I'd recently been intending to go there, was asking people what were good trails, lakes, streams, etc . . . Are there good places that weren't hit by the fire?

Not bad news forever. It will come back better than ever.

www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_6850217

The fire that burned through more than 50 percent of Henry W. Coe State Park south of San Jose over the past week may have pumped huge amounts of soot into the air and been a headache for firefighters, but the animals in the park and its scenic landscape weren't wiped out.

From an environmental standpoint, the blaze - which was 95 percent contained Sunday night - has been a good thing, a natural event that has occurred in the area for thousands of years, several wildlife experts said Sunday.

"The park is not destroyed. The fire is actually beneficial to the environment," said Stuart Organo, supervising ranger at Coe.

"Next year after the rains have fallen in the spring, there is going to be more grass and vegetation for deer and other animals to browse on," Organo said.

Park rangers so far have no reports of major wildlife die-offs, he said. Many of the large animals, from black-tailed deer to tule elk to mountain lions, ran away from the flames to other areas in the vast Diablo Mountain Range and will return, he said.

Some smaller, slower-moving animals like skunks or raccoons, probably were killed. But others, like ground squirrels or snakes, burrow underground as flames pass over and should have survived, experts said. Meanwhile, thousands of acres of thick chaparral and dead brush have been thinned out, allowing new grasses and wildflowers to grow, which will provide more food soon for wildlife, said Henry Coletto, who worked 40 years as Santa Clara County game warden and now teaches wildlife biology at De Anza College in Cupertino.

"We had Bambi and Smokey Bear. They made us all think fire was really bad for wildlife," Coletto said.

"It's important to be careful with your campfire," he added, "but for the most part, fire is a good thing for the landscape as long as it doesn't burn houses down."