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Karl Gohl
A MESSAGE FROM THE GENERAL MANAGER
Strategies
Nature always has something interesting and new to teach us; lessons about the fellow creatures
that inhabit this blue planet and life in general. When I think back to the summers of my
boyhood, I recall endless vignettes of encounters with some bird, lizard or insect that held my
fascination then, and still does today. The pale swallowtail, a large off-white butterfly with black
stripes that we often see in the woodlands, is one of my favorite examples.
The life history of the pale swallowtail is a strategic masterpiece. The small, off-white egg that is laid
on the leaf of the coffeeberry hatches into a caterpillar that perfectly mimics a bird dropping. Who
would want to eat that? The caterpillar soon molts into a pale green stage that is camouflaged to the
precise color of the coffeeberry. It weaves a transparent silk pad in the middle of the leaf where it
sits motionless most of the day. To feed, it purposefully crawls several branches away so that the leaf
damage it creates, which can visually attract predators, will be some distance from its resting place. If, perchance, it is disturbed, it will
suddenly expose large eyespots on the top of its thorax and extend foul-smelling, yellow osmetria – fleshy glands that pop out from an
area in the back of its head when startled or threatened. This display is often enough to startle and deter a predator. As the weeks pass,
the larva grows until, one day it suddenly vanishes from its silk pad, traveling at the blinding speed of ninety feet per hour. It then finds
a safe horizontal surface such as the underside of a branch, very near the ground, where
it pupates into a chrysalis that is even more difficult to locate than the caterpillar. Unless it
is detected by a parasitic wasp or fly, it will emerge as an adult butterfly and the cycle will
repeat itself. In the life of this insect, we observe a variety of adaptive strategies, executed
with precision, ensuring the success of this
species in an environment full of obstacles.
Pale Swallowtail Butterfly,
Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve
As I turn my attention from the woodlands to
the office, I think about the District’s future in
a similar way. While we have depended on
property tax from the Silicon Valley area for
the past forty years to fund our activities, the
challenges of this “new economy” demand
that we explore new options for funding
and partnering to broaden our “suite of
strategies” so that we can secure the
remaining unprotected open space lands in public ownership and expand our ability to
bring sensitive stewardship and public access to lands we already own. As we develop
and test these options as part of our Strategic Planning Process,* we would like to
hear from you. I invite you to share your ideas with us, either via our Web site at
www.openspace.org, contact us at info@openspace.org, or at the meetings of our Board of Directors that are held the second and
fourth Wednesday of every month at 7:00 p.m. While the strategies we develop with your help will certainly be different from those
used by the pale swallowtail, our goal – to ensure success in an environment full of obstacles – is really the same.
Stephen E. Abbors
General Manager
* Strategic Planning Process
Using a planning process developed by David La Piana, the District is identifying current opportunities and challenges and strategizing
how to address them in a way that best fulfills the District’s mission. Steps include articulating the District’s identity, creating strategic
decision making criteria, and developing, testing, implementing, and evaluating new strategies. The real-time strategic planning
process is designed to allow the District to respond and adapt to unforeseen changes and circumstances through time.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Pete Siemens ◆ Ward 1 (Cupertino, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga) ◆ Yoriko Kishimoto ◆ Ward 2 (Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Palo Alto, Stanford, Sunnyvale)
Jed Cyr ◆ Ward 3 (Sunnyvale) ◆ Curt Riffle ◆ Ward 4 (Los Altos, Mountain View) ◆ Nonette G. Hanko ◆ Ward 5 (East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Stanford)
Larry Hassett ◆ Ward 6 (Atherton, Menlo Park, Pescadero, Portola Valley, Redwood City, San Gregorio, Woodside)
Cecily Harris ◆ Ward 7 (El Granada, Half Moon Bay, Montara, Moss Beach, Redwood City, San Carlos, Woodside)
Stephen E. Abbors ◆ General Manager ◆ Kristi Britt ◆ Open Space Views Editor ◆ Renée Fitzsimons ◆ Outdoor Activities Editor
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Coffeeberry,
Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve
Pale Swallowtail Larva,
Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve
Tom Cochrane