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\u201cWe\u2019ve struggled a little\u00a0bit, particularly with parks,\u201d Newsom said Wednesday, during a visit with his wife Jennifer\u00a0Siebel Newsom and other state officials to Sycamore Island, along the San\u00a0Joaquin River on the border\u00a0of Fresno and Madera counties where the state park system intends to take ownership. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t 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\u2019t be focused on expansion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFinally we\u2019ve moved away from that scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re celebrating here today.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The governor also took the opportunity to contrast the state\u2019s environmental record with the environmental policies of the Trump administration: \u201cAs Trump sells out America\u2019s national parks,\u201d Newsom said in a statement, \u201cCalifornia is doubling down on protecting the Golden State\u2019s natural beauties.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u00a0by 2030.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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,\u201d California State Parks Director Armando Quintero said.<\/p>\n
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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.<\/p>\n
While the new properties won\u2019t rank among such top-tier state parks as Mount\u00a0Tamalpais in Marin County, Pfeiffer Big Sur and Big Basin Redwoods on\u00a0the Central Coast and Emerald Bay at Lake Tahoe, they mark significant spots in areas where the park system has had little presence.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel \u2018The Grapes of Wrath\u2019 and will provide a site for school groups and others to learn about migrant farming during the 1930s and \u201840s.<\/p>\n
The planned 874-acre park near Fresno would include part of the San Joaquin River Conservancy\u2019s 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 \u201cwater recreation hub.\u201d<\/p>\n
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A planned 874-acre park near Fresno would include part of the San Joaquin River Conservancy\u2019s 22-mile parkway in Fresno and Madera counties.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brian Baer\/Brian Baer \/ California State Parks<\/p>\n
\u201cProperties like Sycamore Island where we\u2019ve gathered today remind us just how vital open spaces are to the wellbeing of people and nature,\u201d said Kari Kyler Daniska, chief executive officer of the San Joaquin River Conservancy. \u201cWe hope that Sycamore Island and the conservancy\u2019s five other properties are just the beginning of something truly special for California and all of its residents.\u201d<\/p>\n
The three new parks would bring the total number of state park sites to 283. California\u2019s park system has added only one new park over the past decade, Dos\u00a0Rios State Park at the convergence of the San Joaquin and Tuolumne Rivers near Modesto.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yuba County could get its first state park, along the Feather River Brian Baer\/Brian Baer \/ California State…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[7,643,1727,101,103,102,104,106,105,2422],"class_list":{"0":"post-280809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-outdoors","11":"tag-san-francisco","12":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","13":"tag-san-francisco-news","14":"tag-sf","15":"tag-sf-headlines","16":"tag-sf-news","17":"tag-travel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}