Yolo County Parks & Recreation Digest

State and local leaders gathered in Los Angeles to celebrate a new plan that will increase access to the outdoors for all Californians, regardless of who they are or where they live.

The Woodland City Council adopted a resolution approving revisions to the policy for naming parks and recreation facilities after a staff report noted that recent projects have made it clear that the policy needs to include the naming of other facilities.

A pilot program that allows Californians to visit many state parks for free—after checking out a pass from their local library—is helping increase access for more people of color and lower-income residents, according to research from the California State Parks Foundation.

A beachside trail connecting the communities of Morro Bay and Cayucos could finally be built after 20 years. This happened after Chevron decided to sell land needed for the trail to be built.

Two theme park giants, Six Flags and Cedar Fair, announced they are merging. It could have potential impacts on California theme parks like Six Flags Magic Mountain, Knott’s Berry Farm and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.

Camille Dixon, the announcer for Disney California Adventure, and her husband, Bill Rogers, the voice of Disneyland, are moving on from this work. They have been at the parks for more than 40 years combined.

Through this new program, artists, culture bearers, and California Native American tribes will be eligible to receive funding to create artwork throughout state and local parks.

Harvesting your own Christmas tree is a holiday tradition—and in the next couple weeks, permits to do so are opening up in forests throughout the state. Among them is the El Dorado National Forest.

As part of the city’s effort to enhance infrastructure in underserved areas, Sacramento announced the completion of the South Sacramento River Parkway Trail West, which connects Meadowview to the soon-to-be-finished Del Rio Trail.

Multiple plans for Paseo Park have been left abandoned, with the city council and Winters residents wanting it to be much more than what it currently is.

The Davis Parks and Community Services Department introduced a new series intended to increase resiliency in youth through multiple recreational activities.

The Parks and Community Services Department presented its new “Inclusive Parks, Inclusive Hearts: United Communities Through Recreation!” series, which provides free recreation to under-resourced youth and their families.

The Biden administration is one step away from designating the first national marine sanctuary nominated by a tribe. Tribal members of the Chumash, who have lobbied for the creation of this Central Coast preserve for more than a decade, would be involved in managing it.

Some 7,000 square miles of ocean on California’s Central Coast could soon become the largest national marine sanctuary in the continental U.S. It could also make history as one of the first federal sanctuaries to be spearheaded by a Native American tribe.

Morning dawns on a field bordered by residential homes a little over a mile north of Winters. Eight passengers approach the launch site where a hot air balloon will take them high above Capay Valley farmlands on one of the first perfect flying days of the year.

Next year, pink cherry blossom petals in Robert T. Matsui Park—a grove called the Hanami Line—will blanket the Sacramento waterfront. They’ll fulfill the promise of Japanese Sacramentans’ nickname for the city: Sakuramento, after the cherry blossom.

California lawmakers passed the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act, permanently protecting the iconic and imperiled species.

Avi Kwa Ame National Monument will protect sacred Native American sites, wildlife.

All over California, wildfires have ravaged iconic landscapes. Places that once seemed permanent are disappearing—and researchers are having to rethink how best to protect them.

Senate Bill 1012, a law that will require California State Parks to restrict open fires, has been unanimously passed through the Committee of Water, Parks, and Wildlife. The bill instructs parks to work with the guidelines of local fire departments. The bill could appear before the full assembly in August.

The Bureau of Land Management is seeking nominations for positions on its California Desert District Advisory Council, Central California Resource Advisory Council, and Northern California District RAC.

As part of its Reexamining Our Past Initiative, California State Parks is seeking input on a proposal to change the way history is interpreted at Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park. The effort will provide visitors with more inclusive and historically accurate information.