Once ‘private property,’ San Joaquin River Parkway is now Fresno’s jewel | Opinion
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Public access to the San Joaquin River has expanded significantly since 2005.
- Local nonprofits and volunteers support river cleanup and conservation efforts.
- Community engagement transforms the river parkway into a valued public space.
My initial introduction to the San Joaquin River came as a warning to be wary.
“The river’s private property,” said the tall man behind the counter at Valley Rod and Gun when I walked in to inquire about where to launch a kayak and what fishing lures to try.
“Lost Lake Park is full of gang-bangers,” Jeff Huth replied to my next question. “You’d better take a buddy with you. It’s not safe. I don’t send any customers there.”
The 2005 version of my head was spinning as I left the store, which closed a few months ago. How can a river be private property? How can a county park be so unsafe?
A few mornings later, Lost Lake Park was practically deserted when a friend (who was going regardless) and I set off toward Fresno on the San Joaquin River. Which I knew was navigable, and therefore considered a public right of way.
The tricky part was accessing the river. There weren’t many places to do so between Friant and Highway 99, and the few that did exist were obscure. Information was hard to find. You kinda had to figure things out on your own.
Twenty years later, public awareness and appreciation for the San Joaquin River and the assemblage of properties that form the river parkway have significantly grown. More people are helping to conserve the parkway than ever before, volunteering with nonprofits such as the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust, RiverTree Volunteers and Fresno Canoe and Kayak Club to pick up trash or remove invasive Parrot’s feather from the river.
The old (and sadly accurate) rap against the river parkway was that its state-owned properties were inaccessible to the public. “Behind locked gates,” was my description in 2011.
Things are much improved in that respect as well. There is now public access at several points along the planned 22-mile stretch of parks, trails, open space and wildlife preserves. (Less so downstream of Sycamore Island Park and through northwest Fresno). Many of these areas are open year round and most are free.
River Conservancy funded and staffed
Another significant development: The San Joaquin River Conservancy, the locally controlled state agency created to develop the parkway, finally has the funding and staff to start acting like an actual state agency. Maintenance and operations funding, long an insurmountable hurdle, is no longer an issue. The Conservancy has a consistent social media presence and publishes news releases, monthly newsletters and annual reports on its web site. There’s even an official logo depicting a snowy egret.
The good work continues. At this month’s Conservancy board meeting, the 16-voting members (a Tribal seat remains vacant, 3½ years after it was established) approved and adopted public use regulations that will help ensure those who endanger public safety or damage natural and cultural resources receive the proper punishment. Community engagement and feedback was robust.
During the same meeting, board members set aside $5 million in state Proposition 1 bonds to remove the remnants of Broken Bridge from the river below Friant Dam.
The Pollasky Bridge, its historic name, was destroyed by floods in 1950. Six large chunks have remained in the river ever since on the Madera County side, presenting a navigational hazard to boaters and anglers. (Fresno County cleaned up its side when the new bridge was built slightly upstream.)
It should not have taken 75 years for Madera County to address Broken Bridge. But at least the graffitied concrete will soon be gone – save for one piece of the support structure that will “serve as a historical reference and interpretive feature.” Pretty cool.
The point here is that in many measurable, tangible metrics, the San Joaquin River Parkway is in a much better place. Just in time, too. Because after the pandemic forced thousands of people from Fresno and Clovis to seek out recreational opportunities closer to their homes, the secret was out.
In 2025, the San Joaquin below Friant Dam is less “a hidden jewel” (my description in 2008) and more our jewel. As it should have been all along.
As for the river being “private property,” as the guy at Valley Rod and Gun asserted two decades ago, over time I finally accumulated enough knowledge to understand what he meant.
Paying taxes on state land
California’s navigable rivers are considered public waterways, meaning the public has the right to use them for navigation, fishing, swimming and other recreational activities. This right extends to the historic high-water mark of the riverbed as determined by the State Lands Commission.
Locally, such laws have been conveniently ignored. Housing developments and golf courses were built along the river without any thought given to public access to the waterway. Fortunately, those days are over.
But most suspicious of all, property owners along the river (on the Fresno County side, at least) were levied taxes for decades on land that is under state jurisdiction and should have been accessible to everyone. Bottom line, the general public got sold out.
Even though times have changed, and the parkway is now almost universally embraced, major challenges remain. The River West Open Space Area west of the 41 freeway (which I first wrote about in 2008) cannot break ground soon enough.
The next priority should be replacing the condemned Ledger Island bridge with a temporary structure that can handle bikes and pedestrians. The parkway is much worse off without that vital link. After that, northwest Fresno deserves attention. Find a way to build the Lewis S. Eaton Trail from Milburn Pond (sadly under threat) to Camp Pashayan.
At the same time, none of us who value the river should lose sight of CEMEX’s preposterous blast mine proposal a few miles outside the Fresno city limits. Next time that process rears its ugly head, the public rebuke must be loud enough for any environmentally deaf members of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors to hear the message.
Fresno’s river parkway effort officially kicked off more than 30 years ago with the establishment of the San Joaquin River Conservancy. But in some ways it is only just getting up to speed.
