Through the determined and heartfelt efforts of local conservationists, the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District was created by successfully placing a voter initiative on the ballot in 1972. More than fifty years later, Midpen has permanently preserved over 70,000 acres of mountain, foothill, and bay land open space in San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties, creating 27 open space preserves. Midpen is working to form a continuous greenbelt of permanently protected open space by linking its protected natural lands with other public parklands. The District seeks these linkages for the creation of wildlife corridors as well as the expansion of interconnected regional trails from the uppermost portions of the Santa Cruz Mountains west to the Pacific Ocean, and east to San Fran