Welcome to Friends of Coyote Hills

The Friends of Coyote Hills (FCH) is a local group of concerned citizens working to protect 520 acres of open space adjacent to Coyote Hills Regional Park.

Mission statement: Friends of Coyote Hills is an environmentally focused group serving the Tri-Cities area. We are dedicated to the conservation and preservation of open space and the plant and wildlife habitats it supports, and to engaging public involvement with local and regional environmental issues through community outreach, education, collaborative efforts, and advocacy.

Stop Massive Development in Coyote Hills!

Despite the fact that over 70% of Fremont voters surveyed want NO development in front of the Coyote Hills Regional Park, the City of Fremont is considering a massive development proposal (click to see map of proposed Patterson Ranch)

• All of this massive development belongs East (not West) of Ardenwood Blvd not in front of our park. The Fremont General Plan allows only 266 housing units on this land. The Patterson family, which already developed 5,000+ houses in Ardenwood, also sold for $63 million the 15.5-acre Tupelo lot across the street (from Coyote Hills), where 276 housing units (Villa D’Este) are being built.

• With Villa D’Este, the Patterson Ranch proposal would add 11,150 car trips/day, 4 million car trips/year.

• In an earthquake, the Patterson Ranch proposal puts thousands of adults’ and children’s lives in jeopardy due to high risk of soil liquefaction (on this floodplain and proposed man-made fill). A public safety disaster is waiting to happen if gas and water lines break and fires are fueled by southeasterly winds from SF Bay less than 1 mile away.

• Though California state standards for school site selection states that a new school should not be built on land that is subject to high risk of liquefaction in an earthquake, this Patterson Ranch proposal includes an elementary school (that is also separated from the housing units by a major thoroughfare). This proposal puts 636 children's and staff's lives at risk.

• The Patterson Ranch proposal will negatively impact our overcrowded junior high and high schools and quality of life.

You can help stop this mistaken proposal and make your voice heard. Please contact the Friends of Coyote Hills. We need your help. Please also let your friends and email groups know about this important issue affecting all of us.

Once it’s gone…it’s gone forever!

"There's an increasing amount of evidence supporting the contention that attaching kids early and well to nature is effective prevention in all areas. The natural world serves as a restorative environment, outside experiences calming a person both physically and mentally, replacing substance abuse and violence as strategies to deal with stress. With nature as part of a daily routine, kids stay in better health, and when nature is brought into the classroom as environmentally based education, students perform better and more enthusiastically.” Read the entire article, Nature Is Good For Kids.

To watch this video, click on link and turn on speakers: The movement to get kids back into nature.

A parent reflects on being in nature as a child and now raising his young child: Kingdoms of childhood falling to urban sprawl.

Coyote Hills Regional Park was cited by the National Geographic Society as one of several excellent locations for bird-watching in the greater San Francisco area.