This week is the five year anniversary of our nonprofit corporate formation in the State of California as ARPPS was officially certified by the Secretary of State on September 4, 2003; a fitting time to reflect a moment on our roots.
During the founding period of the Parkway, the County established three nonprofit organizations to help with the fulfilling of their long-range vision.
However, what later became evident was also needed (due to funding shrinkage and mangement ineffectiveness) was an independent and organized focus on developing alternative strategies to fund development and management, which led to the founding of our organization.
As we noted in our initial strategy (also posted on our website) there are five strategic issues of primary concern:
“The American River Parkway is the most valuable natural resource in our community and one of the most valuable in the nation. To preserve it, building on the foundation of our five guiding principles, we propose the following:
“(1) Preserving the Parkway is not an option, it’s a necessity.
1. Work to ensure a long-term funding goal of building a permanent financial endowment for perpetual Parkway funding support.
2. Work to ensure the creation of the American River Parkway as the Rivers of Red Gold National Heritage Area, a program of the National Parks Service, but locally managed by a nonprofit conservancy.
“National Heritage status, while allowing Parkway land ownership to remain as is, and allowing for a local conservancy to manage the Parkway, would ensure a federal funding stream long enough to develop endowment funding, and provide additional benefits that national stature endows upon a natural resource.
1. Work to ensure an existing nonprofit conservancy assumes management of the Parkway, recruiting executive leadership with academic and experiential credentials in nonprofit administration and fund development, and embrace social enterprise fund raising strategies proven successful in other parks.
“A local management conservancy can build a fund development strategy of committed local leadership and social entrepreneurship, through targeted capacity building of Parkway organizations and related social enterprise ventures compatible with the conservancy mission.
“(2) What’s good for the salmon is good for the river.
1. Work to ensure the availability of whatever amount of water is needed to ensure optimal flow and temperature for the salmon.
“To provide optimal water temperature and water flow for the salmon, it is necessary to increase the water storage capacity of the American River Watershed, providing cooling waters and increasing or decreasing flow when needed. While the suggested increase of the water storage capacity of Folsom Dam will benefit the salmon, the community should be prepared to further increase water storage capacity, if needed. The increased pressure on the river, (primarily population-driven), will eventually destroy the river’s capacity to provide the salmon the optimal conditions they need.
“(3) Regarding illegal camping by the homeless in the North Sacramento area of the Parkway, social and environmental justice call upon us to help the poor and distressed person, and the poor and distressed community.
1. Work to ensure all stakeholders realize public safety and compassion for the homeless, illegally camping in the Parkway in North Sacramento, should be equal responsibilities addressed by Parkway management, homeless advocacy organizations, and local government.
“The public safety issue must be of equal concern to helping the homeless. Rapes, murders, beatings, assaults, and robberies occur regularly in the North Sacramento area of the Parkway, and many in the North Sacramento community are justifiably fearful about venturing into it. As a community, we can never give up on the vision that public compassion and public safety are compatible concepts.
“(4) If it can be seen from the Parkway, it shouldn’t be built along the Parkway.
1. Work to ensure visual intrusion by new development is absolutely prohibited forever, with no mitigation.
“Private property owners are not to be faulted for wanting to build large homes or commercial buildings along the Parkway, as it offers some of the most beautiful development sites in our area. However, none of us wants to see the Parkway become Malibuized. Confusion about the building regulations, as now exists, encourages that type of development. National Heritage Area status and the accompanying elevation in oversight will begin to offer the type of protection from visual intrusion caused by new development that current, virtually unregulated, Parkway development is now threatening.
“(5) Regarding new Parkway usages, inclusion should be the operating principle rather than exclusion.
1. Work to ensure local public ownership and local conservancy management operate under the guiding principle that the Parkway belongs to all of the people, who have an inalienable right to recreate within the commons.
2. Work to ensure there are designated seats on the Parkway conservancy management board of directors for organized recreational and sports users, as well as other organized stakeholders.
“As a locally managed National Heritage Area, the management position regarding use of the Parkway will become more inclusive. We will encourage a local conservancy management structure that incorporates all stakeholders and brings organized, responsible users to the decision making process by creating designated seats on the conservancy board of directors. We all want to encourage responsible usage of the Parkway, as legitimate usage is the best antidote to illegitimate usage.”
