Gov. Newsom visits Modesto area to dedicate first new California state park since 2009
Gov. Gavin Newsom came to the Modesto area Monday to dedicate Dos Rios Ranch State Park.
The park will open June 12 close to where the Tuolumne River joins the San Joaquin. It sits about eight miles west of Modesto, amid 1,600 acres of restored floodplain and other habitat.
The governor and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom saw the first phase of the attractions during an Earth Day tour. Dos Rios has shaded picnic tables, trails, benches, temporary restrooms and bare-bones parking.
The next year will add a welcome center and better parking. Future funding could bring a campground, boat ramp and other amenities. The public can advise California State Parks on what it would like to see.
Dos Rios is the 280th state park in California and the first addition since Fort Ord Dunes near Monterey in 2009. It’s Stanislaus County’s second state park, but the other, Turlock Lake State Recreation Area, has been closed for recreational use since November 2020.
“There’s no better way to spend Earth Day than celebrating California’s first new state park in nearly a decade,” Newsom said at the dedication. “The Golden State’s natural beauty is unmatched and we’re laser-focused on ensuring every Californian can enjoy these spaces.”
The parks department has moved relatively quickly since Newsom proposed the first $5 million in funding in 2022. That paid for the site purchase and early construction. An additional $3.3 million is in the annual operating budget.
Newsom said he would spare Dos Rios from budget cuts as he confronts a projected $38 billion deficit for the fiscal year starting July 1. The Central Valley has fewer state parks than other regions, he said, and Dos Rios has a role in dealing with climate change.
The nonprofit River Partners has restored Dos Rios since 2012 with help from the Tuolumne River Trust and other allies. They seek to re-create some of the the lush forest that thrived in the Valley before dams and levees diverted most of the runoff from the Sierra Nevada.
The fast-growing trees shade and shelter baby salmon and steelhead trout before they migrate to the Pacific Ocean. Dos Rios also has hundreds of bird and mammal species, notably the riparian brush rabbit, an endangered species.
Park Manager Paige Haller said Dos Rios will be open Fridays to Sundays to start, then add days at some point. The hours will be 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., suited to morning birdwatchers, she said. The park will not charge admission at first.
Haller has nine employees now and hopes to add four soon. They will handle tours, maintenance and other tasks.
The speakers at the dedication included Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers in the early 1960s. The Stockton native recalled fishing for bass in the San Joaquin River as a girl, and drinking beer there with friends at a later age.
“The river was so part of growing up,” Huerta said, “so coming here is really like coming home.”
Other state parks that are popular day trips for Stanislaus County residents include Caswell Memorial State Park along the Stanislaus River near Ripon; Columbia State Historic Park and Railtown 1897 State Historic Park, both in Tuolumne County; and Calaveras Big Trees near Arnold.
