ABSTRACT
In the 1960s, Santa Clara County, California, planned a "necklace of parks" with the "pearls" consisting of mountain and valley regional parks strung on scenic roads and recreational trails. Santa Clara County is home to Stanford University and the City of San Jose, the self-proclaimed capital of Silicon Valley. It has one of the highest concentrations of computer, communication, and other high-tech industries in the world. In 1993, the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority was formed to serve portions of the county outside the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District boundaries. In 1973, an urban development/open space plan was adopted by the county and the Santa Clara County Local Agency Formation Commission, the body that regulates annexations and promotes orderly urban expansion. The US Fish and Wildlife Service protect more than 6,000 acres of wetlands in the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, the country's first urban national wildlife refuge.
