In 1950, the open space lands from Hayward to Pleasanton in California were privately owned and sprawl development was booming. By 2020, the frontier was closed, and almost all the shorelands and ridgelands in this large area were protected as public open space and by regulation. The land was saved by many advocates and these are their stories, many narratives sometimes parallel to each other, other times connecting, involving elections, referendums, litigation, bond measures, lobbying, organizing, and campaigns. Each story is simple enough, but taken together they add up to a long and complex history.
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"Preserving the Ridgelands, the story of the decades long battle to protect open space, and the unique solution that led to the ultimate creation of a new EBRPD park."
-Tom Pico, former Mayor, City of Pleasanton
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"Ridgelands! is the real thing. Like the local government processes it describes in excruciating detail, it is both engrossing and tedious at the same time. (Very considerately, the author advises when some details can be skipped.) Reading it tends to put one – at least it put me – in an altered state of consciousness. I participated in some of the episodes recounted in the book, and had a pretty good sense at the time of the overall project. I knew Sherman had absolute conviction in his cause, and observed his unfailingly civil tenacity – some might call it stubbornness – but reading about the full duration and scope of the effort in Ridgelands! still blew my mind.
Unlike anything else I have ever read, Ridgelands! does not just tell us, but shows us (again, in detail), how successful long-term activism works. Without the tenacity and long-term commitment that this book describes activism is just political Brownian motion. This book should be required reading in every college-level political science curriculum."
-Zach Cowan, Berkeley City Attorney, retired.
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“Sherman Lewis’ Ridgelands makes it clear what it takes to save important biologically-rich landscapes for people, plants and animals of today and of the future.”
Janet Cobb, California Wildlife Foundation/California Oaks.
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“My takeaway from your book is that we had a small window of time and opportunity where the right people combined with ample passion, willing constituents, and some money created a legacy that will endure forever.”
-Jocelyn Combs, Former Director, East Bay Regional Park District
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"Sherman Lewis has created the first comprehensive book documenting the process of natural lands preservation by local community activists, environmental organizations, and the East Bay Regional Park District from 1960 to 2020. There’s a lot for California historians, open space preservation advocates, and community organizers to discover in this 60-year chronicle of the conflicts and resolutions that led to permanent protection of native habitat from the eastern shoreline of San Francisco Bay to the western hills of the inland Tri-Valley. Learn how local residents and East Bay voters successfully protected these natural resources, overcoming intense pressure from developers who sought building approvals from local governments. Sherman Lewis bears witness to it all. Includes beautiful photographs, documents, maps, and personal interviews. Inspiring!"
-Becky Dennis, Former City Councilmember, City of Pleasanton
