Rooted in Equity & Access

Physical, mental & emotional health as well as the health of our communities all improve drastically when we can access and interact with natural ecosystems and can feel a sense of belonging within our environment.

Everyone deserves to experience nature and to feel a connection to place. In 2022, Parks California deepened our roots by strengthening our commitment to ensuring access to parks, expanding opportunities in rural and urban parks, and working to facilitate people-to-park connections that wouldn’t have otherwise been possible.

In 2022 we focused our equity & access efforts on:

Connecting People to Parks

To help close nature-equity gaps, we’re working to connect people to nature and connect communities to parks by identifying and addressing barriers that have kept many from experiencing firsthand our treasured natural and cultural resources.

In addition to supporting the launch of the much-anticipated LA River Farmers Market at Los Angeles State Historic Park, we supported the park in working with community organizations to expand education and activation on Procession: a civic activation tracing the geographic and cultural memory of Los Angeles through the legacy of the Los Angeles River (Paayme Paxaayt).

Building Community Through Nature

In many different ways we’re working to position 'parks as community hubs'. In Candlestick Point State Recreation Area, for instance, we supported the co-creation of multiple engaging community-driven events like Growing Together, and the Where’s Rodney StoryWalk. These events are helping to reestablish relationships between the park and its neighboring community members. At Candlestick, we also helped to establish a local Park Advisory Committee – a body that will inform and guide the programming offered in the park – and provided critical staffing support to steward a community co-created park sustainability model.

Honoring Vital Voices & Celebrating Stories

California encompasses an array of natural, historical, and culturally significant places, histories of which have largely been told through the European-settler perspective, leaving behind narratives of people who lived in and stewarded these places long before park boundaries were drawn.

Untold Stories

In 2022, we hosted a virtual “ParkSpeak” session celebrating the first tribally operated Visitor Center within the state park system. During ParkSpeak, Chairman Joseph L. James of the Yurok Tribe shared the significance of indigenous stories in collaboration with California State Parks. This important effort was amplified through an NBC Open Road story.

“In a short time, Parks California has become a valued and trusted partner in our work because they recognize the importance of ensuring Native perspectives and voices are represented in shaping the future of outdoor spaces statewide. Parks California understands that tribal communities, as original stewards of the land, must have decision making abilities related to public lands."

To help integrate this ethos into practice at state parks, we supported Untold Stories Interpreter Trainings in conjunction with International Sites of Conscience at

four park sites.

Rosie Clayburn

Yurok Cultural Resources Dept. Director, Tribal Heritage Preservation Officer & Parks California Board of Directors