Dos Rios Ranch riverside preserve, a gem hiding in plain sight near Modesto

Dos Rios Ranch is a 2,100-acre nature preserve 10 miles southeast of Modesto. It was originally farmland owned by the Lyons family, who generously gifted the property to the Tuolumne River Trust and later to River Partners. These eight miles of Tuolumne riverfront property are across from the San Joaquin National Wildlife Refuge and include land at the confluence of the San Joaquin and Tuolumne rivers.

River Partners has been hard at work transforming this former farm into a beautiful nature preserve, with the help of the Tuolumne River Trust and literally dozens of government and private sector partners. Dos Rios is home to many threatened and endangered species struggling to call Stanislaus County their home, including the Aleutian cackling goose, Swainson’s hawk, riparian brush rabbit, steelhead trout, Central Valley Chinook salmon, western monarch butterfly and more migrating birds than most people can count.

As part of this transformation process, they have planted over 350,000 native trees and shrubs, 4,000 pounds of grass and flower seeds, and notched or removed berms that block floodwaters from this historical floodplain.

Recently, Dos Rios celebrated the 10-year anniversary of transforming and revitalizing this unique property, which is well on its way to becoming California’s newest state park. Armando Quintero, director of the California State Park Department, was present at this celebration, along with longtime supporter Assemblyman Adam Gray and Wade Crowfoot, California Natural Resources Agency secretary. Quintero envisions Dos Rios as climate change refuge for Modestans, a place where Native Americans have unfettered access to their ancestral lands, and all of us can enjoy the natural beauty of this soon-to-be-restored riparian habitat.

Not only will Dos Rios be a wonderful place for all of us to relax and enjoy nature, but it will serve a very important role in preserving thousands of acres downstream, as far away as Stockton, from catastrophic flood damage. When the next mega-flood hits (remember the 1997 and 2017 floods?) instead of charging down the Tuolumne into the San Joaquin river, these floodwaters will be diverted from the river channel onto the Dos Rios floodplain, where they will naturally percolate into our aquifer. This water can be stored until we need it during low-water years and doesn’t cost millions of dollars or damage the environment like many of our current and proposed dams and reservoirs.

There is no public access to Dos Rios currently, though you can float past it on a canoe or kayak. The timeline for the transfer from private to public land may be five to seven years, but limited public access should open up in 18 months or so. The public is encouraged to participate in the planning process in coming months, so stay tuned for opportunities to contribute.

Right now, we can watch Dos Rios’s transformation only from a distance. Hopefully, we can get our boots muddy sometime in 2023 .