Friday November 4, 2022
Merced County Times —
At a gathering on the banks of the Tuolumne River in what is projected to become California’s newest state park, Assemblymember Adam Gray was honored by the organization that made the park’s creation possible.
“When Adam learned about this project, he called me up one day and said, ‘We need to do more; how much do you need?’” said Julie Rentner, President of River Partners, which hosted a luncheon for 300 state, regional and local dignitaries on Friday, Oct. 14.
While funding for the park will come from other parts of the budget, Gray secured $40 million to help fund River Partners’ programs to restore floodplains across the entire San Joaquin Valley.
Recognizing floodplains as the most important element for restoring salmon and steelhead trout populations in Valley rivers, Dos Rios Preserve was created from two adjacent farms that had frequently flooded. River Partners invested millions in planting native trees, bushes and grasses while modifying berms to allow floodwater to flow freely across the area. Benefits are enormous, including for wildlife but also for diminishing flood flows across the region while refilling underground aquifers shared by communities and farms.