Coyote Creek Field Station Environmental Education Program

The Authority helped to fund Living Classroom’s partnership with Campbell Unified School District to implement their new Environmental Literacy Initiative called "Champions for Change.” This project focuses on designing, installing, and maintaining new and enhanced edible and native habitat gardens on all Campbell Unified School District campuses and providing garden-based lessons across all grade levels with the aim of connecting students to nature and the sources of their food and graduating environmentally literate students by 8th grade.

The Authority contributed funds to the Regents of the University of California UCCE Santa Clara County's Development of a Small and Urban Beginning Farmer Learning Hub at Martial Cottle County Park. This project provides hands-on training opportunities that help beginning farmers and ranchers achieve and sustain their economic goals in the Santa Clara County. This project will create a demonstration and education hub for small, limited-resource beginning farmers and ranchers of diverse backgrounds. Training is provided through workshops and field days and facilitates farmer-to-farmer networking.

In 2002 the City of San Jose in partnership with Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation used a $900,000 grant from the Open Space Authority to purchase property to expand Santa Teresa County Park Historic Area. The 1.93-acre parcel adjoins the historic Bernal-Gulnac-Joice Ranch interpretive site and Santa Teresa Springs. The ranch buildings and surrounding 28-acre property are what remains of a nearly 10,000-acre tract granted to Jose Joaquin Bernal by the Mexican government in 1834.