On Earth Day today, Gov. Gavin Newsom used the holiday spotlight to roll out State Parks Forward, a new push to add three state parks and expand others in what officials are calling the largest parks expansion in decades. The proposal centers on three Central Valley sites: Feather River Park near Olivehurst, the San Joaquin River Parkway near Fresno, and a Dust Bowl Camp site outside Bakersfield. If approved, the additions would bring California’s state park tally to 283. State leaders are pitching the plan as a targeted investment in communities that have long lacked park access and as a piece of the state’s broader conservation agenda.
What the new parks would include
Feather River Park is slated to span nearly 2,000 acres along the Feather River and, according to officials, would feature a boat launch, a riverside beach and a floodplain designed to absorb high flows when the river swells. The San Joaquin River Parkway would pull together roughly 874 acres of riverfront land on both banks of the…..