Edgewood County Park and Natural Preserve is a 467-acre protected area located in San Mateo County, California,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, and is best known for its spring wildflower displays. The park receives about 50,000 visitors each year.

Description

Edgewood has 160 acres of

serpentine soil Serpentine soil is an uncommon soil type produced by weathered ultramafic rock such as peridotite and its metamorphic derivatives such as serpentinite. More precisely, serpentine soil contains minerals of the serpentine subgroup, especially anti ...

which are known for having high proportions of native plant species including rare and locally endemic species. Edgewood has grasslands, chaparral, coastal scrub, foothill woodlands, and wetlands supporting over 500 distinct species, three of which are federally listed as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...

or threatened. Edgewood is also home to the Bay checkerspot butterfly, also a

threatened species Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of '' critical depen ...

. Its northwestern slopes have small tributaries to

Cordilleras Creek Cordilleras Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 26, 2012 northward-flowing stream originating in the Pulgas Ridge Open Space Preserve in the foothills of th ...

, while its southwestern slopes host the source of Laguna Creek. Edgewood contains all the major ecological zones specific to the

San Francisco Peninsula The San Francisco Peninsula is a peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area that separates San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. On its northern tip is the City and County of San Francisco. Its southern base is Mountain View, south of Palo Alt ...

with the exception of Redwood forest.

History

Various development projects were proposed on what is now Edgewood beginning in 1967 including a college, recreational complex, solar energy facility, and a golf course. The property was acquired by San Mateo County in 1979 from California for approximately . County supervisors moved forward with plans for an 18-hole public golf course, approving a master plan and certifying an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) by the end of 1982. In 1983, the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) filed a lawsuit challenging the EIR, which was settled out-of-court on the condition that sensitive habitats would be given protection. The Bay checkerspot was declared a threatened species in 1987, followed by the Edgewood Park

harvestman The Opiliones (formerly Phalangida) are an Order (biology), order of arachnids Common name, colloquially known as harvestmen, harvesters, harvest spiders, or daddy longlegs. , over 6,650 species of harvestmen have been discovered worldwide, alth ...

in 1988, and one of the members of the County Board of Supervisors ran for Congress in 1988, narrowly defeating a primary challenger after the supervisor's support of the golf course was made one of the focal points of the campaign. In 1992, two-thirds of Edgewood Park were set aside for a natural preserve with one-third to be considered for the golf course, pending the results of a feasibility study. In the summer of 1993, the County Board of Supervisors declared Edgewood County Park a Natural Preserve, following the feasibility study results, which concluded the parts of the park flat enough to support a golf course were also the same parts that contained the protected species. The Natural Preserve declaration in 1993 protected the entire park from future development.

Gallery

File:Clearing storm (12279799423).jpg, Storm clearing over hillside File:Edgewood (26457023251).jpg, Springtime fields of color File:Gold Nuggets 02 (3522541434).jpg,

Gold nuggets Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

File:Tidytips 02 (3521736993).jpg, ''

Layia platyglossa ''Layia platyglossa'', commonly called coastal tidytips, is an annual wildflower of the family Asteraceae, native to western North America. Distribution Tidytips was formerly found throughout low-elevation dry habitats in California including t ...

'' File:Ithuriels Spear 05 (3521733659).jpg, Ithuriel's spear File:State Stars (3453225270).jpg, California state flower ( golden poppy) and state rock ( serpentine) File:A late afternoon walk to Edgewood (8583327852).jpg, ''

Lupinus formosus ''Lupinus formosus'', the summer lupine or western lupine, is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae. It is native to California and Oregon in the United States. ''Lupinus formosus'' has been cited as a poisonous plant. Alth ...

'' File:Clarkia at Edgewood 1521apb (19029071159).jpg, ''

Clarkia rubicunda ''Clarkia rubicunda'' is a flowering plant endemic to California. It is found mostly on the Central Coast part of the state. The plant is known by the common names ''Ruby Chalice Clarkia'' and ''Farewell to Spring''. ''Clarkia rubicunda'' bears ...

'' File:Torch Lily (Kniphofia uvaria) (4361450614).jpg,

Torch lily ''Kniphofia'' is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Asphodelaceae, first described as a genus in 1794. Species are native to Africa. Common names include tritoma, red hot poker, torch lily and poker plant. Description Herbaceou ...

References

External links

*
Friends of Edgewood Natural Preserve
* {{cite web , url=http://cnps-scv.org/index.php/conservation/edgewood , title=Edgewood County Park and Natural Preserve , author= , website=California Native Plant Society: Santa Clara Valley , date=2016 , accessdate=20 July 2016 County parks in California Protected areas of San Mateo County, California Nature reserves in California Parks in San Mateo County, California 1993 establishments in California Protected areas established in 1993