In June of 2024, Dos Rios State Park became California’s newest state park to open in about 10 years, located west of Modesto at the confluence of the Tuolumne and San Joaquin rivers.
The park was developed with a $40 million project to restore the area’s floodplain, and is often described as “park of the future.”
How much do you know about this new state park less than 2 hours from San Francisco?
California’s largest floodplain restoration project
California nonprofit River Partners collaborated with the Tuolumne River Trust and more partners to restore the land at the confluence of the Tuolumne and San Joaquin Rivers west of Modesto.
The Dos Rios Ranch restoration was a ten-year project with $40 million from 11 public and private sources, designed to revive the native river habitat that had been turned into a cattle ranch. Teams converted about 1,600-2,100 acres back into riverside forests, wetlands, and seasonal floodplain, planting hundreds of thousands of native trees and shrubs.
By reconnecting rivers to the historic floodplain, the project can now absorb high water and mitigate future flood risk. It also protects endangered and threatened animal species, including the riparian rabbit, riparian woodrat, Swainson’s hawk, Chinook salmon, and steelhead trout.
Dos Rios has been described as a “park of the future” for its simultaneous purposes in providing recreation to the public, a wildlife habitat, climate resilience, and flood protection.
Visiting Dos Rios
While Dos Rios is still in development with a more long-term recreation plan still TBA, visitors can now enjoy several hiking trails, a temporary welcome center, grills and picnic areas, an ADA-accessible path, and an oxbow-pond viewing area. Future plans include the installation of a boat dock and pier, plus more formalized trails.
📍 Location: Dos Rios State Park, 3559 Shiloh Rd, Modesto, CA 95358
🗓️ Hours: Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, 7:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
🌐 Website: Dos Rios / California State Parks