Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park and Big Basin Redwoods State Park would be among the 220 California state parks and beaches that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes to close as part of his latest plan to narrow California’s $24.3 billion budget deficit.
So far, support has been hard to find in Santa Cruz County.
“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.”
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.
“Any parks closure would be tragic, short-sighted and not just from an environmental point of view, but also for parks well-being and maintenance,” Tyler Oxford, an environmental engineering major from Humboldt State University, said while walking in Henry Cowell park last week.
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, Bardo said. Nine months of the year people use the park heavily for day use, camping and events. Then, for three months in the winter, volunteers led by staff repair trails and campgrounds to prepare for the heavy season.
“It’s like painting the Golden Gate Bridge,” Bardo said. “I haven’t been able to wrap my mind around (maintaining the parks) without the people.”
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.
On June 1, Friends of State Parks hosted a rally attended by an estimated 600 people at Natural Bridges State Beach, with an electronic station set up so visitors could send letters to state legislators protesting the governor’s plan.
As of last Friday, the largest number of protest letters statewide have come from the Santa Cruz region, with state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, having received the most, followed by Assemblyman Bill Monning, D-Carmel, in second and Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) receiving the fifth most, Hawley said.
On June 2, a group of 40 parks advocates from the county traveled by bus to Sacramento to protest cuts as they were discussed by the Legislature.
The conference committee on the budget was “sympathetic” to the case for state parks, California State Parks Foundation President Elizabeth Goldstein wrote on the group’s Web site after the hearing.
No vote has been taken in the Legislature as of press time, and the conference committee on the budget is scheduled to meet each day through June 8, with additional hearings scheduled if necessary.
Hawley encourages people to visit www.thatsmypark.org to send an e-mail to their legislator or to call the governor’s office at 916-445-2841 to protest the cuts.
