Environment

Just three miles south—or 11 minutes away—from downtown Los Gatos, we have Bear Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve, nearly 1,500 acres of unbridled nature. It features six miles of hiking and equestrian trails that meander along perennial creeks. This acreage was acquired for us...

After nearly two years out of commission, Big Basin Redwoods State Park—the oldest State Park in California—is about to open to the public, once again. It was closed after being ravaged by the CZU Lightning Complex fire, (97% destroyed), but on July 22, the proverbial...

The publicly traded company that provides Los Gatos with water recently got the go-ahead to fire up two solar power generating stations—one in Los Gatos and one in Saratoga. Together they’ll help keep about 21 tons of greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere each year,...

In October 2004, when inspectors tested the water in front of the Hillview Cleaners dry cleaner in downtown Saratoga, they discovered serious contamination. They found the groundwater coursing with 5,400 µg/L (micrograms per liter) of PCE, a key component in degreasing and scouring fabric for...

A rare snowfall has dusted the Greater Bay Area and the National Weather Service is predicting more on its way over the weekend. The agency posted a photo on Twitter today of the Santa Cruz Harbor that showed snow even landing nearby boats at sea...

On May 29 around 2pm, Shadi Allen, a resident of Mountain Laurel Lane in Los Gatos, became aware of a possible fire while she was on the second floor of her home. She smelled smoke wafting through the bedrooms, then looked out of a...

Santa Clara County suffered an estimated $15.4 million in damage to local roadways during the winter storms that doused the West Coast in the first three months of the year, according to county officials. The initial storms during the end of December 2022 and throughout...

California State Parks and the Sempervirens Fund announced permanent additions to expand Castle Rock State Park in Los Gatos on Aug. 15.  The $4.21 million in acquisitions for six properties by State Parks are the first for the agency in the Santa Cruz Park District...

A San Jose recycling company has been ordered by a Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge to pay $25,000 in civil penalties for causing dangerous fires to start in the back of garbage trucks in Campbell.   The company, iDiskk, LLC, its principal Yue Zou,...

On Aug. 12, Daniel Alpert, a software engineer at Afresh, headed towards Sausalito, with friends, snacks, tents and sleeping bags in tow. Their destination? Haypress Campground, near Mill Valley. Their mission? Taking in the Perseids light display in the skies above. “I had never seen...