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From the Executive Director...
by Zoe Kersteen-Tucker

With the Committee for Green Foothills' 40th anniversary well celebrated from start to finish, we turn now to a year of program expansion and strengthening partnerships, all with the goal of sharpening our focus on the protection of open lands, ranchlands, agricultural lands and hillside on the Coast and Peninsula. If we have learned anything in the last 40 years, it is that the land can not defend itself from ill-conceived development - such protections require a community of dedicated citizens and the Committee for Green Foothills!

We continue our vigilance to protect open space in the face of a few organizational changes. At the end of December, we bid a fond farewell to Denice Dade, who had served as the Committee's Santa Clara County Legislative Advocate since 1998. During her tenure with the Committee, Denice forged a reputation for being courageous, tenacious and smart. In 2000, she assumed a key leadership role in the campaign to build a strong Community Plan for Stanford University and as a result, for the first time in the history of Santa Clara County, we now have a set of documents that hold Stanford accountable to the surrounding community for their development plans. This was one of the most challenging battles the Committee ever faced and we owe much of its success to Denice Dade. We'll miss her and wish her the very best in her new ventures!

We will be transitioning to our new Santa Clara County Advocate over the next several months. At the same time, we are thrilled to announce that thanks to several very special benefactors who have chosen to make generous gifts in support of organizational development, we will also bring on two brand new staff members.

In San Mateo County, we will bring on a new part-time Legislative Advocate who will help address increased development pressure along the Coast and also assist in the expansion of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District to the Coast. Our new Advocate will work alongside the legendary Lennie Roberts, who has devoted herself as a volunteer to coastal protection on behalf of the Committee for Green Foothills for the last 27 years. We are quite confident that these two San Mateo County advocates will form a formidable team.

As you will recall, our 40th anniversary year was devoted to you - our wonderful members and partners in environmental action. During that year we hosted a series of special events ranging from hikes, bike rides, and environmental forums to our gala event at Ridge Vineyards. Our goal was to help connect you to each other, to us and to the work for which we share a commitment. After all, it is our partnerships with our members and the community that permit us to be strong and effective advocates for open space protection. Last year was such a wonderful success that we want to increase the opportunities for our partnerships to blossom in the years to come.

So, in the coming months we will also add to our team an Associate Development Director whose job it will be to develop and expand opportunities to connect with you and to connect you to the land we love.

We are very excited by these opportunities for organizational growth and are confident that they will permit us to be even more effective in our advocacy for open space preservation. As always, we feel extremely blessed to have such an outpouring of support from you, especially during these challenging times. With the specter of war on the horizon, perhaps now more than ever we need to return to the land often to renew our courage and replenish our spirits. In the words of the Committee's Founding President , Wallace Stegner, "We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope."
-Wallace Stegner, the Wilderness Letter, 1960 (The full text of Stegner's inspiring letter can be found here.)

We look forward to introducing the new members of our staff in our next issue of Green Footnotes . In the meantime, know that we are working hard to create a sustainable Committee for Green Foothills - one which we will be around to work with you in protecting the lands we love for at least another 40 years.

Peace to you and all in your families.

Published March 2003 in Green Footnotes.
Page last updated March 19, 2003 .


	News Subscribe to Our Newsletter Sign up for Email Updates CGF In the News Press Inquiries Past Articles Calendar			From the Executive Director... by Zoe Kersteen-Tucker With the Committee for Green Foothills' 40th anniversary well celebrated from start to finish, we turn now to a year of program expansion and strengthening partnerships, all with the goal of sharpening our focus on the protection of open lands, ranchlands, agricultural lands and hillside on the Coast and Peninsula. If we have learned anything in the last 40 years, it is that the land can not defend itself from ill-conceived development - such protections require a community of dedicated citizens and the Committee for Green Foothills! We continue our vigilance to protect open space in the face of a few organizational changes. At the end of December, we bid a fond farewell to Denice Dade, who had served as the Committee's Santa Clara County Legislative Advocate since 1998. During her tenure with the Committee, Denice forged a reputation for being courageous, tenacious and smart. In 2000, she assumed a key leadership role in the campaign to build a strong Community Plan for Stanford University and as a result, for the first time in the history of Santa Clara County, we now have a set of documents that hold Stanford accountable to the surrounding community for their development plans. This was one of the most challenging battles the Committee ever faced and we owe much of its success to Denice Dade. We'll miss her and wish her the very best in her new ventures! We will be transitioning to our new Santa Clara County Advocate over the next several months. At the same time, we are thrilled to announce that thanks to several very special benefactors who have chosen to make generous gifts in support of organizational development, we will also bring on two brand new staff members. In San Mateo County, we will bring on a new part-time Legislative Advocate who will help address increased development pressure along the Coast and also assist in the expansion of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District to the Coast. Our new Advocate will work alongside the legendary Lennie Roberts, who has devoted herself as a volunteer to coastal protection on behalf of the Committee for Green Foothills for the last 27 years. We are quite confident that these two San Mateo County advocates will form a formidable team. As you will recall, our 40th anniversary year was devoted to you - our wonderful members and partners in environmental action. During that year we hosted a series of special events ranging from hikes, bike rides, and environmental forums to our gala event at Ridge Vineyards. Our goal was to help connect you to each other, to us and to the work for which we share a commitment. After all, it is our partnerships with our members and the community that permit us to be strong and effective advocates for open space protection. Last year was such a wonderful success that we want to increase the opportunities for our partnerships to blossom in the years to come. So, in the coming months we will also add to our team an Associate Development Director whose job it will be to develop and expand opportunities to connect with you and to connect you to the land we love. We are very excited by these opportunities for organizational growth and are confident that they will permit us to be even more effective in our advocacy for open space preservation. As always, we feel extremely blessed to have such an outpouring of support from you, especially during these challenging times. With the specter of war on the horizon, perhaps now more than ever we need to return to the land often to renew our courage and replenish our spirits. In the words of the Committee's Founding President , Wallace Stegner, "We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope." -Wallace Stegner, the Wilderness Letter, 1960 (The full text of Stegner's inspiring letter can be found here.) We look forward to introducing the new members of our staff in our next issue of Green Footnotes . In the meantime, know that we are working hard to create a sustainable Committee for Green Foothills - one which we will be around to work with you in protecting the lands we love for at least another 40 years. Peace to you and all in your families. Published March 2003 in Green Footnotes. Page last updated March 19, 2003 .