Local state parks in jeopardy of closing

Henry Cowell State Park and Big Basin State Park would be among the 220 California state parks and beaches that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes to close as part of his latest plan to narrow California’s $24.3 billion budget deficit.
“It would be dismantling a system that has taken more than 150 years to build,” said Bonny Hawley, the executive director of Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks. “I don’t think we’ve ever experienced something like this.”
There is a public hearing in front of the Legislative Budget Conference Committee on Tuesday, May 2 in Sacramento to discuss the cuts.
The plan would cut $70 million from the state parks budget by closing 220 of the state’s 279 state parks including 19 parks and beaches in Santa Cruz County.
State parks make up one-tenth of one percent of California’s overall budget.
Closing a state park could be more challenging than putting padlocks on gates.
In the case of Big Basin, the park has its own water treatment plant that has never been shut down before, said Santa Cruz State Parks District Superintendent Chet Bardo.
“We haven’t gone down this road before,” Bardo said. “We’re talking about major systems.”
The parks maintenance cycle is year round, said Bardo. Nine months of the year people use the park heavily for day-use, camping and events. Then for three months in the winter, volunteers and staff repair trails and campgrounds to prepare for the heavy season.
“It’s like painting the Golden Gate Bridge,” Bardo said.
Local state parks advocates have jumped into action – organizing rallies and setting up phone and e-mail trees to contact legislators with support for the parks.
“I think it’s our job to send a message that parks are important to everyone,” Hawley said.
Tonight, June 1 at 5:30 p.m., Friends of State Parks is holding a rally at Natural Bridges State Beach with an electronic station for sending letters to state legislators protesting the increase.
To date, the largest number of protest letters statewide have come from the Santa Cruz region with Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) having received the most, followed by Assemblyman Bill Monning (D-Carmel) in second and Sen. Abel Maldanado (R-Santa Maria) receiving the fifth most, Hawley said.
Tomorrow, June 2, a group of parks advocates from the county is traveling by bus to Sacramento to protest cuts as they are being discussed by the legislature.
Hawley is encouraging people to visit www.thatsmypark.org to send an e-mail to their legislator or call the governor’s office at 916-445-2841 to protest the cuts.