activities and field trips. Central San Jose program participants have multiple opportunities to garden, observe wildlife, learn about green STEM careers, visit the SJSU campus, enjoy natural areas, and address environmental issues relevant to them.

The Authority will help fund BioBlitz events which will allow people to learn about the diverse natural areas with varied wildlife along Coyote Creek and other South Bay parks. Throughout the ten BioBlitz events, naturalists will lead participants, some who may have spent little time in nature, to use iNaturalist, a mobile app, to document biodiversity. These events will continue to expose people to the outdoors in a new way. The four virtual BioBlitzes that will be offered will allow people to learn about local nature in-depth from naturalists and participate remotely

While there are many trails in the Santa Clara Valley, none connect the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Diablo Range and tie the Santa Clara Valley into the Bay Area Ridge Trail, a 375-mile network of trails that unites the ridges circling the Bay Area. The Authority is helping to fund the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council’s feasibility study to consider and identify a preferred Ridge Trail alignment between Santa Teresa County Park and the Coyote Creek Trail as part of ongoing efforts to fix this South Bay “trail-gap.”