California announces first new state park in a decade

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) – California will open its first new state park in a decade this summer, Gov. Gavin Newsom and state officials announced Monday, as the state sets goals to reduce planet-warming emissions from natural lands.

The 1,600-acre (648-hectare) Dos Rios area in the state’s crop-rich Central Valley is set to open June 12 as California’s 281st state park. Located near the confluence of the Tuolumne and San Joaquin rivers, it is surrounded by vast almond orchards and dairy pastures. Californians will be able to use the park for hiking and picnicking, with plans for swimming and boating access in the future.

Central Valley native and California State Parks interpreter Ali Manzo said the new park will help bring people together and allow them to develop a deeper respect for nature.

“Dos Rios is not just a park,” Manzo said. “It’s a community treasure that offers peace, adventure and a vital connection to nature.”

Manzo joined the governor, first member Jennifer Siebel Newsom and civil rights icon Dolores Huerta to announce the new park.

The Earth Day announcement comes as Newsom unveils new goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on natural lands. The plan aims to reduce wildfire risks, expand forest cover and restore wetlands. Newsom said the goals would bring the state closer to achieving its carbon neutrality mandatemeaning it will remove as many carbon emissions from the atmosphere as it emits by 2045.

“These are stretch goals, unquestionably,” the Democratic governor said. “The good news is that we are making real progress.”

Newsom did not say what success in implementing the goals would look like. His administration has not released an estimate of how much the plan would cost the state, which faces a huge predicted budget deficit.

The goals stem from a law Newsom signed in 2022 requiring the state Natural Resources Agency to work with other agencies to create a plan to reduce emissions from natural lands.

The plan aims to reduce wildfire risks across nearly 53,000 square miles (138,000 square kilometers) of land by 2045, through methods including burning vegetation that can make wildfires more intense. The state also plans to plant 4.2 million trees, manage and restore 1.6 million acres (647,000 hectares) of grassland and protect more than 233,000 acres (94,000 hectares) of wetlands and seagrass over that period.

California has spent about $9.6 billion since 2020 on efforts to address climate change using the state’s natural lands.

Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot called the plan “a big deal” because the state has focused much of its climate policy on reducing emissions from other areas, such as the energy sector, and less from natural lands.

“We know we have to significantly reduce pollution, but we also need to improve the health of our landscapes to actually remove carbon dioxide from the air,” Crowfoot said.

In recent years, the state has approved the eventual phase-out of the sale of new fossil fuel vehicles. cars, lawn mowers, big trucks that transport goods through ports and diesel-powered trains.