Whether the creek will retain its rural character is an open question that has taken on greater meaning following the Cupertino city council's March approval of a park and multi-use trail along the creek.

The possibility of a park and an east side trail along the Stevens Creek corridor from Blackberry Farm to McClellan Ranch has some concerned about its effect on nearby property, the creek and its wildlife, and also has neighbors concerned the trail might bring unwelcome visitors of the human, rather than grizzly, kind.

Discussions about the future of Stevens Creek and the future of both McClellan Ranch and Blackberry Farm started 40 years ago.

Both properties come with a rich past and environmental assets. Captain Juan de Anza camped on the east bank of Stevens Creek near what is now McClellan Ranch, on his way to establishing the Presidio in San Francisco in March 1776. Later, pioneer Elisha Stephens established a farm on what is now Blackberry Farm in the late 1840s, lending his name to Stevens Creek.

In subsequent decades, Cupertino sustained a small population largely working in agriculture. This changed after World War II when suburbs spread and the area's population surged. Cupertino itself incorporated in 1955. Plans for a chain of parks along Stevens Creek first surfaced in 1962, according to the trail advocacy group, Friends of Stevens Creek Trail. At one point, officials also considered making Stevens Creek a concrete-lined channel. Plans for the channel were dropped, however, and much of the creek-side land was sold to four cities--Cupertino, Los Altos, Sunnyvale and Mountain View-- to create a linear park. However, cities later sold off some of that land to private homebuilders.

Cupertino purchased the historic McClellan Ranch as a nature preserve in 1975 and Blackberry Farm in the 1990s. As a part of those acquisitions, the city created a Stevens Creek master plan in the 1990s to help preserve the area's natural environment.

The city also sought input from the community. In 2003, roughly 300 residents participated in a Cupertino Parks and Recreation Department "visioning process" on the creek's and the parks' future. The city gave residents and schools packets allowing them to create a virtual blueprint of what they wanted included in the trail. (The innovative participation process later became a prototype for other cities.) Collectively, residents advocated environmental restoration and education programs in the park, goals adopted by the city council.

The city council then approved a plan at a meeting on March 7 of this year that it believed corresponded to those goals. The plan includes a trail along the east side of the creek, which is set back 100 feet from the property lines of nearby homes, with parking limited to 300 spaces at Blackberry Farm and foot and bicycle traffic kept as far from the creek as possible. The trail's surface would not be concrete or asphalt, but would still accommodate wheeled vehicles such as bicycles or wheelchairs.

The trail was envisioned as a means of spreading out human activity.

"One of the goals of the trail," Dave Knapp, Cupertino's city manager, says, "is to get more people to use it but fewer at a time." The multi-use trail is seen as a way to do that by attracting visitors throughout the year, rather than just during the summer.

The trail would wind through McClellan Ranch and Blackberry Farm and include a bridge connecting the Stocklmeir orchards with the golf course (a west-side trail option was dropped in part because it included five costly bridges). The trail would also go around a community garden and 4-H pens in McClellan Ranch Park.

Despite the intent of the city council to protect the environment as a part of these plans, some in the community still have concerns.

"We're a little bit skeptical," said Brenda Torres-Barreto, executive director of the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, which has its headquarters at McClellan Ranch. "The implementation could lead to a disturbance in the ecological balance," she said. The Stevens Creek corridor is home to a variety of wildlife and native plants, including steelhead trout, blacktail deer and reportedly rare red-legged frogs.

"I really love the deer, and I can see they are even a little scared of me," said Torres-Barreto, who walks often on the trails near her office. "So imagine the impact of [human] traffic, especially with rollerbladers and bikes on the trail."

Mark McKenna, president-elect of the Cupertino Historical Society board, has concerns about the Stocklmeir orchards, one of the few orchards left in Cupertino. According to McKenna, half of the Stocklmeir orchard would be removed for habitat restoration. (The trail would be located outside the second half of the orchard.)

"As we see it, it cuts up the property," McKenna says of the plans, which also include making Stocklmeir a living history center. "We'd like it to continue as an orchard."

Roxanne Beverstein, a gardner at the community gardens at McClellan Ranch for more than 15 years, prefers no trail at all. "I am not opposed to a trail, but I don't think it's an appropriate place for one," she says. "From the community gardens standpoint, I would prefer to see it remain a [nature] preserve," Beverstein says. "A trail would take away from some of those preservation guidelines."

At the moment, all of this is speculative. "Right now they are cleaning up the creek and doing environmental assessment," says Knapp, a frequent visitor to McClellan Ranch. "The plan is to start from the environmental aspect and see where the trail would be possible with a minimum impact," Knapp says.

Therese Smith, Cupertino's director of parks and recreation, says those plans include restoring the creek to its natural state. Previously, Stevens Creek's natural alignment was changed through human use, and vehicle crossings and a dam were added.

The additions made it difficult for species, particularly the endangered steelhead trout, to spawn. "We're in the process of improving fish passage," Smith says. "We're removing barriers, realigning the creek and revegetating with native plant material."

Even so, environmentalists and others hope to be included in the process. "I am an ecologist and would like to be involved in future advisory committees," Torres-Baretto of the Audubon Society says. "Until we get more organized, the city can do pretty much what it wants," McKenna says. "But we're hopeful [the park plans] will eventually make everybody happy."

Aaron Grossman, head of Friends of Stevens Creek Trail, is one who is already happy, but open to greater involvement. "Most of the trail will go along areas with heavy human impact already, but it will have to be monitored," he says. "We're always looking for solutions."

The actual impact of the trails will be difficult to gauge before construction begins in 2007. Blackberry Farm will operate as it has until then.

Grossman would like the Stevens Creek corridor trail to eventually connect with the four-mile trail already in place in Mountain View. Sunnyvale is considering linking to that trail, which would then have to pass through Los Altos and the north end of Sunnyvale to connect to Cupertino. Ultimately, Grossman envisions a trail linking San Francisco Bay with the Pacific Ocean. Although there is a long way to go before that happens, Grossman is happy with the trails planned and in place. "We're thrilled we're making progress," he says.