San Joaquin River Conservancy executive officer Melinda Marks holds a map of the area as she stands on a small bluff during a walking tour along a proposed trail route west of Woodward Park on Thursday, January 26, 2012 in Fresno. Though the area is off-limits to the public many examples of use and abuse are found throughout the pond system on the Fresno County side of the San Joaquin River downstream of Highway 41. The River West Open Space Area, a combination of three properties purchased from private hands over the last decade by the San Joaquin River Conservancy along the San Joaquin west of Highway 41, encompasses 1,200 acres of undeveloped river bottom land. But the project which could offer access to recreational activities along California’s second-longest river passing the state’s fifth-largest city has been stuck in a bureaucratic quagmire since 2009. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA/THE FRESNO BEE — Fresno Bee Staff Photo