California’s State Park System is a world-class network of unparalleled natural beauty and historic value that are vitally important to the well-being of our state’s environment, economy, and people.

California’s state parks comprise the largest and most diverse natural and cultural heritage holdings of any state in the nation. They include beaches, underwater preserves, historic homes, museums, lighthouses, ghost towns, wilderness, mountain tops, recreation areas, cultural preserves, and off-highway vehicle parks. California’s state parks’ peaks, deserts, redwoods, and coastlines are some of the most immediately recognizable natural features in the world.

However, COVID-19 has intensified challenges facing our parks, putting their future in jeopardy. 

With nearly 40 million residents, California’s state parks provide critical natural and recreational spaces for the state’s vast population. Californians are fortunate to have these places set aside with unique physical or historical assets.

Our state parks have proven time and again that they are a necessary part of Californians lives.

As we look to the future, we continue our work to protect and preserve the California state parks system, for the benefit of all.

“Tens of millions of us visit and appreciate our parks every year, but only a handful of us advocate for them in the areas of politics and public opinion. We take parks for granted, rarely recognizing what it costs to create and maintain them. Parks need a strong constituency to flourish, one that mirrors the true size and diversity of the population that uses them. As the world becomes more crowded, that constituency will become more important.”

William Penn Mott, Jr., Founder of California State Parks Foundation