Badger Park is located on the south side of the City along the Russian River. The park’s current programming includes: community gardens, children’s play area, a dog park, and a large walking circuit. However, the site’s needs and usage have formalized and increased.
Badger Park is currently divided into two areas; large, open areas and dense wooded area along an unnamed creek and the Russian River with informal paths weaving throughout. The woodland is heavily impacted by invasive species, principally Arundo and English Ivy. In 2019, Badger Park experienced significant flooding, with approximately 85% of the park experiencing inundation.
Badger Park redevelopment master plan envisions building on the things that make Badger Park so popular for our community: an expanded children's play area and community garden, improved walking trails, and a bigger off-leash dog area. The preliminary master plan formalizes the existing lawn as a more deliberate central space with sloping topography, framed by two promenades that zig zag between the various park areas emulating the flow of river currents. New sports courts are added to support the community's desire for more active programming. Shaded picnic areas are scattered throughout, much like the current design. The woodland canopy is thinned of invasive species to increase visibility of the Russian River from the top of the bank, along the south edge of the improved park.
One of the opportunities that the Master Plan explores is providing enhanced access to the Russian River along the park's +/-1,000 feet of river frontage. This river frontage has become overgrown with invasive species over the past several decades, while at the same time community members have created foot paths through the understory. The Master Plan contemplates converting these foot paths into sustainable trails and removing invasive species. In addition. the Master Plan identifies opportunities for kayak and canoe put in/take out locations. The Master Plan does not contemplate swimming at Badger Park, instead recognizing the swimming opportunities that exist just downstream at Healdsburg Veterans Memorial Beach operated by Sonoma County Regional Parks.