Northern California’s Newest State Park Will Be a 2,000-Acre Property Along the Feather River

Yuba County is about to get its first state park, and it is going to be a big one.

Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Earth Day that California is adding three new state parks as part of an initiative called State Parks Forward, and the largest of the three is Feather River Park in Olivehurst. The property sits on nearly 2,000 acres along the Feather River and will be the only new park of the three located in Northern California.

Plans for the park include a boat launch, a riverside beach and a floodplain designed to absorb water during high-flow years. That dual purpose makes it both a recreation destination and a piece of flood infrastructure, giving the community access to the river while helping manage water during storms.

Yuba County has never had a state park, so the addition fills a gap that residents and outdoor advocates have pointed to for years. The property is publicly held and can be acquired at little to no cost to the state, which is part of what made the project viable.

The two other new parks are the San Joaquin River Parkway near Fresno, an 874-acre property combining several existing parcels into a unified park on both sides of the river, and Dust Bowl Camp in Bakersfield, which preserves the site of a 1930s federal labor camp that inspired portions of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath.”

The announcement also included expansions at three existing parks in Mendocino, Nevada and San Mateo counties. The state’s broader goal is to add 30,000 new park acres by 2030. This brings the statewide total to 283 state parks.