I am a Great Horned Owl. For many years, I have nested in the tall trees of Cuesta Park and hunted in the open grasslands of the Annex. Each spring, I raise my young here, teaching them to fly beneath the canopy and to hunt over the grasslands. This place is not just land to me - it is my home, it is life.

From my perch, I have watched the city grow and change. More buildings, more roads, more lights. With every year, the quiet places shrink. Yet Cuesta Park has endured, a rare refuge in the center of Mountain View. Families come here to picnic and stroll. Children laugh on the Photo by Carter Gasiorowski grass. Dogs frolic in the Bowl and Annex areas and wander the trails. Migrating birds stop to rest and refuel. Some birds nest here. And we owls watch over it all, as we always have.

Now I hear talk of paving part of this sanctuary for pickleball. I do not begrudge the game. Humans enjoy it, and recreation matters. But pickleball is loud, harsh, and constant—pop, pop, pop—a sound that carries through day and night. It would echo through our trees, startle my young, and drive away the smaller birds who share this space. With lights to illuminate the courts, the dark areas we need to hunt would diminish. Where would we go then?

I would hoot that Cuesta Park and Annex are not “underused areas.” They are the last large green island in the center of the city. Over 100 bird species live, or visit here - red-tailed hawks, western bluebirds, great blue herons, nuthatches, hummingbirds, woodpeckers, robins, warblers… Many rely on the same trees and grasslands I use. Humans too find peace here: families spread blankets under oaks, elders walk the paths, neighbors meet while their dogs play.

How can the city council not see that this place is one of Mountain View’s rarest treasures? Once you pave it, you cannot bring it back.

Mountain View is writing a Biodiversity Strategy - a plan to protect the very habitats you still have. Shouldn’t Cuesta Park and Annex be central to that plan? Shouldn’t you preserve them as the heart of the city’s living fabric? And why make the people of Mountain View fight each other? Why not expand the pie instead of forcing everyone to fight over crumbs?

Pickleball is a nimble sport. It does not need grassland or forest; it thrives on pavement. Courts can fit into a parking lot, a repurposed industrial site, or an underused commercial parcel. Humans in other cities have turned empty malls and big-box stores into indoor pickleball centers. Why not here?

So as I watch from my perch, I wonder:

What is the urgency?

Why not wait and find an appropriate location that does not infringe on my, and other wildlife’s, homes?

Why spend $5 million to build courts in the one place that cannot be replaced?

Why sacrifice a living park?

Why ignore the City’s own surveys that show residents value open grass and trees above new sports facilities?

How will you explain to future children why the owls, herons, and songbirds are gone from Cuesta?

I do not ask my city leaders to deny pickleball players their joy. I ask you to give them what they need without destroying what we all need. Place the courts on land that is already paved. Reclaim asphalt and turn it into recreation. Leave Cuesta Park and Annex whole to bestow on us what they always have: places of peace, beauty, and life.

For generations, my kind has raised families here. Human families too have gathered under these same trees. Do not break that bond. Protect Cuesta. Protect your own legacy.

From the oaks where I nest, I will keep watch. But I cannot stay if the lights blaze, the paddles pop, and the grasslands shrink and turn to asphalt. If you value this city’s green heart, you will let Cuesta Park remain what it has always been: a home for all of us.