Editorial: Long-term solution to park problem

Many of you will be approached in the next few months by someone carrying a clipboard and asking you to sign a petition to save California’s state parks.
Should you sign?
The bare-bones details are these:
The initiative the petitioners are circulating asks Californian voters to add an $18 tax to every vehicle license fee they pay to register a car or truck. In exchange, every vehicle that has paid the fee will have free access (entrance fees, parking and camping) to each of the 279 state parks in California.
The money, an estimated $500 million per year, will completely pay for state park upkeep and operations and leave a 15 percent chunk for other environmental programs in the state.
Locally, the tax means free access for California drivers to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park in Felton and Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Boulder Creek.
Why is the parks system doing this? Because its budget is being eaten away as legislators try to balance California’s ugly budget mess.
There is, however, a hitch.
In the past year, we’ve already been slammed with increasing vehicle license fees. The fee increased from 0.65 percent to 1.15 percent of the purchase price of a vehicle in May 2009. So perhaps adding another $18 seems ludicrous, if one’s looking at the tax strictly from a financial standpoint. (The May 2009 increase could expire in 2011 or 2013, depending on the state budget situation.)
In Santa Cruz County, however, the state parks are a huge part of the lifeblood of our tourist-oriented community.
Thousands from all over the Bay Area drive down Highway 17 into Scotts Valley and Felton, where they merge onto Highway 9 and drive through Ben Lomond and Boulder Creek to camp in Big Basin. Others make a stop in Henry Cowell for a hike or catch a festival at Roaring Camp Railroads.
Without funding, our state parks could suffer tremendously, forcing them to close and, in turn, cutting into the number of tourists who visit our mountain communities.
We would not dare make the same argument if we lived in the California high desert, where tourism related to the parks is minimal. But the fact is that the natural beauty of our area — and the state parks are an integral part of it — makes it imperative that they are supported for years to come.
If the vehicle license fee passes, each person will have a hand in a landmark tax increase that will ensure that our state parks and our tourism-related economy are properly cared for.