Office holiday closure

Our office will be closed December 23-January 3. Open space preserves remain open!

Looking over green grassy hills with orange wildflowers across a valley below towards blue mountains in the distance, under a light blue sky streaked with white clouds

Máyyan 'Ooyákma - Coyote Ridge Open Space Preserve

About this Preserve

Máyyan 'Ooyákma - Coyote Ridge Open Space Preserve

  • The Habitat Protection Area is currently closed due to wet conditions.

  • Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge will be closed to the public on Sat, Jan 11 through Sun, Jan 12 for scientific research in partnership with the California Department of Fish & Wildlife. 

  • Butterfly Pass required in Habitat Protection Area. Get yours here.

Hours: 

Hours change seasonally. Please check the preserve operations calendar for more information

Facilities:

  • Accessible all-gender restroom
  • Picnic tables
  • No trash cans
  • No drinking water

Location:

9611 Malech Rd., Morgan Hill, CA

Parking & Transportation:

  • Free parking lot (42 spaces)
  • Free horse trailer parking available Wednesday-Friday by reservation only. Reserve horse trailer parking on our Reservations & Permits page.

Accessibility accommodations:

Everyone deserves equitable access to nature. Please visit our Accessibility page or email ada@openspaceauthority.org for questions, concerns or specific accessibility resource requests.   

Emergency Information:

For emergencies or to report suspicious activity, please call 911.

Due to the sensitivity of this habitat, dogs and drones are not permitted anywhere on the preserve. 

Activities
Accessible Trails
Biking
Connecting to Nature
Environmental Education
Hiking
Horseback Riding
Download Map
Get Your Butterfly Pass
A herd of 8 brown tule elk stand on a green hillside staring at the camera. Behind them and out of focus is the white Lick Observatory on top of a far-away hill.
Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge's serpentine grasslands provide critical habitat for rare and sensitive species, like tule elk.
A field of bright orange, yellow, and purple wildflowers with blue mountains far on the horizon and a blue sky above, full of white fluffy clouds
In the spring, colorful wildflowers blanket the hillsides of Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge, thanks to the rare serpentine habitat found here.
A small butterfly with black, orange, yellow and white checkered spots sits with its wings spread open on a gray rock covered with orange lichen
Máyyan 'Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge Open Space Preserve is home to the Bay checkerspot butterfly, a federally threatened species.
A group of people with shovels and rakes work on a dirt trail winding across a bright green hillside overlooking a valley below and blue mountains in the distance.
The 1.5-mile Bay Checkerspot Trail was hand-built by Open Space Authority field staff and volunteers and is part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail network.
Sunrise at Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge. The preserve has seasonal hours throughout the year to protect wildlife.

Know Before You Go

Preserve Highlights & Features

Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge Open Space Preserve connects over 1 million acres of important habitat in the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Diablo Range. Comprised of rare, sensitive serpentine grasslands, this unique landscape is a biodiversity hotspot for endangered plants and animals. Scientific research on the plant and animal communities found here continues today.

Visitors will need a free "Butterfly Pass" for hiking, biking or horseback riding on the trails located inside the Habitat Protection Area. Total, there are 3 miles of trail designated as a portion of Bay Area Ridge Trail, a regional trail system that will someday stretch more than 550 miles along the ridge lines that encircle San Francisco Bay.

Máyyan ‘Ooyákma (pronounced My-yahn Oiy-yahkmah) directly translates to Coyote Ridge in the Chochenyo language. Chochenyo is the language stewarded by the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area, whose members trace their ancestry to the Indigenous Peoples of this region. The Open Space Authority is partnering with the Muwekma Ohlone to raise awareness about the importance of the protection of irreplaceable landscapes.

Looking over green grassy hills with orange wildflowers across a valley below towards blue mountains in the distance, under a light blue sky streaked with white clouds
2023
Opened to the public
A green grassy hillside with small orange wildflowers, a hiker walks away from the camera on a dirt trail on the right side of the image. Green, scrub-covered hillsides in the background under a blue sky filled with white fluffy clouds.
5
miles of trails
Looking over green hills across a valley below filled with agricultural fields, to blue mountains in the distance, under a blue sky streaked with white clouds
1,859
acres protected

Upcoming Events at this Preserve

There are no events for this preserve at this time.

Related Nature

Here are some of the plants and animals that other visitors have observed at this preserve and recorded in iNaturalist. Protected species may be excluded and some species may not yet have been observed.

Funding for this Preserve

In 2015, the Open Space Authority permanently protected the property after successfully securing a total of $8.6 million in funding to protect the rare serpentine grasslands, the Bay checkerspot butterfly population found on the preserve and the wildlife connectivity this location provides between the Santa Cruz Mountains and Diablo Range. The acquisition was made possible through the generous support of various public and private partnerships, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the State Coastal Conservancy, the Wildlife Conservation Board, California State Parks, the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Resources Legacy Fund.

Funding for this public access project totaled $4 million, provided by the Open Space Authority's Measure Q, a $400,000 grant from the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, $400,000 in funding from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s Priority Conservation Area Grant Program and over $2.5 million from California State Parks.

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