California State Parks just launched an initial survey for public input on three planned state parks coming to the Central Valley: Dust Bowl Camp in Kern County, San Joaquin River Parkway in Fresno and Madera, and Feather River Park in Yuba County.
Two of the three sites are situated near or along the California High-Speed Rail corridor from San Francisco to Los Angeles, meaning we could be getting a glimpse at some of the recreational opportunities developing along the future route.
Here’s a closer look…
Three new state parks coming to the Central Valley
The three state parks in the works are part of State Parks Forward, a massive expansion of the California State Park System announced by Governor Newsom on Earth Day this year.
The state hasn’t explicitly linked these new parks to California High Speed Rail, but two of them are in counties along the Merced‑to‑Bakersfield Initial Operating Segment (IOS), which is targeting service around 2032. Together, the rail spine and the parks quietly lay the foundation for future access to rivers and open space, pending development of additional local transit and trail connections.
Dust Bowl Camp is the closest one to L.A. It’s a historic migrant camp that famously inspired The Grapes of Wrath, proposed as a state park delving into the Dust Bowl and farmworker history. The site is situated in Kern County north of the planned Bakersfield station.
Upriver from Fresno, the San Joaquin River Parkway project is consolidating riverfront sites into a state park, which would be about 15 miles away from the planned Fresno station.
Feather River Park would comprise nearly 2,000 acres along the Feather River in Yuba County. The area is about 40 miles north of Sacramento, which would be the nearest high-speed rail station.
Check out the State Parks Forward Survey to learn more and get involved.
More about California High-Speed Rail
California’s high‑speed rail era technically began in 2008, when voters approved Prop 1A, but actual construction on the Central Valley line didn’t kick off until a 2015 groundbreaking. Over the next decade, crews focused on heavy civil work across the Initial Operating Segment—raising viaducts, building bridges, carving embankments and separating dozens of road crossings along the 171‑mile Merced‑to‑Bakersfield corridor.
Today that IOS, designed to serve five stations in Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings/Tulare and Bakersfield, is aiming for passenger service sometime around 2030–2033, with the Authority now moving into its track‑and‑systems phase under a major new construction contract.
While nearly all of the 494‑mile Phase 1 route from San Francisco to Los Angeles/Anaheim has cleared environmental review, state officials still haven’t committed to a firm opening date for the full Bay‑to‑L.A. line.
