The West Coyote Hills is the area surrounding a ridge in northern Orange County, California.

The remaining open-space area is currently the subject of a long-running dispute over residential development, pitting conservationists against a pro-development majority on the city council.

The city council has a pro-development majority, which has sided with Chevron,[9] and won in Superior Court, but the decision has been appealed.

East of Gilbert Street, the undeveloped area consists mainly of a large, sun-exposed, gentle north-facing slope.

The larger area west of Gilbert contains rugged terrain, predominantly south-facing slopes, and a large, long, dry, flat-bottomed canyon that runs north-south.

U.S. Geological Survey researchers have found invertebrate fossils representing 184 taxa from 158 localities in the "San Pedro" Formation in the Coyote Hills, including various species of annelids, mollusks, arthropods, and echinoids; the fossils suggest a late Pliocene to early Pleistocene age for outcrops of the formation.

The oldest fossil occurrence of the gastropods Tegula pulligo (Gmelin), questionably Haliotis cracherodii, and the crustacean Randallia ornata occur in the "San Pedro" Formation in the Coyote Hills.