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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 2 Coffeeberry, Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve Pale Swallowtail Larva, Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve Tom Cochrane
CONTEST WINNERS Third (2010) Digital Photo Contest Winners Thanks to all who participated last year in the District’s Third Annual Digital Photo Contest! Our third contest was a huge success, yielding over 700 entries (roughly equal to the entries for the first and second contests combined). Please join us in congratulating the winners. Grand Prize Winner: Vaibhav Tripathi Grand Prize Includes: • Admission for two on Oceanic Society’s Whale-watching Cruise in Half Moon Bay • A Flip UltraHD camcorder • $50 dining certificate • Reserved copy of the District’s coffee table book (release date: fall 2012) “Light-beam Scattering” Windy Hill Open Space Preserve 3rd Prize Winner: Bing Huey 2nd Prize Winner: Ichiro Asao 3rd Prize Includes: • Admission for four to Filoli House and Garden • District messenger bag • Local cheese gift basket Further view the winning photos, along with other contest finalists, in their full splendid glory at: www.openspace.org/contest. 3 “Wildflowers Dance on a Windy Evening at Sunset” Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve 2nd Prize Includes: • Admission for four to a production by Theatre in the Woods • $50 dining certificate • CJ Olson Cherries gift box • District travel blanket “Banana Slug Over Twig” Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve
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