California Just Announced Its Biggest State Park Expansion in Decades
California is adding three new state parks, marking the largest expansion of the state park system in decades and pushing the statewide total to 283.
Governor Gavin Newsom announced the plan Wednesday on Earth Day along the banks of the San Joaquin River. The initiative, called State Parks Forward, kicks off a planning and acquisition process for all three parks, which are publicly held and can be acquired at little to no cost to the state.
The largest of the three is Feather River Park in Olivehurst, Yuba County, sitting on nearly 2,000 acres along the Feather River. It would be the first state park in Yuba County and would include a boat launch, riverside beach, and a floodplain designed to absorb water during high-flow years.
The San Joaquin River Parkway in Fresno and Madera counties would bring together several existing properties into an 874-acre park directly upriver from Fresno, with parkland on both sides of the river. Officials say it would pair with the nearby Millerton Lake State Recreation Area to create a water recreation hub for the fast-growing region.
The third park, Dust Bowl Camp in Bakersfield, would preserve the site of the Sunset Migratory Labor Camp, one of the first federal camps established to house farmworkers who arrived in California during the Great Depression. The site inspired portions of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The announcement also included expansions at three existing parks, adding acreage in Mendocino, Nevada, and San Mateo counties. The state’s broader goal is to add 30,000 new park acres by 2030.
