California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 183

Introduced by Assembly Member Cooley

May 9, 2016

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 183—Relative to California State Parks Discovery Day.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACR 183, as introduced, Cooley. California State Parks Discovery Day.

This measure would recognize June 30, 2016, as California State Parks Discovery Day and urge all Californians to celebrate and visit state parks.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, California state parks maintain not only the natural
beauty of the state, but provide valuable spaces for recreation,
escape, and history and a special place for contemplation; and

WHEREAS, The first state park was conceived in California in
1862. Captain Israel Ward Raymond and California’s United States
Senator John Conness wanted to have natural land areas at
Yosemite set aside purely for the purpose of preservation and
public enjoyment. At Raymond’s request, Senator Conness
introduced a bill that quickly passed though both Congressional
houses. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant
Act on June 30, 1864, which granted the Yosemite Valley and the
Mariposa Big Tree Grove to the State of California. Governor
Frederick Low accepted the grant in September of that year; and

WHEREAS, California’s state parks contain the largest and
most diverse natural and cultural heritage holdings of any state
agency in the nation. State park units include underwater preserves,
reserves, and parks; redwood, rhododendron, and wildlife reserves;
state beaches, recreation areas, wilderness areas, and reservoirs;
state historic parks, homes, Spanish-era adobe buildings, including
museums, visitor centers, cultural reserves, and preserves; and
lighthouses, ghost towns, waterslides, conference centers, and
off-highway vehicle parks. These parks protect and preserve an
unparalleled collection of culturally and environmentally sensitive
structures and habitats, threatened plant and animal species, ancient
Native American sites, and historic structures and artifacts and
demonstrate the best of California’s natural and cultural history;
and

WHEREAS, Many California state parks provide venues for
resource-based recreational activities, including hiking, walking,
paddling, biking, camping, fishing, and other activities. Outdoor
recreation provides a range of well-documented benefits, including
mental well-being, an increase in self-esteem, an appreciation for
the natural environment, and health benefits derived from
involvement in physical activities; and

WHEREAS, Parks and protected public lands are proven to
improve water quality, protect groundwater, prevent flooding,
improve the quality of the air we breathe, provide vegetative buffers
to development, produce habitat for wildlife, and provide a place
for people to connect with nature and recreate outdoors together;
and

WHEREAS, Since 1864, grassroots activism and legislation
have made it possible for all Californians to take pride and
ownership of their unique and diverse landscapes; now, therefore,
be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature proclaims June 30, 2016,
as “California State Parks Discovery Day,” and urges all
Californians to celebrate and visit state parks; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.