May 24, 2026
Re: Item 7.1: Parks and Recreation Strategic Plan
Dear Mayor Ramos and Mountain View Councilmembers,
On behalf of GreenSpacesMV, Santa Clara Valley Bird Alliance, Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter, California Native Plant Society, Santa Clara Valley Chapter and Mountain View residents, thank you for the thoughtful work reflected in the Draft Parks and Recreation Strategic Plan and for recognizing biodiversity and the urban forest as core goals of Mountain View’s parks system.
Many of us participated in the public process for this Plan from the beginning. We attended meetings, submitted comments, worked collaboratively, and encouraged community participation throughout the process. At the same time, we advocated for the City’s emerging Biodiversity and Urban Forest Plan, which is moving forward concurrently.
We especially appreciate that, following the recent City study session, the draft Plan now explicitly elevates biodiversity and the urban forest as central goals of the Parks and Recreation Strategic Plan. This is an important and forward-looking shift in how parks are viewed in Mountain View.
The draft Plan includes one of the strongest recognitions yet that biodiversity should be integrated into all parks large and small. In particular, we strongly support the concept of “Biodiversity Anchors” throughout the park system. The recognition that even mini parks can contribute meaningfully to habitat, ecological function, urban cooling, environmental education, and climate resilience through pollinator gardens, small groves of trees, bioswales, and native and habitat-supportive plantings is a major step forward.
We also appreciate the Plan’s broader integration of biodiversity into park design, including emphasis on tree canopy, habitat value, climate resilience, stormwater benefits, and ecological health as core components of the parks system. Equally important is the recognition that access to nature and biodiversity is an equity issue, with stronger focus on underserved neighborhoods and walkable, bikeable access to parks and natural elements.
At the same time, we encourage the City to continue strengthening the Plan as implementation moves forward. In particular, we encourage the City to prioritize locally native plants wherever feasible. While the draft appropriately emphasizes California native and regionally native species, we remain concerned about the use of the term “near-native.” The current definition, “species that are native to a nearby region, such as broader California, the western U.S., or North America generally”, is overly broad and potentially misleading. The term blurs the distinction between locally adapted native vegetation and non-native species that often provide lower ecological value for local food webs, pollinators, and wildlife. The use of this term also creates an unfortunate precedent for other jurisdictions and plans by implying that broad categories of non-local species are ecologically equivalent to locally native vegetation.
Therefore, we respectfully request that this term be removed from both the Parks and Recreation Strategic Plan and the upcoming Biodiversity and Urban Forest Plan prior to adoption.
We further encourage the City to strengthen plan language so that locally native species are not only prioritized, but clearly established as the default planting approach wherever feasible. We also encourage continued coordination with the upcoming Biodiversity and Urban Forest Plan, along with strong transparency, reporting, monitoring, and adaptive management to ensure that biodiversity goals translate into measurable on-the-ground outcomes over time.
Thank you again for advancing a more ecological, climate-resilient, and equitable vision for Mountain View’s parks system.
Sincerely,
Silja Paymer, President
Tracy Ferea, Ph.D., Vice president
GreenSpacesMV
Shani Kleinhaus, Ph.D., Environmental Advocate
Santa Clara Valley Bird Alliance
Bruce England
Judy Fenerty, Conservation Chair
California Native Plant Society, Santa Clara Valley Chapter
Gita Dev, Conservation Chair
Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter