The mission of the American River Parkway Coalition is to provide continuing communication, collaboration, and coordination in order to better protect and preserve the natural and recreational resources of the American River Parkway and monitor and implement the American River Parkway Plan. The Coalition meets the fourth Friday of every month from noon until 2:00 p.m. at Sacramento County’s Regional Parks Department’s headquarters.

The Coalition initially included only the three historical non-profit organizations: Save the American River Association (SARA), the American River Natural History Association (ARNHA), and the American River ParkwayFoundation (ARPF). The Coalition was founded in 2004 by then Regional Parks Director Ron Suter in response to the County’s catastrophic budget crisis. The Parks Department was slated to lose up to 77% of its budget, essentially “closing” the Parkway. Director Suter believed that a Coalition speaking with one voice would have a greater impact on problems facing the Parkway, such as lack of funding, inappropriate development, and illegal camping. Besides organizing a massive public response preventing the “closing” of the Parkway, Director Suter credited the Coalition with getting a $450,000 increase in the 2005 Regional Parks budget. With the leadership of then SARA President, Warren Truitt, the Coalition organized an American River Parkway Stakeholder Summit in the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors chambers on February 26, 2005. The chamber filled with representatives from various stakeholder groups such as local governments, businesses, community organizations, and the general public.

Building on the success of the Summit, Warren envisioned an ever-expanding roundtable of Parkway stakeholders working together for the benefit of the people, plants, and animals that rely on the River and Parkway. Since that time, Sacramento County Regional Parks, SARA, and ARNHA, have worked to fulfill the original purpose of a coalition intended to Educate, Empower, and Network.

Learn more about the American River Parkway Coalition