On Earth Day today, Gov. Gavin Newsom used the holiday spotlight to roll out State Parks Forward, a new push to add three state parks and expand others in what officials are calling the largest parks expansion in decades. The proposal centers on three Central Valley sites: Feather River Park near Olivehurst, the San Joaquin River Parkway near Fresno, and a Dust Bowl Camp site outside Bakersfield. If approved, the additions would bring California’s state park tally to 283. State leaders are pitching the plan as a targeted investment in communities that have long lacked park access and as a piece of the state’s broader conservation agenda.
What the new parks would include
Feather River Park is slated to span nearly 2,000 acres along the Feather River and, according to officials, would feature a boat launch, a riverside beach and a floodplain designed to absorb high flows when the river swells. The San Joaquin River Parkway would pull together roughly 874 acres of riverfront land on both banks of the river near Millerton Lake into a more unified corridor. Farther south, the Dust Bowl Camp site would set aside about two acres of a historic labor camp, preserving original buildings that are already listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Those details were reported by the Los Angeles Times.
State Parks Forward and the policy push
California State Parks describes State Parks Forward as a roadmap to grow existing parks by about 30,000 acres by the end of the decade while speeding up land deals under recent laws that streamline acquisitions near sensitive habitats. The agency says this announcement starts the formal planning and acquisition work for each of the three sites. Because much of the targeted land is already in public hands, officials expect some transfers to come at relatively low cost to the state. The initiative and its early rollout steps are detailed by California State Parks.
Why the Central Valley
State officials repeatedly stressed that the Central Valley was chosen because it has historically had fewer state parks than California’s coastal and mountain regions. California Natural Resources Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot framed the move as an effort to bring parks and conservation resources to places that have been overlooked. Leaders also highlighted recreation and history education as core goals, with local coverage noting that the new parks are intended to close access gaps while centering interpretation and community input, especially at the Dust Bowl site outside Bakersfield.
Next steps and public input
The parks department says each of the three locations will go through a public engagement process before any final approvals or grand openings are on the calendar. Residents will be asked to weigh in on access, stewardship and how history and ecology are interpreted at the sites. While officials expect the largely public ownership of the parcels to make acquisitions relatively straightforward, they caution that planning, interpretive design and river access upgrades will still take time and outside partners. State materials and local reporting have encouraged residents to watch for upcoming community meetings and public comment periods as the concepts move toward formal proposals, as reported by KTVU.
