Overview
Deer Valley Regional Park - Restoring Habitat and Public Access on a Former Golf Course
Overview
The East Bay Regional Park District, in partnership with the East Contra Costa County Habitat Conservancy, is developing a new Regional Park in Antioch!
Deer Valley Regional Park includes the former 18-hole Roddy Ranch Golf Course located off Deer Valley Road. In 2022, the Park District adopted a Habitat Restoration and Public Access Plan to restore native grasslands across the 230-acre golf course and provide facilities for passive recreation including walking, biking, horseback riding, and picnicking. This parkland is part of the Conservancy’s Preserve System, which emphasizes environmental restoration and preservation.
The next phase of Park development includes:
- Restoring 84 acres of grasslands
- Installing picnic areas, restrooms, and nearly four miles of multi-use trails
- Building an interpretive pavilion for environmental education and history
Construction is anticipated to begin in 2026, pending permit approvals and funding.
History
Eastern Contra Costa County is home to Native peoples who have stewarded the landscape for centuries. Bay Miwok-speaking tribes like the Julpun, Ompin, and Volvon thrived until Spanish contact in the late 1700s. Today, their descendants cherish the East Bay as ancestral land.
In the 19th century, American pioneer John Marsh purchased Rancho de Los Meganos, a vast 13,000-acre cattle ranch that shaped modern Brentwood. Nearby coal discoveries in the 1850s led to the rise and fall of mining towns, while the Brentwood Oil Field brought mid-20th-century industry.
In the 1970s, rodeo star and rancher Jack Roddy transformed the area again, initially for cattle, later founding Roddy Ranch Golf Course in 2000. After 16 years of serving the community, the course became part of Deer Valley Regional Park.
City of Antioch-produced interview with Jack Roddy, 13m:18s
Aerial Footage of the Former Roddy Ranch Golf Course, 0m: 44s
Project Resources
HCP/NCCP
Adopted in 2007, the East Contra Costa County Habitat Conservation Plan & Natural Community Conservation Plan (HCP/NCCP) establishes a science-based conservation strategy for east Contra Costa County. This allows the Conservancy and agencies like the Park District to secure funding to purchase and protect habitat.
Information about the HCP/NCCP, including allowed recreational uses (see Chapter 5, Conservation Strategy), can be found on the East Contra Costa County Habitat Conservancy website.
Upcoming Events
For the current list of public programs, please visit: Program reservations.
Contact
Please contact Edward Willis, Planner, at ewillis@ebparks.org for more information.