The San Joaquin River Conservancy was established in 1992 to develop, operate and maintain the San Joaquin River Parkway, which runs along either side of the river from Friant Dam to Highway 99 in Madera and Fresno Counties. In the process, it helps protect, enhance and restore the river’s habitat, acquiring and developing land while promoting public access, recreation, and environmental and ecological protection through balanced restoration efforts.

The San Joaquin River Parkway—an Ongoing Success Story (Linkages—Newsletter for the Institute for Ecological Health) (pdf)

San Joaquin River Conservancy Enabling Legislation (California Legislative Information)

The San Joaquin River is a primary source of water in the state and its second longest. It was once the backbone of arguable the state’s richest ecosystem. More than 350 miles of navigable river cut through wetlands and forests teeming with wildlife. Steamboats navigated its waters. Chinook salmon runs were among the largest on the coast and supported both commercial and recreational pursuits.

But the Central Valley Project of the 1930s—with its dozens of dams and hydroelectric facilities, and a spider web of aqueducts and canals—tamed a river that had periodically grown unruly and started it on a long decline. The Friant Dam, completed in 1942 by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation 15 miles north of Fresno, was a key to creating the nation’s richest agricultural region.

Consequently, 95% of the river has been diverted for irrigation. More than 60 miles of the river became dry in most years. Its fisheries disappeared. Urban and industrial development spread out from its banks. Chemical runoffs of pesticides and other toxins from agriculture became even more concentrated in the reduced river flow.   

The San Joaquin River, along with the Sacramento River, provides most of the water to the Bay Delta that bears their name, near San Francisco. More than 22 million Californians drink that water. 

In the mid-80s, residents in the Fresno-Madera region began planning for a green parkway to protect the river’s resources along a 33-mile stretch of river from the Friant Dam south. They formed the non-profit San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservancy Trust in 1988. The trust facilitated the writing of a formal plan that focused on the parkway and was later used by Assemblyman Jim Costa as a basis for the San Joaquin River Conservancy’s master plan.

That year, the Natural Resources Defense Council, a group of conservation groups and   fishermen, filed a lawsuit that would take 18 years to settle whether operation of the Friant Dam was in violation of a statute that required water from the river to pass through the dam, thereby, protecting fish that dwelled in the area.

Meanwhile, the state Legislature created the San Joaquin River Ecological Reserve in 1989 and the California Wildlife Conservation Board immediately acquired the first 286 acres of donated property to get the ball rolling. The board purchased a second piece of property in 1990 and the next year Assemblyman Costa introduced his bill to create the conservancy.

The Legislature approved the conservancy—with a charge to establish a 22-mile parkway between Millerton State Park (south of Friant Dam) and Highway 99—and Republican Governor Pete Wilson signed it into law in 1992.  

The conservancy held its first meeting in 1994 and by 1995 public lands along the river had increased 45% to 1,606 acres in seven years. By 2000, parkway land totaled 2,800 acres. The conservancy added 930 acres through a series of acquisitions in 2001 and continued making acquisitions throughout the decade, while facilitating recreational and restoration projects.   

In 2006, after 18 years of talks and river studies—and a few years after U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled that the state had illegally dried up the river—the lawsuit against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was settled. Environmentalists and farmers, represented by the Friant Water Users Authority, reached an agreement to increase river water flow sufficient to sustain the Chinook salmon and other fish populations along the 153-mile stretch between the dam and the Merced River.

The joint federal and state San Joaquin River Restoration Project was established to implement the settlement. Tina Swanson, executive director of the Bay Institute, said, “The project is unprecedented. In essence we are bringing a dead river back to life.”

Water began flowing in 2009 and Chinook Salmon are expected to be reintroduced by 2013.

Restoring the San Joaquin River  (Natural Resources Defense Council) 

Restoring an Ailing River in California (by Jeremy Miller, New York Times)

San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement  (San Joaquin River Restoration Program)

The San Joaquin River Restoration Program (pdf)

Mission and History  (San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust)

Clean Water Program Reports  (Environment California)

San Joaquin River Parkway Master Plan (Conservancy website) (pdf)

Tesoro Viejo Development (Letter from Conservancy Executive Officer Melinda Marks) (pdf)

Chronological Highlights of the Emerging San Joaquin River Parkway 1985-2000 (San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust)

Sick San Joaquin River on Brink of a New Life (by Glen Martin, San Francisco Chronicle)

Agreement Signals Start to Historic San Joaquin River Restoration (Friant Water Users Authority) (pdf)

The San Joaquin River Conservancy contributes to the restoration and enhancement of the river by overseeing development of a 22-mile green parkway starting just below the Friant Dam south past Fresno to Highway 99. It does this by overseeing development and implementation of the San Joaquin River Parkway Master Plan.

The conservancy utilizes millions of dollars from voter-approved bond initiatives to acquire and manage public lands along the river, with a goal of eventually amassing 5,900 acres. It also allocates funds to other agencies and non-profit partners for land acquisition on behalf of the parkway program, with stipulations that the land be purchased from willing sellers at fair market value. 

The conservancy aims to provide low-impact recreational and educational uses of the parkway, while protecting wildlife and nature preserves. It coordinates its activities with state and local agencies, which may retain ownership of property within the parkway, and assumes the role of mediator when necessary. It also promotes restoration activities and garners public support for them.

The master plan lays out detailed instructions for establishing wildlife corridors and natural reserves, incorporating existing publicly owned lands, utilizing ponds for development of fisheries and monitoring progress of the parkway. 

The conservancy has authorization to utilize bond funds for habitat enhancement, public access and recreation projects. Some of the criteria used to determine whether projects are given priority are: consistency with the parkway master plan; service to the under-served population; ability to achieve long-term goals and project readiness. Several public access and recreation projects the conservancy has taken on are: infrastructure betterments to Lost Lake Park; habitat restoration in Wildwood Native Park; a boat launch at Friant Cove and the Eaton Trail Extension.  It also has the authority to hire volunteers or experts to put on programs or assist with construction projects. 

Another goal of the agency is that of educational and recreational use of the parkway and its amenities, while protecting the wildlife corridor, San Joaquin River, and its natural reserves. The conservancy allows schools the opportunity for field trips and field studies within the conservancy lands and sponsors on-going partnerships with organizations such as RiverTree Volunteers, Sea Cadets and the Fresno County Office of Education.

The conservancy is governed by a 15-member board, a mix of local and state officials along with three citizen representatives. It is chaired in a two-year rotation by a representative of the city of Fresno, the county of Fresno and the city of Madera.

Voter-approved bond initiatives have funded parkway land purchases, habitat enhancement and public recreation projects since the conservancy’s founding in 1992. As of May 2008, when the global economic downturn froze bond markets and inhibited conservancy funding for a couple years, the conservancy and its partners had invested approximately $96.8 million in land conservation and recreation projects. More than $38 million of that money had been funded by bonds. 

The conservancy netted $36 million in bond money from Proposition 84 in 2006, $25 million from Proposition 40 in 2002, $15 million from Proposition 12 in 2000 and  $10 million from Proposition 13 the same year. The money has financed dozens of projects including: $6.6 million to purchase Sycamore Island,; $3.8 million for Phase I of the Jensen River Ranch Habitat Enhancement; $3.6 million to buy 161 acres at Ledger Island; $3.2 million for River Vista; $2.7 million for Proctor-Broadwell-Cobb Preserve; and $1.7 million for the Friant Cove Park and Ride, Fishing Access, and Boat Launch.

San Joaquin River Conservancy Projects and Bond Fund Allocations (Conservancy website)

San Joaquin River Parkway Program (Bond Accountability)

3-Year Budget (pdf)

San Joaquin Restoration Settlement

In the mid-1980s, about the time that serious discussions began about establishing the San Joaquin River Conservancy, environmental groups and fishermen filed suit against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to force resurrection of the river by increasing water flow out of Millerton Lake through Friant Dam, 15 miles north of Fresno.

The second longest river in California, once a force of nature streaming out of the Sierra Nevada Mountains through the state’s central valley on its way to the ocean via the Bay Delta, was dammed up in the 1940s and 95% of its water was diverted for irrigation and other purposes. Woods, wetlands, wildlife and fisheries along the river corridor quickly disappeared. A stretch of 63 miles was dry most of the time. Urban and commercial development dumped their waste into the river, while pesticides and other toxins from agricultural interests helped poison its remaining water.  

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court claimed the government illegally destroyed the habitats of fish downstream from the dam and wanted water flows increased. Farmers, represented by the Friant Water Users Authority, said releasing the water (thereby reducing their share of it) would cause devastating harm to the most productive agricultural region in the country and hurt developed areas.

In 2004, U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton agreed with the environmental groups. “There can be no genuine dispute that many miles of the San Joaquin River are now entirely dry, except during extremely wet periods, and that the historic fish populations have been destroyed,” the judge wrote in his decision.

Two years later, both sides announced a historic settlement whose provisions would be translated into a blueprint for revival of the river while giving farmers a measure of protection. The settlement was approved by Congress and a joint federal and state San Joaquin River Restoration Project was established to implement it.

In 2009, they eased open the dam spigots and once again the San Joaquin River flowed to the ocean. Chinook salmon, once famous for their river runs, are expected to be reintroduced with other fish in 2012. Tina Swanson, executive director of the Bay Institute, said, “The project is unprecedented. In essence we are bringing a dead river back to life.”

Dam Violates California Law, Federal Judge Rules (by Terence Chea, Associated Press)

Plan to Restore San Joaquin River Approved (by Kelly Zito, San Francisco Chronicle)

San Joaquin River Restoration Program—Implementing the Stipulation of Settlement (U.S. District Court) (pdf)

Sick San Joaquin River on Brink of a New Life (by Glen Martin, San Francisco Chronicle)

Agreement Signals Start to Historic San Joaquin River Restoration (Friant Water Users Authority) (pdf)

Eaton Trail Extension

The Lewis S. Eaton Trail is the backbone of the trail network in the San Joaquin River Parkway. It’s a popular hiking trail that follows the San Joaquin River from Woodward Park to Spano Park and there has been informal talk of expanding it for more than a decade.

A plan to extend the trail two miles was revived in March 2011. The conservancy is funding the project, but the city of Fresno is the lead agency for planning, design and review. The plan sat on the shelf for two years after the economic downturn in 2008 froze bond markets, cutting the conservancy off from its primary source of funding.

The extension would provide the best access to the river for Fresno residents and be the largest addition to the trail since 1998. Its projected cost was $2.5 million. 

A number of local residents opposed the extension when it was first proposed in 2008. A community group fought to have a 60-car parking lot eliminated from the city’s initial plans.  The same group opposed construction of a neighborhood connector trail, which it feared would bring an increase in street parking. 

Detractors say the extension comes too close to homes and not close enough to the river. “In the middle of summer, the coolest place to be in Fresno is next to the river,” one resident, Barry Bauer, complained. “I don't want to be walking around an old gravel pit when it's 110 degrees out.”

But Dave Koehler, executive director of the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust, said moving the trail closer to the river would “threaten sensitive riparian habitat” and add to maintenance costs. “Putting the trail of the river's edge where it floods every year and does environmental damage doesn't make any sense,” Koehler said. 

The newly proposed trail would follow along a flat surface and be wheelchair accessible. Before construction on the trail can even begin, the plan has to pass an environmental impact analysis and comply with the California Environmental Quality Act.  It wouldn’t go before the Fresno City Council until late spring or summer of 2012.  

Former Fresno County Schools Superintendent Pete Mehas supports building the trail but also wants it farther away from homes. “This is not the NIMBY mentality—we support the Parkway and are glad the trail is in our backyards,” Mehas said.

Eaton Trail Extension Reignites Debate  (by Marek Warszawski, Fresno Bee)

In the News—Eaton Trail Extension (Stop and Move)

Fresno River West (pdf)

Robert H. Kelley, 1995-1998. First executive officer.