The Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority’s Leavesley/Dexter Mountain Ranch property was recommended eligible for the National Register of Historic Places as an individual resource. Originally, based on previous recommendations, Ascent had been scoped to conduct the evaluation at a district level, delineating site boundaries and identifying contributing and noncontributing structures. However, during archival review, it was determined that a thorough historic context, related to early cattle ranches of southern Santa Clara County, needed to be developed. Ascent conducted additional survey and evaluation of the property’s structures and features to help inform the design of the proposed bridge replacement and public parking lot and trailhead in the preserve. We determined that the ranch property as a whole was not historically or architecturally significant. Only the ranch residence was recommended to be eligible for the California Register of Historical Resources and the National Register, based on its architecture. We prepared a Historical Resource Evaluation Report to document and support these findings. The new analysis for the ranch residence includes character-defining features to help the Authority more easily prepare a maintenance plan in the future. The report also includes maintenance recommendations for the other structures on the property (i.e., barns, corrals, animal pens). Although these structures have been evaluated and are not historic resources, the Authority understands that the public values these structures as part of their history.
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Recreation
Resource Management
