This story appears in the
May 2001 issue of
Entrepreneur.
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Reaching a max 5 inches long, California's red-legged frog
holds its own over tree frogs, but if its breeding habitats are
disrupted by the clearing of creek-bed vegetation or the formation
of concrete banks-well, there's not much the little guy
can do. That's why people like Dan Kalb, director of the Sierra
Club's Loma Prieta Chapter, have vowed to protect the frog, as
well as other environmental concerns they believe will be
threatened by urban sprawl and increased air pollution should San
Jose-based Cisco Systems proceed with its proposed Coyote Valley
Research Park, which would cover 389 acres of San Jose's North
Coyote Valley.
"Companies can thrive and expand without sprawling into
underdeveloped areas, as many companies have shown here in Silicon
Valley," says Kalb. The Association of Monterey Bay Area
Governments, the city of Salinas, the Santa Clara Valley Audubon
Society, the Sierra Club and Santa Cruz County all filed separate
suits against the city of San Jose almost as quickly as its council
approved the $1.3 billion project last October.
Eric Morley of Cisco reminds us that the North Coyote Valley
Campus Industrial Area has been in San Jose's General Plan for
17 years. "The campus locates jobs near housing, promotes
[public] transit and is consistent with San Jose's smart-growth
policies," he says. Cisco is teaming up with local
environmental groups to raise $100 million to preserve open space
throughout the region.
Will creatures like the red-legged frog be the real cost of
bigger business, or can high-tech and nature co-exist?
Unfortunately, the vote is split, and only time will tell.