Our Mission

To provide for the health, inspiration and education of the people of California by helping to preserve the state's extraordinary biological diversity, protecting its most valued natural and cultural resources, and creating opportunities for high-quality outdoor recreation.

California Department of Parks and Recreation manages 280 park units, which contain the finest and most diverse collection of natural, cultural, and recreational resources to be found within California. These treasures are as diverse as California: From the last stands of primeval redwood forests to vast expanses of fragile desert; from the lofty Sierra Nevada to the broad sandy beaches of our southern coast; and from the opulence of Hearst Castle to the vestiges of colonial Russia.

California State Parks contains the largest and most diverse natural and cultural heritage holdings of any state agency in the nation. State park units include underwater preserves, reserves, and parks; redwood, rhododendron, and wildlife reserves; state beaches, recreation areas, wilderness areas, and reservoirs; state historic parks, historic homes, Spanish era adobe buildings, including museums, visitor centers, cultural reserves, and preserves; as well as lighthouses, ghost towns, waterslides, conference centers, and off-highway vehicle parks. These parks protect and preserve an unparalleled collection of culturally and environmentally sensitive structures and habitats, threatened plant and animal species, ancient Native American sites, historic structures and artifacts . . . the best of California's natural and cultural history.

Responsible for almost one-third of California's scenic coastline, California State Parks manages the state's finest coastal wetlands, estuaries, beaches, and dune systems. Our workplace consists of nearly 1.4 million acres, with over 280 miles of coastline; 625 miles of lake and river frontage; nearly 15,000 campsites; and 3,000 miles of hiking, biking, and equestrian trails.

*** NOTE: This collection of California State Parks images is released for

distribution to and use by news agencies (for editorial use), incorporation

into travel magazines, tourism publications, etc. where the use is expressly

for the promotion of visitation to park units in the State Park System.

The required credit is:

Courtesy of California State Parks, [YEAR PROVIDED].

These images MAY NOT BE REDISTRIBUTED for commercial use, such as in commercial

books, textbooks, posters, documentary films, etc. without the requestor first

securing the appropriate permissions from the Department. Department created

intellectual property requires the prior written permission of the Department and

preparation of a Department Licensing Agreement (See the DOM 0900 section on

Intellectual Property).