California residents and visitors will have a new state park to enjoy come June 2024.
The office of California Governor Gavin Newsom announced last week the forthcoming incorporation of Dos Rios State Park into California’s massive state park network. The California Department of Parks and Recreation manages 87 state parks. Dos Rios will become number 88.
Dos Rios State Park opens on June 12, the governor’s office said. The new park will be located about 8 miles (approximately 13 kilometers) west of Modesto, California and adjacent to the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge.
“This park is a key asset to fighting the climate crisis, home to the state’s largest floodplain restoration project,” Newsom said in his announcement. “We’re not just protecting these spaces; we’re restoring them for future generations.”
Photos shared by the governor’s office show Dos Rios boasts a riverine habitat for waterfowl, including herons. The forest on the site also provides a habitat for deer. Gavin said Dos Rios will become “California’s first new state park in nearly a decade.”
The property purchased to establish the state park is about 1,600 acres (about 650 hectares) in size. The park’s grand opening is being timed to coincide with the state’s official Third Annual State Parks Week running from June 12-16.
Upon its initial opening visitors will be able to enjoy hiking trails, picnic tables, and partially enclosed shelters.
Work on additional amenities will continue after the opening. The state’s parks authority says it wants to set up river access for public “swimming, angling, boating, and other water sports.” Dos Rios will be located at the confluence of the San Joaquin and Tuolumne Rivers, thus the park’s name “two rivers” in Spanish.
The state also intends to add bicycle trails to the site.
The governor’s office said creating Dos Rios State Park took a decade and cost $40 million. Funding was drawn from 11 separate public and private sources. The park will also serve as a managed flood plain, a place for the rivers’ overflow to go in the event of heavy rainfall events that might otherwise flood nearby properties.
California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said the new state park “provides a beautiful riverfront destination for San Joaquin Valley residents to get outside and recreate, in a part of the state with few such places.”
The naming and official designation of the land as a state park must be approved by the California State Park and Recreation Commission. Gavin’s office said organizers expect to clear that hurdle within a few weeks.
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Dos Rios State Park
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California, USA
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