California’s newest state park is opening in the San Joaquin Valley on June 12. But it’s not just a park. Dos Rios Ranch, a 1,600-acre plot west of Modesto where the San Joaquin and Tuolumne rivers converge, is a “key asset to fighting the climate crisis”, says California Governor Gavin Newsom.

The site was donated by the Chico conservation group River Partners, which spent $40 million restoring the area from its previous incarnation as a dairy farm to its more natural state as a floodplain. River Partners bought the property in 2012 and began restoration work along eight miles of river. Berms built to protect farmland from high water were removed, but River Partners used existing irrigation infrastructure on former farmland to help young vegetation endure hot dry summers as it gets established.