LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Community members gathered in front of Anderson Marsh’s beloved ranch house on Saturday morning to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the state historic park.
There was music by local performers, a big celebratory cake and recollections of what it took to create and sustain the park.
Many of the people who originally struggled to create the park – as well as those who in recent years have fought the battle to keep it open in the face of proposed state closures – were on hand to recount its history.
The park encapsulates several different epochs of Lake County’s rich cultural landscape.
As archaeologist Dr. John Parker – who first had the “pipe dream” to create a park on the land – explained, the park has the highest archaeological site density of any area in California, except for maybe the coast.
In more recent times, it came to represent one of the earliest examples of white settlement in the area, with John Grigsby and his brother building the first part of the ranch house in 1855.
“Anderson Marsh is a special place,” said Park Sector Superintendent Bill Salata, who oversees both Anderson Marsh and Clear Lake State Park.
Salata noted, “Anderson Marsh holds 10,000 years of cultural change.”
He said his goal is to keep the park open and put more staff time into the grounds.
Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association President Roberta Lyons said at the time of the park’s formation, news headlines credited local people for making it happen.
She said people are continuing to make it happen now with efforts to keep the park open.
The association has been in negotiations from several months with the California Department of Parks and Recreation to operate the park, which had been among 70 state parks slated for closure July 1.
Despite the recent disclosure that millions of dollars had been found in a hidden state fund, Lyons said the work to keep the park open needs to continue.
Parker, in his keynote address, recalled his work at Anderson Marsh beginning 40 years ago, when in 1972 he was a 19-year-old freshman at Sonoma State University with a passion for archaeology.
Over the next 10 years he would lead the area’s significant archaeological studies, nominate it successfully for the National Register of Historic Places, and find and document more than 50 archaeological sites on its 1,000 acres.
Some of those sites are 8,000 to 10,000 years old, Parker said, and were the center for the Koi people.
The effort to create the park survived lawsuits over the land, failed purchase attempts, a proposal for a cement channel to divert Cache Creek, a project that proposed a 1,000-home subdivision and changes in county leadership.
Parker would write numerous letters, make trips to Sacramento to meet with lawmakers and sit through exhausting daylong state budget sessions. It proved a nail biting experience to the end.
When the Lake County Planning Commission held its meeting on the proposed subdivision general plan amendment – which, had it been granted, would have pushed the property prices beyond the funds set aside to purchase the park – about 140 people showed up to speak against the project, which eventually was withdrawn, he said.
Parker said 3,000 people came to the park’s grand opening.
“A lot of people made it happen,” said Parker.
“This is an amazing place,” he added.
Creating a state park was one small part of the ultimate effort, he said.
There are many more critical steps since then, Parker said, including keeping it open and running.
Henry Bornstein, Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association’s treasurer, told Lake County News that the work to keep the park open is still under way, as negotiations with the state continue.
“So far everyone is saying yes,” he said, but added the final approval hasn’t yet been granted.
Two days before the anniversary celebration, Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association submitted to the state the final version of its proposal to run the park, according to Bornstein.
“I’ve just been amazed by the support we’re getting,” Bornstein said.
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