The year was 1987 and a proposed development along the San Joaquin River had Fresno area residents alarmed. The historic Ball Ranch was slated to become the site of 721 homes and an 18-hole golf course. It would have forever changed the region. Of course, it didn’t happen, but we explore why on today’s edition of KVPR’s Central Valley Roots.
The planned mega development on the river bottom near Friant caught the attention of three local women. Mary Savala, Clary Creager, and Peg Smith had recently attended a conference about community land trusts and they began to organize. The following year, they helped start the non-profit San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust. They helped kick off a planning process to envision a way to preserve the river, and the habitat around it, as a place for conservation recreation, education. They envisioned a 30-mile-long greenway between Friant Dam and Highway 145.
Soon community leaders, including the Chamber of Commerce, got behind the idea. In 1989, the state’s Wildlife Conservation Board acquired the first property for the parkway as part of the new San Joaquin River Ecological Reserve. Then in 1992, the state created a new public agency, the San Joaquin River Conservancy to manage the parkway’s publicly owned lands. The same year, the first mile of the Lewis S Eaton Trail opened, paving the way for the system that thousands of Fresnans enjoy today.
As for the Ball Ranch, the state wound up acquiring the property, preserving over a half mile of river frontage and 358 acres of habitat. It opened to the public in 2024.
