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The Bear Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve contains a location of unique ecological significance: the historic stables. For nearly a century, local wildlife has adapted to the presence of these old horse facilities. The combination of open gravel surfaces, frequent puddles, and sheltered eaves creates a specialized microhabitat. This environment serves as an ideal home for migratory birds, providing nesting grounds that exist nowhere else in the preserve.
The spring migration period at the stables is a spectacle unlike any other location in the region. During this time, barn swallows and cliff swallows swoop low across the yard. They gather mud from puddles to repair their clay nests located under the eaves. Brewer’s blackbirds descend in noisy flocks, with males flashing their shiny feathers to attract females. In the Upper Arena, killdeer perform elaborate courtship displays. These birds scrape shallow nests directly into the sandy ground, relying on the open terrain for camouflage.
However, the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (Midpen) has initiated numerous construction projects in this sensitive area during the critical nesting season. These projects often involve the demolition of stalls that contain historic barn swallow nests. Migratory birds exhibit strong expectations to return to these same nests year after year. Midpen has also removed vegetation from the hillside at times when killdeer are arriving to breed. Furthermore, the agency is planning a major reconstruction of the arena adjacent to active nesting areas. This work will replace the open soil conditions that killdeer depend on with dense vegetation, effectively destroying their breeding habitat.
The damage caused by these construction projects extends beyond temporary noise or physical movement. Many migratory birds return to the same breeding grounds year after year. Scientists refer to this behavior as "site fidelity." When disruptive construction occurs in these specific locations, it causes repeated nesting failures. Over time, this gradual degradation of habitat reduces the number of birds that successfully breed in the area.
Ecologists describe this phenomenon as a "biological trap." Birds continue to return to places that historically supported successful nesting. However, ongoing disturbance makes reproduction less successful each year. The birds are drawn to a place that is slowly becoming uninhabitable. This cycle creates a hidden harm that is difficult to detect without long-term study.
Despite years of disturbance and construction, Midpen has never seriously studied the cumulative impact on the birds nesting at the stables. The agency does not even possess a complete list of the native and migratory birds present at the site. A 2006 biological report for the preserve’s Environmental Impact Report classified the stables as "Barren (Built Up/Urban Disturbance)." This classification was made without ever surveying the stables. The report only offered a hesitant conclusion, stating the area would "likely support nesting Barn Swallows and Black Phoebes."
This language is astonishing given that highly visible nesting activity has occurred at the stables for years. In 2024, a Board Director approached the author to connect the Bear Creek Stables Ad Hoc Committee to the preserve’s natural environment. This led to a presentation documenting how migratory birds actually use the stables. Even now, this presentation is effectively the only site-specific documentation showing how these birds use the area. Most of Midpen’s planning documents focus on infrastructure and public use, rather than the ecology of the birds.
The disruptive projects in 2024 should have served as a turning point. Midpen should have studied how the birds were using the stables. Instead, the agency is advancing another project in the same breeding areas. They repeat the same pattern of limited biological analysis followed by disruptive work.
Midpen’s own policies, called the Open Space Maintenance and Restoration Program (OSMRP), require nesting bird surveys. These surveys must happen within 14 days of construction. They must cover a 250-foot buffer zone around the work area. Best Management Practice (BMP) BIO-17 requires focused surveys for migratory birds. If active nests are found, the agency must create protected "Ecologically Sensitive Areas" until the young birds can fly.
Yet, before vegetation removal and paddock demolition began in 2024, Midpen produced none of these required surveys. These are not informal guidelines. They are adopted policies approved by the Board in September 2021. Midpen publicly cites these protections to assure the public that wildlife impacts are minimized. However, they proceeded with work without producing the survey documentation their own framework describes.
When concerns were raised about a planned 2026 project, Midpen defended the lack of site-specific studies. The agency relied on broad statewide datasets instead of on-the-ground research. This approach is problematic. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which maintains the database Midpen used, warns that the data represents estimated accuracy, not exact boundaries. The absence of records does not mean species are absent.
At a February 2026 meeting, Assistant General Manager Brian Malone stated, "the birds aren’t nesting in the arena area." This statement ignores reality. Killdeer have historically nested in the gravel and sand around the arena. Swallows and blackbirds nest on stable structures next to the Upper Arena.
As vegetation removal reduced nesting habitat, the Upper Arena became one of the few remaining areas with suitable open ground. However, Midpen removed portions of the sandy hillside habitat through a revegetation project. During the early nesting season, killdeer were observed inside the locked Upper Arena. Midpen’s response was to use "passive hazing." They maintained a regular human presence in the arena to discourage the birds from nesting there.
Federal guidance allows passive hazing before nesting begins. It uses sustained human presence to discourage birds from establishing nests in future construction areas. The absence of nests in the arena may simply mean Midpen’s hazing worked. The birds were displaced from one habitat and then discouraged from using the only remaining alternative.
Midpen also proposed reducing protective buffers for swallows. They suggested relying on biological monitoring during construction instead. However, monitoring birds while disturbance is happening is not effective mitigation. There is no invisible barrier to separate nesting birds from grading equipment, vibrations, and construction trucks. Midpen increasingly treats the birds as an obstacle to the project, claiming heavy equipment poses little risk despite a lack of evidence.
The scope of the Upper Arena construction project was not what the Board approved. In November 2024, the Board approved a vision for the lower stables. This included educational areas and visitor routes. Staff later shifted the project footprint uphill without returning for Board review.
Midpen’s own maps show this shift. The original Ad Hoc planning area was in the lower stable area. The revised boundary pulled a private operational area into the project. The upper arena was never approved as part of the public programming area. Yet, Midpen is now spending public money on construction there.
Furthermore, the project was described to the Board as a "minor one-day repair." In February 2026, Assistant General Manager Brian Malone publicly called it a one-day project. The bid solicitation tells a different story. The Request for Bids (RFB) describes a 27,000-square-foot reconstruction. It involves grading, laser leveling, sand removal, and heavy equipment operations.
The contract award is based on a "Total Base Bid." However, the RFB removes known costs for contaminated sand handling and disposal from the headline number. Midpen already knew these costs existed because the nonprofit operator warned them. The public sees a project under $53,000. This amount is low enough to avoid deeper Board review. The actual reconstruction is much larger and more expensive.
Before the deadline passed, the public asked Midpen how contractors should price these known costs. Midpen did not answer any questions. They did not correct the bid structure or clarify the pricing. A major project now moves forward while the visible cost remains low to avoid scrutiny.
As criticism grew, Midpen added a wildlife-protection section to the project webpage. A photo of great horned owls from a different preserve appeared next to promises about stewardship. Wildlife protection is not measured by webpages. It is measured by actions on the ground.
Midpen promises to follow rigorous best management practices. They say these processes help them balance land care with public enjoyment. However, the stewardship language does not match reality at the stables. Midpen proceeded with nesting season projects without the focused surveys, buffer documentation, or protective measures its own framework describes. The agency’s written protections do not line up with the disturbance happening on the ground.