California announces plans for three new state parks

California is planning to open three new state parks and also enlarge several existing parks, officials announced Wednesday, calling the endeavor the biggest expansion of the state parks system in decades.

One of the new parks will encompass nearly 2,000 acres along the Feather River in Yuba County, a spot equipped for rafting and swimming.

Another park is set to commemorate California's Dust Bowl history at a former labor camp outside Bakersfield.

A third state park is slated to absorb a popular parkway for hikers, runners and bicyclists along the San Joaquin River near Fresno.

State officials credit the string of planned openings and expansions to a new, concerted effort, dubbed State Parks Forward, that seeks to reverse years of stagnation in the state parks system. Recent legislation has made it easier for the California Department of Parks and Recreation to acquire new land, and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has sought to make conservation a priority as he entertains a likely 2028 presidential run, is signaling a renewed focus on parks.

"We've struggled a little bit, particularly with parks," Newsom said Wednesday, during a visit with his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom and other state officials to Sycamore Island, along the San Joaquin River on the border of Fresno and Madera counties where the state park system intends to take ownership. "There wasn't much happening in this space. We were, frankly, dealing with the existing space and deferred maintenance and this constant dialectic about the fact that we shouldn't be focused on expansion."

"Finally we've moved away from that scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset," he said. "That's what we're celebrating here today."

The governor also took the opportunity to contrast the state's environmental record with the environmental policies of the Trump administration: "As Trump sells out America's national parks," Newsom said in a statement, "California is doubling down on protecting the Golden State's natural beauties."

In addition to the new state parks, the State Parks Forward initiative lays out several planned and recently completed land acquisitions designed to expand existing parks, with a stated goal of adding 30,000 acres by 2030.

Over just the past week, parks officials say 453 acres were added to Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve in Mendocino County, 218 acres were added to South Yuba River State Park in Nevada County and 133 acres were added to Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park in San Mateo County.

The roll-out of the State Park Forward initiative, with the recent land acquisitions and the announcement of the planned parks, was timed for Earth Day.

"The bold vision laid out today by Gov. Newsom sets California on a path to not just grow the state park system but also provide more access and instill a greater connection and sense of pride for all Californians in their state parks," California State Parks Director Armando Quintero said.

The three new parks, which are yet to be named, are in various stages of planning. Parks officials do not have a timetable for the openings, but they say that all three are owned by public agencies that are willing to transfer their land to the state at little or no cost. Cognizant of budgetary issues that have plagued parks, and recently the state, officials say the new sites were carefully selected so that staff from existing parks, mostly parks nearby, can easily and inexpensively assume management.

While the new properties won't rank among such top-tier state parks as Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, Pfeiffer Big Sur and Big Basin Redwoods on the Central Coast and Emerald Bay at Lake Tahoe, they mark significant spots in areas where the park system has had little presence.

The new park along the Feather River would be the first in Yuba County, offering up several restored wild areas along the waterway for visitors to explore by foot or boat.

The small, historical park planned in Kern County would showcase the Sunset Migratory Labor Camp. State officials say this camp served as the inspiration for John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel ‘The Grapes of Wrath' and will provide a site for school groups and others to learn about migrant farming during the 1930s and ‘40s.

The planned 874-acre park near Fresno would include part of the San Joaquin River Conservancy's 22-mile parkway in Fresno and Madera Counties. State officials say the park would solidify the region, not far from Millerton Lake State Recreation Area, as a "water recreation hub."

"Properties like Sycamore Island where we've gathered today remind us just how vital open spaces are to the wellbeing of people and nature," said Kari Kyler Daniska, chief executive officer of the San Joaquin River Conservancy. "We hope that Sycamore Island and the conservancy's five other properties are just the beginning of something truly special for California and all of its residents."

The three new parks would bring the total number of state park sites to 283. California's park system has added only one new park over the past decade, Dos Rios State Park at the convergence of the San Joaquin and Tuolumne Rivers near Modesto.

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