The Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department was founded in 1956. Since inception, the Department has grown from four to twenty-eight parks. The 46,000-acre park system encompasses a variety of urban and rural recreational amenities. For more than five decades, the County has focused on purchasing parkland and developing a network of regional parks and trails along hillsides adjacent to the urban fringe and along the creeks that pass through the urban service area. This “necklace of parks” concept was put into place in the early 1960’s and has guided park acquisition and development ever since the vision was adopted as an element of the General Plan. The vision is “to create a growing and diverse system of regional parks, trails, and open spaces of countywide significance that connects people with the natural environment, offers visitor experiences that renew the human spirit, and balances recreation opportunities with resource protection.” With this in mind, the Department manages ten reservoirs for recreational use, 312 miles of trails, 41 group picnic sites, five camping parks, two golf courses, and many other amenities of broad appeal within a regional park system... that contains some of the County’s finest natural resources. The Department’s main funding source for operations, development and acquisition is the Park Charter Fund, which is a fixed set aside of the County’s property tax revenue. The Park Charter Fund was initially approved by voters in 1972 and has since been renewed six consecutive times. Voters last renewed the fund in June 2006, extending it until 2021.