With new board chair, shakeup of Fresno’s river parkway effort starts at the top
Fresno’s long-held dream of a river parkway between Friant Dam and Highway 99 received a much-needed boost and quite the shakeup in 2021. The repercussions of both will be felt for years.
The boost arrives in the form of a $15 million state budget earmark, shepherded through Sacramento by Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula and state Sen. Ana Caballero, for maintenance and operations of publicly owned properties within the San Joaquin River Parkway.
While not a permanent solution, the $15 million is a big milestone in helping the San Joaquin River Conservancy fulfill its mission. Since its 1992 inception, the state agency responsible for assembling the 22-mile riparian and recreational greenbelt has spent tens of millions of dollars in public money purchasing riverside properties from private owners but in many places lacked the funding to open them for public enjoyment.
That vexing bureaucratic hurdle has now been cleared, at least until the $15 million runs out. (It must be spent in five years.)
Meanwhile, the impact of Arambula’s AB 559, a bill signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom that both expanded and reconstituted the San Joaquin River Conservancy governing board, is already being felt.
For the first time in its history, the conservancy board will be led by someone other than a local politician. That someone is Bryn Forhan, a PR consultant and former legislative staffer who since 2001 has held the public seat allocated to a city of Fresno resident.
Unopposed and by unanimous vote, Forhan’s fellow board members elected her chairperson during their Dec. 15 meeting. Madera County Supervisor Brett Frazier was then unanimously elected vice chair. The positions are elected annually, and no chair can serve more than two consecutive terms.
This represents a significant power shift. Before AB 559, the chair position rotated every two years between Fresno and Madera county supervisors and a member of the Fresno City Council (technically the mayor’s designee).
Despite her status as the conservancy board’s longest-tenured member, Forhan told me she was not “planning nor pining for” the chairmanship until the possibility was recently suggested to her.
“I believe strongly in the vision of the parkway and feel that public service is something that’s very important,” Forhan said in a phone interview. “This opportunity presented itself, and I’m happy to do it.”
‘Pent-up demand’ for San Joaquin River Parkway
Like many Fresno natives, Forhan grew up unaware that California’s second-longest river traces the city’s northwest border. Not until she returned home in 1990 following 13 years away (most of them in Washington, D.C., as a staff member for Rep. Tony Coelho) did Forhan learn about the grassroots effort by the co-founders of the nonprofit San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust to create a parkway and save the river bottom from development.
From 1991 to 1994, as district chief of staff for then-Assemblyman Jim Costa, Forhan was heavily involved in crafting the San Joaquin River Conservancy’s founding legislation.
Three decades later, Forhan finds herself in position to help fulfill the original vision of a river parkway that both conserves habitat and provides public enjoyment in a parks-starved region.
“We have been a conservancy that’s rich in bond funds to acquire properties but lacking in operations and maintenance funds,” she said. “The $15 million represents a significant milestone because we have been waiting for so long. There is pent-up demand to access these properties.”
Board members play a key role in that they decide how parkway lands are developed. In some cases, such as the River West Fresno Open Space Area, those decisions can drag on more than a decade.
AB 559 expands the conservancy board from 15 to 16 members by adding two seats (one representing local Native American tribes and one for a “youth” member between 18 and 25) and collapsing two regional water board seats into one. Both the tribal and youth seats are gubernatorial appointments. Outreach efforts to fill those seats will begin in early 2022.
Changes to Fresno river board’s public seats
Arambula’s bill also changed the criteria for the two public seats held by Fresno and Madera county residents. In the past, at least one had to own river-adjacent property. Now, both must represent nonprofits “that have a presence within that county and support outdoor recreation, conservation, environmental justice or social justice issues.”
It’s up to each county Board of Supervisors to submit a list of names (worded as “two or more individuals” to prevent lists of one, as Madera’s electeds are known to do) in a timely fashion. From those lists, the Senate Committee on Rules gets to pick the Fresno County appointee, while the Speaker of the Assembly chooses the Madera County appointee.
The third public seat — the one designated for a city of Fresno resident and occupied by Forhan since 2001 — is appointed by the governor from a list of candidates provided by the City Council.
How has Forhan, who worked for Democrats Coelho and Costa and ran unsuccessfully for state Assembly (in 1994) and City Council (in 2000), managed to retain her seat through four different Republican Fresno mayors?
Forhan chuckled at the question and admitted her circumstances are unique. Nor are they likely to be repeated now that the San Joaquin River Parkway and Fresno parks in general occupy a larger segment of the public consciousness than they did decades ago.
“I have not used my seat on the board as a bully pulpit, but it’s very clear to me what needs to be done,” she said. “We’re at a really pivotal time, and hopefully my background can be put to good use.”
With a more representative board, funding for maintenance and operations and a number of projects and efforts already in the works, the gap between the river parkway that was originally envisioned and the one we’ve spent 30 years putting together has narrowed. And not a moment too soon.
