State Parks in the News

Over the summer, Governor Brown signed the 2016-17 Fiscal Year State Budget, which includes funding for several initiatives near and dear to CSPF’s heart. This is part two of a three-part series taking an in-depth look at these projects to tell the story of why advocacy for state parks matters. This month we want to tell you about another budget victory that is enabling the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) to develop and implement a two-year Community Liaison Pilot Project at two of the largest urban state parks in California, Candlestick Point State Recreation Area in San Francisco and Los Angeles State Historic Park

                    When Katy and Jeff Rose took a few days off recently, the Menlo Park couple decided to spend it in the woods, like they’d done on camping trips with their kids years ago. This time, however, they...

Advancing the vision of a private blue-ribbon commission to reinvigorate the California state park experience for generations to come, the Legislature has sent to Gov. Jerry Brown a bill to enable the Department of Parks and Recreation to enter into partnership with a...

Amid concerns over health impacts and wildfires, smoking and using electronic cigarettes would be outlawed at California’s 270 state parks and beaches under a bill sent by state lawmakers to the governor on Tuesday. The measure creates a fine of up to $250 for those...

Lawmakers have approved a bill prohibiting vendors from claiming ownership of California state parks names following a dispute that led to renaming sites at Yosemite National Park

Looking for a different camping experience? Rustic wooden cabins have been added to the overnight options at three Northern California state parks. VIsitors will find four new cabins each at Patrick’s Point State Park, north of Eureka; Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, east of Crescent City; and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, about 50 miles north of Eureka.

But Annadel also serves as a prime example of the pressures and failures besetting the state parks system. It suffers from its own popularity, attracting an estimated 120,000 visitors annually. On weekends, it is not unusual to see horse riders, cyclists and others on foot squeezing onto the same paths. Many of those trails are in dire need of maintenance, with erosion from wear and tear and weather taking a clear toll over the years. At the same time, a widening number of trails are unsanctioned, carved out mostly by renegade bikers exploring terrain that established paths skirt. Homeless encampments also have sprouted in some areas of the park.

Generations of county residents and visitors have been similarly awestruck and enthralled during visits to the Sonoma Coast and 10 other state parks, nature reserves and historic sites within the county.
Now, to sustain California’s parks into the 21st century, state officials say the system needs an overhaul. The transformation, as outlined by a panel appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown, is meant to move past a management scandal that engulfed the parks system in 2012 and to extend the promise of places that serve as playground, refuge, classroom and museum for up to 75 million visitors a year.

The simple truth is Annadel would not exist if it were not for Henry Trione. This 5,000-acre expanse of rolling hills surrounding Lake Ilsanjo was targeted for housing in 1969 when Trione ponied up $1 million of his own money and persuaded his friend Joe Long of Long’s Drugs to help put together a $5 million package to preserve the land. He also was a founding member of the State Parks Foundation, which has contributed nearly a quarter of a billion dollars to support the parks system over the past 46 years.

he 400-acre park, in Arlington Heights, got a new lease on life last week when the Friends of California Citrus Park signed an agreement with the state parks system to oversee the groves, maintain the meeting hall, picnic shelter and amphitheater, and subcontract with an events planner to book its venues.