Public-private partnership sustains park.

The Madera County Board of Supervisors voted in late May to accept a $417,600 grant through the State of California's Sierra Nevada Cascade Grant Program to transform a 241-acre site in the Sierra Nevada foothills into the county's first natural park. The southern gateway to Yosemite National Park, the Ahwahnee Hills Park will provide an attraction to the region's many visitors, while meeting the need for local open space and recreation resources for Madera County's residents. For the past six months, the National Park Service Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance (RTCA) program has been assisting the county and a citizen-based planning committee to articulate the community's vision for the park, develop a conceptual park plan and generate a cost estimate for on-going operations and maintenance. RTCA and the committee also developed a brochure to help expand the community-based partnership that will oversee operations and maintenance of the site in cooperation with the County.

For more information, please contact Anne Dove at [e-mail] or [phone].