Thumbs up: Trione-Annadel State Park, a worthy name for beloved park

The odds were not good that the California State Park and Recreation Commission, meeting at the Flamingo Conference Resort in Santa Rosa on Friday, would go along with a proposal to change the name of Annadel State Park after the late benefactor Henry Trione. Only twice in the past 13 years has the commission granted such a request.

But thankfully, the members of the commission were persuaded that it was the right change at the right time. We couldn’t agree more.

The simple truth is Annadel would not exist if it were not for Henry Trione. This 5,000-acre expanse of rolling hills surrounding Lake Ilsanjo was targeted for housing in 1969 when Trione ponied up $1 million of his own money and persuaded his friend Joe Long of Long’s Drugs to help put together a $5 million package to preserve the land. He also was a founding member of the State Parks Foundation, which has contributed nearly a quarter of a billion dollars to support the parks system over the past 46 years.

The new name of Trione-Annadel State Park, which the Park and Recreation Commission approved unanimously, is fitting and worth a thumbs up.