Friday June 14, 2024
The Valley Citizen —
Julie Rentner and Patrick Koepele have spent decades of their lives dedicated to healing nature through the restoration of rivers, Rentner with River Partners and Koepele with the Tuolmne River Trust. Wednesday, June 12, the entire state of California celebrated one of the greatest outcomes of their labors with the opening of Dos Rios State Park, at the confluence of the San Joaquin and Tuolumne Rivers, just west of Modesto.
Rentner and Koepele weren’t the only people responsible for Dos Rios, of course. Opening a state park, especially in difficult times like these, requires a host of willing participants and the labors of Hercules. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, the Lyons family of Mapes Ranch, former Assemblyman Adam Gray, native American coalitions, and a host of other entities were involved in bringing Dos Rios State Park to reality.
Nonetheless, Rentner and Koepele are the people who’ve stuck with river restoration and recovery for literally decades. They’ve stayed on task through seasons of drought, seasons of flood, and tumultuous eras of political change. They’ve endured.