Marin County Parks

EXPLORE YOUR PARKS Your Guide to Marin County Parks & Programs SUMMER 2016 T his summer, we're making it easy to get to know your county parks and preserves. Stop by our booth under the garden tent at the 75th Marin County Fair in San Rafael from June 30-July 4 to fi nd out more about all of the outstanding amenities available to you, or take in the fi reworks from nearby McInnis Park and Sun Valley at our ranger-led events. Besides fi nding new ways for visitors to get to know Marin County Parks, we're also getting to know our visitors better. We completed the fi rst phase of a Visitor Use Study in the fall of 2015 and the results are in! We're happy to report that 97% of visitors reported having good or very good experiences in our parks and preserves, but there's still work to do. We're working to understand barriers to visitation for some underrepresented groups and we're looking at the visitor feedback to envision new improvements. Thanks to Measure A, new signs are planned for our parks, preserves, and path- ways to help visitors have a safe and positive experience. Look for new sign prototypes at Baltimore Canyon (Crown Road entrance) and Camino Alto (Escalon Drive) open space preserves this summer. New Master Plans have just been completed for Stafford Lake Park, Paradise Beach Park, and McNears Beach Park. Future activities envisioned by the plans include a bouldering course, swimming lagoon, alpine slide, and zip line at Stafford Lake Park; a new pool with water play area and splash pads at McNears Beach Park; and kayaking facilities and a history wall at Paradise Beach Park. We're also hard at work restoring Marin's habitat and improving trails in the open space preserves this summer, including the Loma Alta, Camino Alto, Roy's Redwoods, and Gary Giacomini preserves. Happy trails! Director's Corner UPTON BEACH Max Korten, Acting Director & General Manager Marin County Parks

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