By Bill Sullivan
Green Right Now
Here’s an early entry in the running for Environmental Quandary of the Year:
Mount Tamalpais State Park. Photo: California State Parks
Up to his elbows in budget shortfalls and ravenous, under-funded programs, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last year proposed closing 220 of 279 state parks. The reaction: Staunch opposition by environmentalists and park activists, so Schwarzenegger terminated the plan, if not the problem.
Earlier this month, he returned with a different solution: An estimated $140 million could be raised for state parks…if oil drilling off Santa Barbara could be expanded.
Drill, baby, drill…or no more parks?
Nice choices, eh?
Across America, state parks are becoming an endangered species, an easy target for politicians charged with making fewer dollars go a long way. The irony, of course, is unmistakable: At a time when people are looking for cheap entertainment and low budget vacations, communing with nature may become a fleeting option.
According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the state’s parks did very healthy business in 2009, even as the economy as a whole did not. Camper days rose to 714,592, up 5.3 percent from 2008, and an increase of 7.4 percent from five years earlier.
Including campground visits and other activities, 56 major state parks together drew an estimated 14 million visits, up 250,000 from 2008 and the highest total since 2006.
The poor economy almost certainly played a part in this, DNR spokesman Mick Klemesrud told the Des Moines Register.
“When we have dips in the economy, when unemployment is up, people tend to stick around,” he said. “People can easily borrow equipment to camp, if they don’t have any. Or, if they buy things, they are available locally, and are inexpensive.”
Unfortunately, budget vacations do little to fill state coffers. Iowa officials currently are considering closing some less-popular parks and limiting access at others.
Caught between shrinking revenues and hemorrhaging red ink, governors and legislators from New York to California have identified state parks as quaint, low dollar-producing luxuries that cash-strapped governments can no longer afford. And some proposed solutions are more drastic than others. In Idaho, for instance, Governor Butch Otter is hoping to disband the state parks agency, saving $10 million by selling the headquarters and moving management of 30 state parks to other agencies.
The financial consequences of these closures reach far beyond shuttered bureaucracies and laid-off employees. Lost tourist dollars associated with the parks will no longer support restaurants, shops, hotels and grocery stores in the towns nearest the affected facilities.
Critics of the closings cite another concern. During long periods of closure, they say, parks will be vulnerable to vandalism and theft, which could cause irreparable harm and make them even more expensive to reopen at a later date.
Yuma Territorial Prison. Photo: Arizona State Parks
Arizona is the latest to concede that nature may suffer in the climate change produced by the current cash crunch. The most recent plan involves closing more than half of the state’s parks, including popular attractions such as the Tombstone Courthouse and the Yuma Territorial Prison. State officials already shuttered five parks last year.
“We don’t have a choice,” said Reese Woodling, head of the Arizona Parks Board. “It’s either shut them all down right now or shut them down in phases, and we’re picking the ones that cost the state money.”
Which parks are likely to survive in the longer run? The ones that turn a profit, or at least come close enough.
Generally speaking, that means parks that have more going for them than simply a chance to hike, camp, fish or swim. In Arizona, that would include the likes of Lake Havasu (located conveniently near the famous London Bridge in Lake Havasu City) and Kartchner Caverns (which benefits from popular cave tours that cost up to $22.95 for adults).
To eventually save parks that don’t generate sufficient revenue, the state may have to be creative. One idea making the rounds in the legislature: Adding $9 to the fee required to register a vehicle. In return, residents who pay the fee would not be charged admission to state parks.
In the meantime, as we turn the page into a new decade, America’s passion for nature may be tempered by political and economic reality. Part of that bottom line: Do a little homework before you plan the next family trip to the great outdoors. That park you’ve enjoyed so much in the past may be on hiatus, assuming it is coming back at all.
Copyright © 2010 Green Right Now | Distributed by GRN Network
Newsgator has acquired Tomoye, a social networking platform for Sharepoint. The acqusition makes Newagator one of the largest enterprise collaboration companies in the Enterprise 2.0 space and positions it as a vendor with the deepest ties to the Sharepoint environment.
Two-time NL Cy Young Award-winner Tim Lincecum asked for a record $13 million in salary arbitration Tuesday, while the San Francisco Giants offered their ace $8 million.
Chinese-based Hisense is getting in on the Android action and have announced their HS-E90 handset for release later this month. Although there are no pricing or carrier details to report yet the rumor is that it will arrive in presumably China first. Their 
