When it comes to loving parks, Fresno could learn lessons from Illinois | Opinion

My family and I just returned from a trip to Illinois for a cousin’s wedding. It was my first time in the Land of Lincoln, and my initial impression can be summed up in one word: Green.

After the planed landed in Chicago, we ventured 45 miles north to the small city of Woodstock. It is best known as the location for Bill Murray’s “Groundhog Day” movie. Besides a quaint downtown of historic buildings and an excellent Saturday farmers market, Woodstock has an abundance of parks and wooded preserves.

In fact, when driving Highway 14 from Interstate 90 to Woodstock, one discovers a nonstop emerald necklace of parks, woods and ball fields. There’s also lots of ponds, some lakes and the Fox River. It quickly became apparent that, a) Illinois gets more rain than California, and b) it puts an emphasis on having parks and open space.

Even within several miles of Chicago’s busy O’hare International Airport is a wooded preserve and the Salt Creek trail system. Nearby are big apartment complexes. How nice, I thought. Those tenants can enjoy a moment in precious open space here in America’s third-largest city, population 2.6 million.

In Woodstock, population 25,000, 80% of residents live within a 10-minute walk to a park, according to the Trust for Public Land.

In Fresno, by contrast, 66% of its 544,000 residents are within a 10-minute walk to a park. The trust earlier this year gave Fresno a 98th place ranking of America’s 100 largest cities for park space. Fresno has been stuck in the 90s on the park score for years.

Woodstock is located in McHenry County. It boasts 30 parks and open spaces. Fresno County, by contrast, has 16 parks.

Then there is the Land Trust of McHenry County. It has preserved more than 3,200 acres of land within the county. Many if not all of the preserves have trails for public use.

I Googled “Fresno County land trust” and came up with the California Rangeland Trust, which works with cattle ranchers to preserve their lands. Three ranches on the far west side of Fresno County are in such arrangements, but are not for public use.

Off-limits for farming

To be fair, much of Fresno County is privately held farm land. Our county is an agricultural behemoth — growers, dairy producers and ranchers combined for gross revenues of $8.1 billion in 2022, according to the latest report by Agricultural Commissioner Melissa Cregan.

Then there are the national parks — Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon — as well as national forests in the Sierra. Those open spaces are treasures. There is recreation on the San Joaquin and Kings rivers, too.

And brown hills are just a fact of life in California’s dry climate. Our period of green grass covering the open spaces goes by so fast each spring.

Still, it was impressive to witness the preservation efforts and park priorities of the people of Illinois. I am assuming such an ethic extends to other Midwestern states. One day we drove to southern Wisconsin and did a nice hike on a four-mile section of the 1,200-mile-long Ice Age Trail. We went through a heavily wood preserve to the Rock River. The ending point: Riverside Park, naturally.

More Fresno parks

Fresno is trying to become more parks oriented. Mayor Jerry Dyer and the City Council adopted a new budget in June that hiked parks funding by $33.7 million, to a total of $262 million. Measure P, passed a few years ago, mandates dedicated spending on parks. But it will take specific focus of city leaders to see Measure P’s vision to reality.

Meanwhile, the county Board of Supervisors is not helping matters when it extended an already expired mining permit along the San Joaquin River. Making that decision worse, the mining company is working on a new proposal to set off explosives to literally blow a giant pit to produce gravel. How offensive to anyone recreating on the river.

A tragedy of Fresno’s past was not connecting the San Joaquin River better to the city. Great cities have rivers or other water features in their urban makeup. Think New York or Chicago, San Francisco or Seattle.

Fresno’s omission cannot be undone. But more parks can be built so residents can get the mental and physical benefits of being outside. Fresno’s climate is much more agreeable than Woodstock’s, for sure. The average low in Woodstock in January is 12 degrees.

If Illinois and the people of Woodstock can cherish parks and open space, Fresno can, too.