Tulare Hill is a prominent hill in the

Santa Teresa Hills The Santa Teresa Hills are a range of mountains in Santa Clara County, California, located primarily in the city of San Jose. They separate the San Jose neighborhoods of Almaden Valley to the west and Santa Teresa to the east. Geography The ra ...

of western

Santa Clara County Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259 as of the 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring San Benito County form the ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It lies along the southernmost edge of

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

, adjacent to the

Metcalf Energy Center The Metcalf Energy Center is a 605 megawatt combined cycle power plant located in Silicon Valley, located in unincorporated Coyote Valley, south of San Jose, California and north of Morgan Hill, California. The power plant is owned by Calpine ...

. The hill and surrounding of serpentine grasslands are home to the endangered Bay checkerspot butterfly and '' Dudleya setchellii'' wildflower. A portion of the hill makes up the Tulare Hill Ecological Preserve.

Geography

The hill sits atop the narrowest gap between the Santa Cruz and Diablo mountain ranges, and overlooks the

Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved Racing track#Motorsport, road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and Motorcyc ...

wetlands in northern Coyote Valley.

History

Spanish padre

Francisco Palóu Francisco Palóu (, ; 1723–1789) was a Spanish Franciscan missionary, administrator, and historian on the Baja California Peninsula and in Alta California. Palóu made significant contributions to the Alta California and Baja California miss ...

passed over Tulare Hill during a 1774 expedition. The hill was once part of the historic

Rancho Santa Teresa Rancho Santa Teresa was a Mexican land grant in present-day Santa Clara County, California given in 1834 by Governor José Figueroa to José Joaquín Bernal. The grant extended west from Coyote Creek to the Santa Teresa Hills, and included pre ...

and Rancho Laguna Seca lands granted in the early 1800s.

Wildfires

In August 2019, a brush fire consumed approximately 60 acres along the southwestern part of the hill, as well as a small area on the eastern side of nearby

Santa Teresa County Park Santa Teresa County Park is an park in the Santa Teresa neighborhood of San Jose, California, located within the Santa Teresa Hills Park description It is operated by the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department. Most of the park ...

.CalFire, Bayliss Fire, August 2019
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References

Hills of California Landforms of Santa Clara County, California Geography of San Jose, California Landforms of the San Francisco Bay Area {{SantaClaraCountyCA-geo-stub

Geography

History

Wildfires

See also

References