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Alma Cultural Landscape, Bear Creek Redwoods Preserve, 11/14/22 by Ronald Horii
Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District's Bear Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve is in the Santa Cruz Mountains, just south of Los Gatos. On 6/8/19, 500 acres of the 1,434-acre preserve opened to the public. I went to see it on 6/14/19: https://tinyurl.com/yynjqtx7. At that time, the part of it that contained the buildings of the former Alma College were off-limits. The Jesuit college operated here for 35 years, from 1934 to 1969. After it closed, the site was unused and suffered from vandalism. Fire destroyed a former mansion building in 1970. In 1989, the property was sold to developers, who planned to build luxury homes and a golf course. Environmental and open space groups rallied to stop the development. In 1999, Midpen purchased the land, and protected it as an open space preserve. Prior to 2019, it was open to the public by permit only. The Alma College site was closed until rehabilitation efforts were complete. On 10/17/22, Midpen made this announcement: "Welcome to the Alma Cultural Landscape, a new area in Bear Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve which is now open to visitors!
Like all Midpen public lands, Bear Creek Redwoods has a long history of natural and human-led alterations. The landscape has been shaped by earthquakes and forest streams, and also by many people including Native Californians, gold rush-era migrants, loggers, wealthy estate owners and even Jesuits who operated Alma College on the site from 1934 to 1969. The newly-opened Alma Cultural Landscape has a significant connection to this rich history. At this site, elements from each chapter of the preserve’s human history are being protected within a restored natural setting to provide history and habitat all in one.
Visitors are now able to immerse themselves in the land's layers of history with interpretive elements throughout the site, which tell the natural and cultural history of the area dating back thousands of years. Take a walk through the landscape and view the 1909 chapel and 1934 library from the outside and learn about where other original buildings once stood." On 11/14/22, I went to Bear Creek Redwoods to see it. Here are pictures of the Alma Cultural Landscape. I also have this album on the Upper Lake area: https://tinyurl.com/ycyu2fhw. I have this album on the trails through the redwood forests: https://tinyurl.com/bp46ets7. See the links for more information: Bear Creek Redwoods Preserve information: https://openspace.org/preserves/bear-creek-redwoods. Preserve map: https://openspace.org/sites/default/files/map_BCR.pdf. Alma Cultural Landscape Rehabilitation: https://www.openspace.org/what-we-do/projects/alma-cultural-landscape-rehabilitation. Alma Cultural Landscape Interpretive Tour: https://bit.ly/3FGwXx0. These are historic pictures of the college and more recent ones before the restoration: https://alpharoaming.com/2016/11/26/alma-college/. Alma College Historic Resource Study: https://stgenpln.blob.core.windows.net/document/11283_AttB_HistoricResourceStudy.pdf. The History of Alma College: https://www.mercurynews.com/2008/02/09/the-history-of-alma-college/.
Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District's Bear Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve is in the Santa Cruz Mountains, just south of Los Gatos. On 6/8/19, 500 acres of the 1,434-acre preserve opened to the public. I went to see it on 6/14/19: https://tinyurl.com/yynjqtx7. At that time, the part of it that contained the buildings of the former Alma College were off-limits. The Jesuit college operated here for 35 years, from 1934 to 1969. After it closed, the site was unused and suffered from vandalism. Fire destroyed a former mansion building in 1970. In 1989, the property was sold to developers, who planned to build luxury homes and a golf course. Environmental and open space groups rallied to stop the development. In 1999, Midpen purchased the land, and protected it as an open space preserve. Prior to 2019, it was open to the public by permit only. The Alma College site was closed until rehabilitation efforts were complete. On 10/17/22, Midpen made this announcement: "Welcome to the Alma Cultural Landscape, a new area in Bear Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve which is now open to visitors!
Like all Midpen public lands, Bear Creek Redwoods has a long history of natural and human-led alterations. The landscape has been shaped by earthquakes and forest streams, and also by many people including Native Californians, gold rush-era migrants, loggers, wealthy estate owners and even Jesuits who operated Alma College on the site from 1934 to 1969. The newly-opened Alma Cultural Landscape has a significant connection to this rich history. At this site, elements from each chapter of the preserve’s human history are being protected within a restored natural setting to provide history and habitat all in one.
Visitors are now able to immerse themselves in the land's layers of history with interpretive elements throughout the site, which tell the natural and cultural history of the area dating back thousands of years. Take a walk through the landscape and view the 1909 chapel and 1934 library from the outside and learn about where other original buildings once stood." On 11/14/22, I went to Bear Creek Redwoods to see it. Here are pictures of the Alma Cultural Landscape. I also have this album on the Upper Lake area: https://tinyurl.com/ycyu2fhw. I have this album on the trails through the redwood forests: https://tinyurl.com/bp46ets7. See the links for more information: Bear Creek Redwoods Preserve information: https://openspace.org/preserves/bear-creek-redwoods. Preserve map: https://openspace.org/sites/default/files/map_BCR.pdf. Alma Cultural Landscape Rehabilitation: https://www.openspace.org/what-we-do/projects/alma-cultural-landscape-rehabilitation. Alma Cultural Landscape Interpretive Tour: https://bit.ly/3FGwXx0. These are historic pictures of the college and more recent ones before the restoration: https://alpharoaming.com/2016/11/26/alma-college/. Alma College Historic Resource Study: https://stgenpln.blob.core.windows.net/document/11283_AttB_HistoricResourceStudy.pdf. The History of Alma College: https://www.mercurynews.com/2008/02/09/the-history-of-alma-college/.
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