Supervisor Rowe talks Sunfair Park renovations

On last week’s Up Close Show, host Gary Daigneault spoke with San Bernardino County Board of Supervisor Chairman Dawn Rowe about big improvements coming to Joshua Tree’s Sunfair Park from a recent Cal-Trans grant as well as improvements coming to Section 6 Desert View Conservation Area from the Wildlife Conservation Board. 

Rowe said, “It was $3.74 million that Cal-Trans has passed through to the county for CSA 20 which is Sunburst Community Center Park and it’s going to have all sorts of improvements there so that’s exciting.”

After mutually praising the small but substantial waterpark at Sunfair, Daigneault asked Rowe what kind of improvements we can expect to the area.

Rowe said, “So it will be new paving; it’ll modernize the Americans with Disabilities Act so we’ll have some ADA accessibility and upgrades to the playgrounds, lighting, shade structures and overall sort of beautification and enhancements to the Park area.”

Daigneault mentioned additional funding and improvements to Section 6 Desert View Conservation Area, just outside of the National Park.

“So that’s two million dollars from the Wildlife Conservation Board. It’s a two year project which doesn’t require any matching funds from us at all. They’re going to do up to three miles of trail improvements with habitat shelters, viewing platforms, interpretive discovery panels, picnic tables, benches, and information kiosks.”

Rowe mentioned there were no plans to increase these improvements until further solicitation of community input, citing the risks of maintaining the ecosystem against visitor oversaturation. 

Gabriel Hart

Gabriel Hart is an author and journalist from Morongo Valley, CA. He was a finalist for the 2024 Golden Mic Awards for his continuous reporting on the Morongo Valley Community Services District. His punk-noir novel On High at Red Tide is out now from Pig Roast Publishing, and he's the editor-in-chief/publisher of Beyond the Last Estate, a print-only magazine featuring "creative reporting on contemporary literature."