Fresno hasn’t tapped San Joaquin River’s potential. Could it be city’s main draw?
To those who know about it, the San Joaquin River is Fresno’s greatest natural feature.
In the springtime, burrowing owls nestle into its bluffs, songbirds float around its floodplains, and hawks soar overhead.
East of Highway 41, hiking trails connect its lush sand bars to the 300-acre Woodward Park. West of the freeway, riverside ponds attract anglers searching for bass, catfish and trout.
The San Joaquin River did not always run full through Fresno after Friant Dam was completed in the 1940s and began diverting water for agriculture. But in the past 15 years, the regular release of water — an effort to restore the Chinook salmon population — changed everything. The river now has an ever-present flow and, one day, should again provide large salmon runs, a potential spectacle for visitors.
Barbara Foster, executive director of Fresno State’s Office of Community and Economic Development, said the river also could be the ideal recruitment tool for businesses considering a new location: “I can’t imagine how anyone would not see the connection to the economic possibilities there.”
She said the San Joaquin River offers the quality of life firms look for when they consider moving to a new city. It also could help the Fresno-Madera area become more than just the gateway to Yosemite National Park.
Yet, those passionate about the river told The Fresno Bee that too many people — even Fresnans — still don’t know about it. And they have different ideas about how to capture the possibilities.
Some want more entrepreneurial development at the water’s edge — like a new, commercialized river walk — though others vehemently oppose that kind of development, and it doesn’t square with long-term goals set out in a conservation-focused master plan.
Others argue it’s the city of Fresno that holds the keys to unlocking the river’s potential for economic development, and that leadership over the years has failed to advance innovative ideas.
They do agree, however, that the San Joaquin River has the potential to be leveraged as a major destination that is actually unique to Fresno.
A more urgent approach could lead the city to tie together different parts of town with walking and bicycle trails that improve local lifestyle and lead Fresnans to the water. And it could be a catalyst for innovative economic development as an attraction for people, businesses and events looking to come to Fresno.
The Fresno portion of the river runs along the northern border from Friant and then west towards Highway 99. Critics of the river’s management say that it has too few public access points and too few easy ways for the general public to use it for recreation. They say the natural resource is administered by a conservancy that has set out a long-term plan that does not emphasize economic development or tourism marketing.
“The river represents just an absolute jewel of environmental outdoor space,” John Shelton, an environmental scientist, told The Bee. “It’s our best river this far south in the San Joaquin Valley.”
Other city successes
Cities near and far have successfully leveraged the economic and recreational potential of their rivers and green spaces. In Bakersfield, the Kern River Parkway boasts the longest municipally-owned bicycle trail in the U.S. At its western edge, shopping options on the river’s bluffs also feature access to riverside parks.
In Sacramento, trails and parks wrap around the 32-mile American River Parkway, which is estimated to attract millions of visitors each year through various outdoor activities, including popular concerts at Discovery Park.
“All of that is (hotel-stay tax) dollars for your community,” said Dianna Poggetto, executive director of the American Parkway Foundation. “Those dollars can be used to support other operations in your city.”
And in Austin, Texas, where U.S. Census data has shown the population growth of more than 31,000 since 2020, access to water and green spaces has become a major selling point as the city attracts new residents.
“When people talk about what’s great about Austin, they’re talking about the hike-and-bike trail, they’re talking about Garden Springs and the Green Belt,” said Colin Wallis, CEO of the nonprofit Austin Parks Foundation, referring to popular outdoor amenities. “They’re a huge sales tool, and they’re working.”
Though Fresno has not chosen to capitalize on the San Joaquin River, in an innovative sense, there still is time to change course, says local urban designer Sheila Hakimipour.
“It can be a playground for our city, for our young people,” she said. “We could have a very unique natural amenity that draws people to our town, and then we build around it.”
Development by San Joaquin River?
Cliff Tutelian, a local developer who owns the Park Place shopping center on the bluffs at Palm and Nees avenues, thinks leveraging the San Joaquin River as a regional destination requires more development at the water’s edge. He points to the San Antonio River Walk in Texas as an example of a highly successful large-scale entrepreneurial use of a waterway.
“They made an enterprise out of it,” he said of San Antonio’s 15-mile river walkway lined with shops and apartments.
That’s not likely to happen in the San Joaquin River Parkway, which is dedicated to conservation of natural habitats.
But Tutelian said the parkway would benefit from more entrepreneurial activity — even if at a smaller scale than in San Antonio.
“They need to focus on the types of profit-making activities that will generate funds for maintenance, security and the things that a community of our quality expect to see that makes them feel safe and invited,” he said. “What do we need to do to this park to make people happy to pay $2, $3 or $5 to get in to have a picnic and other activities?”
He envisions horse riding activities, snack stands and a concrete walkway with small cafes along the water. Tutelian said this can be accomplished by making the parkway more similar to Woodward Park.
“You’re not going to destroy the environment,” he said. “The goal is to have a good environmental balance where they can coexist.”
River parkway plans, obstacles
An approved master plan for the San Joaquin River Parkway promises a future where a full trail system connects a collection of Fresno and Madera green spaces — 5,900 acres total — that straddle the water in the 22 miles from Friant Dam to Highway 99.
The project is governed by the San Joaquin River Conservancy, a state agency consisting of local representatives from Fresno and Madera counties created in 1991. The idea was born in the 1980s, when the founders of what today is the nonprofit San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust formed a community response to plans to build homes in the river’s floodplains.
Sharon Weaver, executive director of the Parkway Trust, said the vision is “for a vibrant river ecosystem that is accessible to people and is a real amenity to our community.”
Weaver said any buildings constructed right next to the water would come under threat of flooding.
“How about having a restaurant that’s overlooking the river, rather than a restaurant in the river bottom?” she said. “There are lots of places where you can have amenities that are facing the river, even if they’re not quite down in the river bottom.”
Weaver also said the parkway has yet to add many planned amenities that are consistent with its master plan, such as picnic and staging areas, and boat and fishing docks.
Shelton, the environmental scientist who also formerly served as the conservancy’s executive director, said any businesses constructed on the river bottom should be set for a river environment: “Maybe a kayak rental place or a small bait shop that sells refreshments.”
Today, the Parkway Trust operates multiple properties along the water — under a contract with the conservancy — and offers field trips for local school districts, regular nature walks and summer river kayak tours, among other activities.
“Part of the issue is that we need to have more properties that are open to the public and that are well-managed,” Weaver said about why many people still don’t know they can access and enjoy the river.
But to operate more properties, the parkway needs more money to pay for their maintenance, she said.
“We’ve been able to open up two properties, seven days a week,” Weaver said. “That’s exciting and wonderful, but we are going to have to figure out what is our funding source in the future.”
Each year, Fresno allocates to the parkway a portion of money generated from Measure P, a sales tax city voters approved in 2018 for Fresno’s parks. But Weaver said the city has not released the funding that the parkway needs to grow.
Measure P revenue for the parkway has been accumulating in a fund that now has $2.6 million, and could have $3.6 million next year, if the City Council approves Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer’s 2025-2026 budget proposal.
Councilmember Mike Karbassi, whose district is adjacent to the river and who also serves on the conservancy’s board, said that money will be spent on nothing but the parkway. But he said the city is waiting for the resolution of River West, a project that would enhance access to the water west of Highway 41 in Fresno.
The project, first made public in 2008, suffered years of delays caused by local political disagreements on the conservancy’s board. It’s now in the permitting and construction plan phase.
“We want to see it all,” he said of the parkway’s possibilities. “We just need the infrastructure.”
Fresno County economic development
Fresno County has a 5-year plan called the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, which is now open for public comment.
The plan, said Foster, of Fresno State’s economic development office, includes nurturing business growth and innovation, and improving the community’s sense of place.
Those two parts of the plan are “directly affected and enhanced by the parkway project,” Foster said. “There’s no ifs, ands, or maybes on that.”
She said businesses consider a complex interplay of factors when they’re thinking about relocating or adding a location to their enterprise. They assess how a place’s available recreational activities align with their target demographic, as well as their potential to retain employees in a location.
“Their employees, they’re looking at, ‘What’s my quality of life going to be,” Foster said. “The parkway project offers just an incredible array of activities, facilities, centers. Not only for them as adults, but also educational opportunities for their children.”
To her, the San Joaquin River offers the Fresno-Madera area the opportunity to move past being a “pass-through” for visitors traveling to Yosemite, Sequoia or Kings Canyon national parks.
“People, because of the parkway, I think will stay in Fresno,” Foster said. “You could go there multiple days and never do the same thing.”
Connecting parkway to other places
Hakimipour, the urban designer, said the parkway could connect to different parts of Fresno with walking and biking trails. One idea is to connect the river to the Midtown Trail, which is still under construction and is planned to stretch from Fresno International Airport to near Blackstone Avenue. Another idea is to connect Roeding Park to Woodward Park, which is already connected to the river.
“We can have a protected trail for biking or walking,” Hakimipour said, “It’s green, and you have trees connecting this regional park to downtown and other economic growth areas. It would be just a unique opportunity for everybody living or visiting Fresno.”
Hakimipour points to the American River Parkway in Sacramento as an example of what connector trails could do for Fresno.
That parkway has a couple of trails that extend into the city, where they connect to Sacramento transit stops and allow bicyclists a straight path to the water miles away.
“These public investments can make huge, huge impacts on everything from the economic health of a city, to keeping brains in the city,” Hakimipour said.
This story was originally published May 28, 2025 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Fresno hasn’t tapped San Joaquin River’s potential. Could it be city’s main draw?."
