Sonoma County parks system celebrates 50 years

Hikes, special events and free passes for fourth-graders are part of the celebration plans.|

The supervisors who voted to create Sonoma County’s park system on this day 50 years ago could not have predicted the legacy of their actions.

The “Sonoma County Department of Parks and Recreation” included a single park: Doran Beach at Bodega Bay. Its sole employee, Director Joe Rodota, earned a salary of $1,000 per month.

Today, Sonoma County Regional Parks spans more than 11,000 acres and includes 56 parks, trails and beaches. The system has grown exponentially from modest beginnings on Jan. 30, 1967, along with concerns for its sustainability now and into the future.

“Whether you are standing on the banks of the Russian River, looking over the Santa Rosa Plain from North Sonoma Mountain or in the middle of the redwood grove at Riverfront, parks connect us to what is essential, what is real and what is timeless,” Caryl Hart, the county’s current parks director, said last week.

Regional Parks is celebrating its golden anniversary with a slew of new and expanded programs this spring and summer.

A hiking series includes events geared around treks with dogs, spotting raptors, and viewing sunrises and sunsets. There are a number of planned walks to check out wildflowers. The first is March 14 at Riverfront Regional Park.

Children will enjoy tracking wildlife May 7 at Doran, poking around for frogs and salamanders during the April 2 “Amphibian Amble” at Ragle Ranch or tide pooling April 30 in Gualala. The March 3 “Trails for Tots” at Cloverdale River Park includes storytelling, singalongs and craft making.

Fourth-graders and their families will have extra incentive to visit county parks in June, when their admission fee will be waived.

Special events include a Dia Del Nino (Day of the Child) celebration April 29 at Spring Lake, backpacking on Sonoma Mountain and a Mother’s Day “Invasive Bouquet Workshop” at Ragle Ranch.

For serious outdoor enthusiasts, Regional Parks has set a 50-mile goal for the summer Trails Challenge, an annual event that encourages people to explore county parks through hiking, running, biking or riding.

More information about all of the special anniversary events is available here.

Also planned this year is a series of community meetings to gather public feedback on the future of the parks system, as well as a possible tax measure in 2018 to raise revenue for parks.

In November, voters in unincorporated areas of the county turned down a tax measure to support park funding by just over 1,000 votes out of nearly 70,000 cast. The half-cent sales tax measure would have generated an estimated $95 million over a 10-year term and, according to supporters, and was needed to fund an overhaul of the parks system, including a vast expansion of public lands offering new recreational opportunities.

Hart contends that without a dedicated source of revenue for parks, the outdoor cathedrals will continue to deteriorate. As an example, she pointed to the need to replace railroad trestle bridges along the Rodota Trail - named after the parks department’s first director.

“If we had to close the bridges on the Rodota Trail, that would have a big impact on people’s mental and physical health, and on commuters. It’s a big deal,” Hart said.

Although she plans to help out with any future initiatives seeking funding for county parks, Hart announced a little more than a week ago her planned resignation in June to concentrate on tackling park and wildland challenges at the national level.

Hart is one of four directors to oversee the county parks system since its debut 50 years ago. In 1967, Sonoma County had just over 182,000 residents. Today, the population is triple that.

The early expansion of the county’s parks system was buoyed by the birth of the modern-day environmental movement and expansion of California’s state parks system. By the time Rodota retired in 1990, the parks system had grown from 400 acres to more than 6,000 acres and included 30 parks.

“I’ve been lucky to be able to work on things that will be there for a long time for people’s enjoyment,” Rodota said prior to stepping down. He died in a 1997 car crash.

The period of park expansion in Sonoma County continued under a 2000 parks bond approved by California voters that earmarked $845 million for local park grants.

In 2006, county voters renewed funding for the Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District with a provision that 10 percent of district revenues be used for “initial public access” on lands transferred to park agencies.

But nearly 4,000 acres owned by the district remain virtually off-limits to the public. Money challenges were exacerbated by a funding and management crisis within California’s parks system, placing more pressure on local park stewards to find new sources of revenue to maintain existing services and make plans for future growth.

“Regional Parks was the only game in town, and remains the only game in town,” said Hart, who was a well-connected parks advocate when she was hired in 2010 to lead the agency.

Today, Regional Parks has about 100 employees and an annual budget of about $24 million. More than 25,000 county residents hold annual park membership passes.

The parks system draws less than 1 percent of the county’s general fund for revenue, relying mostly on memberships, day-use and camping fees, programs, grants and donations.

Hart remains hopeful about the future of Sonoma County’s parks.

She pointed out that Regional Parks has opened four major parks and trails in the past several years, including Taylor Mountain, North Sonoma Mountain Laguna Trail and Coastal Prairie Trail, while adding to the size of existing parks such as Hood Mountain and Sonoma Valley.

The department is days away from accepting ownership of the 1,665-acre Tolay Creek Ranch addition to Tolay Creek in Petaluma. The addition will make Tolay Creek Regional Park the largest in the system at more than 3,300 acres. The expanded park is scheduled to open to the public by the end of the year.

“There is nothing like the feeling you get being in a wildland park, knowing that the place that you are standing will be preserved for generations to come,” Hart said.

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