COMMISSION

In addition, there are many opportunities for park
stewardship and community involvement. For example,
park volunteers help replace hay bales in the training/
practice area and offer suggestions on how to improve
the area design to make it more challenging.
Park History
The area now known as Heber Dunes SVRA is as dynamic as the Colorado River that
created it. No less so are the peoples who through time have utilized its resources to
survive in an often-harsh unyielding environment. The Cucapah and Kamia peoples
who lived along Lake Cahuilla’s southern shores, had long left the area when explorers
discovered only sand dunes.
At the turn of the 20th century, the California Development Company and its subsidiary,
the Imperial Land Company, tapped into the Colorado River through a series of irrigation
canals. These early entrepreneurs had realized that water was the key to unlocking the
bounty of the rich but parched soils of the area. Commercial farming was established, and
what was once only a stopover became an agricultural community.
The abundant trees, heavy clay, sand dunes, and salt accumulations in the soils made the
conversion of Heber Dunes SVRA to farmland a daunting task unlikely to result in economic
gain. The very reasons this area was not well suited for farming made it an ideal location
for recreation. Farmers were known to say that “Heber Beach was too salty to farm and
too much work to bulldoze.” The only crops ever successfully planted there were tamarisk
trees. With the trees providing ample shade and the canals a convenient place to fish and
cool off, Heber Dunes became a spot to gather and recreate. For 30 years, Imperial County
administered Heber Dunes SVRA until State Parks entered into a lease agreement to
operate the park in 2000. Title to the park was officially deeded to State Parks in 2007.
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California State Parks, Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission