Director of California State Parks, William Penn Mott, Jr., rallied a core group of friends and park supporters to form California State Parks Foundation. They committed to improving the quality of life for all Californians by expanding access to the natural beauty, rich culture and history, and educational and health opportunities offered by California’s state parks. Over the course of our first 50 years, the organization built a dedicated community of over 70,000 members and raised more than $285 million to benefit state parks.
“We not only must live with our day-to-day decisions, but we must be responsible for long-range decisions, the results of which may not show up for several hundred years.” —William Penn Mott, Jr.