Among the defining physical features of San Joaquin Valley cities are their irrigation canals. Some are just small ditches, while others are massive channels, but they all carry vital water to cities and farms throughout the region and have helped to make the valley bloom, and our modern economy possible.
Their banks are also un-official recreation spots for many, but a number of people want to change that, making their meandering paths part of a new network of community trails - linear urban parks for walking, running and cycling.
The vision is similar to the one that decades ago transformed abandoned rail lines in Fresno and Clovis into the Sugar Pine and Old Town Clovis trail network.
Last month, the effort to turn Fresno’s canal banks into trails got a boost when state officials cleared one major impediment that had stalled trail construction – the issue of liability.
The man many consider to be the father of the Fresno and Clovis trail system, Mark Keppler joined us on Valley Edition to talk about this new plan to bring trails to Fresno canal banks.
We talked about the latest developed that has helped resolve liability concerns and the on-going challenges of funding not just trail construction, but maintenance.
