On June 12, California welcomed its first state park since 2014, Dos Rios. Governor Gavin Newsome declared the parks opening alongside California’s State Parks Week, which ran from June 12-16. The picturesque Dos Rios State Park is nestled in San Joaquin Valley, just outside of Modesto.
“Our state parks are a point of pride and inspiration for Californians and visitors from around the world. Today, we celebrate the opening of Dos Rios—our first new State Park in a decade—which creates new outdoor recreation opportunities for Central Valley communities, provides habitat for threatened and endangered wildlife, and advances the state’s innovative efforts to combat the climate crisis using nature-based solutions,” stated Governor Newsom.
First partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom added, “The Central Valle —the beating heart of our state’s agriculture sector—is now home to California’s first new state park in nearly a decade. Dos Rios is an example of the work we’re doing to heal our environment through land restoration and protection of the endangered species who call it home while bringing to the local community the undeniable benefits of time spent in nature.” Together, she and the governor helped bestow Dos Rios on Earth Day.
State Parks Week is an annual observance that celebrates the systems’ 280 destinations, stressing the significant difference that outdoor access can have on the overall well-being and health of our communities. Dos Rios opens alongside California’s third annual State Parks Week.
Dos Rios property is the largest public-private floodplain restoration project in the state of California. At around 1,600 acres, the project restores the habitat for threatened and endangered wildlife located in and along the Tuolumne and San Joaquin Rivers. The Dos Rios project is among many others throughout California working to help the state reach its monumental nature-based solutions targets.
Earlier this year, California announced the setting of 81 targets to dedicate millions of acres to the absorption of carbon emissions. The initiative is not only the first in the state of California but also among the most comprehensive in the world.
The goal, as called for by Governor Newsom, includes reaching carbon neutrality by 2045. Essentially, nature-based solutions support the ability of lands to absorb more carbon than they release, which is a vital tool in California’s climate arsenal. The Newsom administration has invested around $9.6 billion since 2020 in nature-based solutions to help battle the devastating effects of climate change.
Governor Newsom said, “We’re setting aggressive and ambitious new targets to use California’s lands to fight the climate crisis. This scale of action is unprecedented, and yet another example of California punching above its weight period from restoring and conserving lands to greening our urban spaces and treating more acres to prevent wildfires, we’re protecting nature and allowing it to work for our communities.”
Dos Rios, once farmland and now restored floodplain, provides the ideal habitat for numerous protected species like the riparian brush rabbit, riparian woodrat, Swainson’s hawk, Central Valley Chinook salmon, steelhead trout, least Bell’s vireo, and the greater Sandhill crane. Dos Rios is also a destination for many birds that migrate along the Pacific flyway.
