By Helen – A 6th Grader in the Franklin-McKinley School District.
Should we build a city or not in Coyote Valley? You might agree to build a city in Coyote Valley but in this situation, I don’t think we should. If we do build a city, the wildlife would decrease, the groundwater supply would be at risk and the flood protection would be destroyed, and last but not least, the local heritage of farming to supply San Jose. There’s a lot of changes and damages that would happen to Coyote Valley if we do build a city.
Coyote Valley has 7,000+ acres of land for animals and a rare species of birds. In addition, a lot of animals depends on Coyote Valley for land, such as, coyotes, bobcats, birds, and other animals. If we do build a city, all the houses, stores, etc, would destroy the land for the animals and the majority of the animals would have nowhere to live. In that case, there would be no space for the animals to live since there would be buildings taking over the animals’ land and the animals will become endangered.
Most of our drinking water comes from the underground aquifers in Coyote Valley. Coyote Valley is also one of the few places left that has this kind of underground water. The water also goes to San Jose. If we build a city in Coyote Valley, it would destroy San Jose’s water supply. Most of our body is water and in order to live we need water. Therefore, it would make a big change for the people living in San Jose and other places that need water. Coyote Valley also has 2,500 acres of floodplain and if we build a city in Coyote Valley it would destroy the flood protection and if San Jose gets flooded there would be no way to protect the city from flooding if we do build a city since it would destroy Coyote Valley’s flood protection.
Last but not least, my final reason why I don’t think we should not build a city in Coyote Valley is because Coyote Valley has a local heritage of farming. In Coyote Valley, there are 6,000 acres of farmland in between of Coastal Range’s Santa Teresa hills to the west, the Mount Hamilton’s Coyote Ridge to the east. If we build a city it would destroy the local heritage of farming that supplies San Jose.
Overall, I don’t think we should build a city in Coyote Valley. In addition, Coyote Valley is a beautiful place that should be conserved and not built into a city because of the groundwater supply and flood protection, the wildlife, and the local heritage of farming. A lot of people can be injured which we don’t want to happen. Overall, I think we should not build a city and I think it’s better to stick with what Coyote Valley currently is.
About Protect Coyote Valley
The Protect Coyote Valley campaign is led by the Committee for Green Foothills and supported by Greenbelt Alliance, Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful, Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter, and SAGE — Sustainable Agriculture Education. It aims to preserve Coyote Valley, San Jose as open space that offers flood-buffering wetlands, an essential wildlife habitat and migratory area, and active farmlands.
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Bibliography
Protecting Coyote Valley. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2018, from
https://www.greenfoothills.org/projects/coyote-valley/
Save Coyote Valley. (2018, January 12). Retrieved January 18, 2018, from
https://www.sierraclub.org/loma-prieta/save-coyote-valley
Home. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2018, from
http://protectcoyotevalley.org/
Coyote Valley. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2018, from
https://www.greenbelt.org/coyote-valley/
(n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2018, from
http://www.discovercoyotevalley.org/