A Frog's Life . . . hangs in the balance. Now what are tech businesses going to do about it?
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Reaching a max 5 inches long, California's red-legged frogholds its own over tree frogs, but if its breeding habitats aredisrupted by the clearing of creek-bed vegetation or the formationof concrete banks-well, there's not much the little guycan do. That's why people like Dan Kalb, director of the SierraClub's Loma Prieta Chapter, have vowed to protect the frog, aswell as other environmental concerns they believe will bethreatened by urban sprawl and increased air pollution should SanJose-based Cisco Systems proceed with its proposed Coyote ValleyResearch Park, which would cover 389 acres of San Jose's NorthCoyote Valley.
"Companies can thrive and expand without sprawling intounderdeveloped areas, as many companies have shown here in SiliconValley," says Kalb. The Association of Monterey Bay AreaGovernments, the city of Salinas, the Santa Clara Valley AudubonSociety, the Sierra Club and Santa Cruz County all filed separatesuits against the city of San Jose almost as quickly as its councilapproved the $1.3 billion project last October.
Eric Morley of Cisco reminds us that the North Coyote ValleyCampus Industrial Area has been in San Jose's General Plan for17 years. "The campus locates jobs near housing, promotes[public] transit and is consistent with San Jose's smart-growthpolicies," he says. Cisco is teaming up with localenvironmental groups to raise $100 million to preserve open spacethroughout the region.
Will creatures like the red-legged frog be the real cost ofbigger business, or can high-tech and nature co-exist?Unfortunately, the vote is split, and only time will tell.
