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River of Hope, River of Pride: The San Joaquin

(From Winter/Spring 1996 newsletter)

Photo by: Phil Schermeister

By Nelson Matthews

Fresno and Madera, two of Central California's most prominent cities, share the kind of small-town pride that is deeply rooted in a sense of place. This pride springs from transforming hardship into hope, and an appreciation for the land that nurtured this transformation---the fertile valley of the San Joaquin River.

From the Armenians and the Cambodians who came here, decades apart, to escape persecution and genocide, to the Dustbowl farmers and Latinos who came to escape poverty, people are drawn to the San Joaquin Valley to build a common future based on place-centered pride and a strong connection to the land.

Photo by: Rob Badger

The valley's one-time farm towns are struggling to retain their sense of place in the face of an economic and population juggernaut that is turning them into big cities, and to save a shared past and present for their children. Fresno, one of California's fastest-growing communities, has the lowest ratio of parkland per person in the Central Valley (of which the San Joaquin Valley is a part)---only 20 percent of Sacramento's ratio. Farmland, once treasured in the region, has been inundated by a sea of homes, shopping centers, and offices breaking in waves for the north and south toward the San Joaquin River. Madera and Fresno counties are expected to lose more than 277,000 acres of agricultural land to development by the year 2040.

Photo by: Phil Schermeister

The San Joaquin River, springing forth in the Sierra Nevada and winding its way to the San Francisco Bay Delta, is the heart and soul of the region, the primary resource that makes the San Joaquin Valley what it is. Only a stone's throw from houses and highrises, the river provides a cool sanctuary for remnant populations of the valley's wildlife, and a respite for humans from ever-encroaching urbanization.

However, the San Joaquin Valley's wetlands have suffered a 94 percent reduction in their historical acreage. Each year development chews up wildlife habitat along with farmland. Fortunately, the people of the valley realized what they were losing before these resources were irretrievably destroyed, and are acting to save and restore the remaining native wetlands along the San Joaquin River.

Photo by: Phil Schermeister

Begun in 1988, the San Joaquin River Parkway is envisioned as a 22-mile-long greenbelt running along the river, where the river and its surrounding habitat still exist in a natural state. Its creation is a community effort. In 1998, people concerned with the fate of the river formed the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust (the "River Trust"), a private nonprofit organization. Thanks to a lot of hard work from local folks, and the leadership of state Senator Jim Costa and Governor Pete Wilson, the parkway has grown from a dream to a detailed plan. That plan is being implemented by the San Joaquin River Conservancy (the fifth such conservancy in the state and the first in the Central Valley), the Wildlife Conservation Board, the Department of Fish and Game, the River Trust, and TPL.

The parkway today is home to critters ranging from bald eagles to bobcats, including many threatened and endangered species. This verdant resource provides a spectacular classroom for thousands of students and their teachers through the River Trust's outdoor education program. Students take field trips to view herons, egrets, and migratory ducks splashing about the river.

In 1991, TPL formed a joint venture with the River Trust in an effort to acquire key properties for the creation of a parkway. In 1992 the River Trust and TPL acquired and conveyed the 271-acre Rank Island to the Wildlife Conservation Board and the Department of Fish and Game with funding from Caltrans. TPL and the River Trust are currently working to acquire a 169-acre property that connects Fresno's most popular park to the river. TPL is about to acquire and convey to WCB, DFG, and the River Trust a 20-acre property that will provide river access and an on-site office for the River Trust.

At the Rank Island dedication ceremony last spring, Bud Rank spoke to an audience that included four generations of the Rank family, describing his family's tie to the island and the river that surrounds it. Bud talked of how his father fought successfully for more than 14 frustrating years to keep water in the river when the U.S. government tired to dry it up, and said he had named a sturdy oak on the property after his father and a pond for his mother because it was her favorite spot. He spoke of the hundreds of egrets and herons that nest on the island each year, of the deer that still graze in its meadows, and explained that the oasis is "their home, just like we have our homes"---and we had better respect that fact. To Bud, the Rank family, and the people of the San Joaquin Valley, the island represents a remnant of the San Joaquin River they remember from their youth. It symbolizes their collective experience and their sense of place.

The San Joaquin River Parkway is an effort to preserve this collective experience and identity. Knowing that their children can still have the same summer adventures they themselves had, splashing and sliding around the banks of the San Joaquin, is reason enough for the people of the valley to work hard to protect the river forever. The parkway keeps alive the opportunity for future generations to discover the heart and soul of the San Joaquin Valley and why so many people choose to call it home.

Posted 6/2004