San Jose - Parks & Nature

Bay Area wildlife lovers are teeming with excitement after hearing that fire-ravaged Big Basin Redwoods State Park, California’s oldest state park, will finally open back up to the public on July 22nd — and the reservations books opened today.

Plans to totally transform St. James Park in downtown San Jose are moving forward amid a bitter battle.

The City of Santa Clara is dealing with a big problem with poop. Goose poop to be exact.

This week, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors will vote on a plan that would connect two huge county parks in South San Jose, Calero County Park and Santa Teresa County Park.

Crews are hard at work in the mountains of Northern Santa Cruz County establishing a huge new trail system after the area was devastated by a lightning-sparked wildfire two years ago.

Officials in Mountain View are relocating a rafter of wild turkeys which have been roosting at the Ames Research Facility for several years. The birds were initially seen as harmless, but have been impeding cars and have even disrupted flights at the nearby Moffett Federal Field.

Amusingly named Meta Park, a 2.2-acre new bit of green space at the end of Chilco Street in Menlo Park debuted this past weekend to the public, featuring a sloped grass lawn and access to the 350-mile-long San Francisco Bay Trail.

Butano State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains, often known as the little sister to Big Basin Redwoods State Park, is getting ready to reopen its visitor center in January — the park actually reopened six months ago.

The Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority has bought 60 acres of farmland in Coyote Valley that it will preserve for sustainable agriculture as part of an effort to create what it calls "a 21st century greenbelt near urban San Jose," the agency said this week.

A popular, privately-owned park in Milpitas is still being shut down by Santa Clara County despite the ongoing efforts of the owner to get it back open.

A group of trees at a park under construction in downtown San Jose is now the source of some controversy.

Flames scorched an estimated 97% of the oldest state park in California. After a slow start, and setbacks due to the coronavirus, new life appears to be emerging inside Big Basin even though it will be quite a while before visitors are allowed back in. 

A handful of Bay Area beaches have been given poor water-quality ratings in an annual study by a nonprofit. Five out of the top 10 "Beach Bummers" in California, or most polluted beaches, are in the Bay Area, with three in San Mateo County and one in Santa Cruz.  

It's hiking season, and in many areas around the Bay Area that can mean running into coyotes, especially if you're walking with dogs. Here's a rundown of what to do (and what not to do) if you encounter a coyote.

A baby whale tangled up in fishing line that was first spotted off the Southern California coast last week appears to be heading towards the Bay Area, and rescuers hope the public can help locate it.

Another innovative and ambitious project is now being proposed that could be a huge game-changer in the effort to revitalize and transform downtown San Jose.

After decades of being strictly accessible to only people with a Palo Alto address, the 1,440-acre park is now open to the public. Since its opening in late December, the park’s popularity has soared among hikers and sightseers across the Bay Area.

Foothills Park, the notoriously inaccessible green space in Palo Alto that's been off-limits to the public for decades, is now open for anyone to enjoy — marking an end to its decades-old status as a private park.

If getting active and enjoying more nature time are on your list of New Year's resolutions for 2021, check out Hoodline's list of San Jose-area green spaces.

Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the top parks in San Jose. Here's a rundown of top businesses in the city, with ratings, photos and more.

Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the top parks in Sunnyvale. Here's a rundown of top businesses in the city, with ratings, photos and more.