Time to go big. River Partners gets $40 million to replicate Modesto-area floodplain

The state has granted $40 million to River Partners to greatly expand the floodplain restoration it has demonstrated at Dos Rios Ranch.

The nonprofit will identify rivers from Stanislaus to Kern counties that could benefit from this work. It seeks to enhance wildlife habitat while providing room for floodwaters to spread.

“This is four times larger than any grant River Partners has ever received,” President Julie Rentner said in a phone interview Thursday, Sept. 15. “It’s tremendous.”

Dos Rios is a 2,100-acre expanse where the Tuolumne and San Joaquin rivers merge southwest of Modesto. River Partners and its allies have spent a decade and about $46 million turning former farm fields into riparian forest.

The $40 million was approved in early September by the California Wildlife Conservation Board. It is separate from the $5 million announced in June toward making Dos Rios a state park in the coming years.

‘Shovel-ready’ sites

River Partners will have until 2026 to launch restorations funded by the $40 million. The group will focus on “shovel-ready” sites, where planning is already done, Rentner said.

Some of them will be in the San Joaquin drainage, which is fed by the Tuolumne and other tributaries and flows into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Other projects will be along smaller rivers in Tulare and Kings counties that form their own deltas.

River Partners is based in Chico and has one of its branch offices in Modesto. The new grant will allow it to add 18 employees to its 70-member staff, Rentner said. Their jobs include planning restorations, moving dirt, planting trees and monitoring wildlife.

Dos Rios has had help also from the Tuolumne River Trust and several local, state and federal agencies. The effort began with a land purchase from the Lyons family, which was already involved in conservation.

‘They get their hands dirty’

River Partners has worked with irrigation districts, resource agencies, scientists and other parties to improve Valley river stretches while maintaining water supplies.

State Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced, advocated for the latest grant. In a news release, he noted the wildlife and water benefits and also how riverside forests can sequester climate-harming carbon.

“What I like about River Partners is that they don’t look at the plight of fish and our environment, then wring their hands,” Gray said. “They get their hands dirty, doing the work to make things better.”