Update – January 16, 2010: Arizona State Parks to Close 13 more parks by June
According to the Arizona State Parks Foundation, a special session of the State Legislature has cut funding for the state parks system to the point all parks will close. The cuts are part of a $205 million budget reduction to mitigate an estimated $1.5 billion budget deficit.
In an Urgent Call to Action, the foundation is asking for help.
URGENT CALL TO ACTION!
The Arizona State Legislature has acted on House Bill 2001. It eliminates the ability of our Arizona State Parks system to operate. All parks will ultimately close as a result of this action. If you or your children wish to ever visit such extraordinary places like Kartchner Caverns State Park, Tonto Natural Bridge State Park or Tubac Presidio State Historic Park, you must act today. It is our last hope.Call, email or write (sample letter at right) Governor Jan Brewer and urge her to veto the parks cuts listed in the article below.
Phone: 602-542-4331 or 800-253-0883
Email via Governor’s Contact page at:
www.governor.state.az.us/Contact.asp
Mail: The Honorable Jan Brewer, Governor of Arizona,
1700 West Washington, Phoenix, Arizona 85007
Read more at the Arizona State Parks Foundation website.
This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow- I’ll have to look into that further after Christmas… it makes me think if they do that in one state, will the rest of them follow? Merry Christmas Mike.
Michelle Gartner´s last blog ..The Christmas Song as Sung By Nat King Cole
Merry Xmas to you!
We need Forests and protected places all over the globe that are well managed no less in the USA than elsewhere. I assume you feel that the State Parks System works well?
Michelle and Bunc – Merry Christmas!
There are other states having difficulties. California was talking about closing parks several months ago. New Mexico has four days schedule where all parks will be closed with park employees off from work without pay for those days. I don’t know about other states.
Each state in the United States has its own park system and the quality of the parks and the way that they work vary widely.
The state parks of Arkansas are becoming among the best in the nation. In 1996, Arkansas voters approved an amendment to the state’s constitution that established a .125% sales tax for conservation. The state park system gets 45% of the revenue from this tax. There are no entrance fees.
Arizona’s parks are at the other extreme. Arizona’s system of 31 state parks is in poor financial shape. Historic buildings are in disrepair, and budget cuts have forced some parks to close. Arizona is 43rd in the nation in the percent of the state budget spent on parks. Funding is from entrance fees and allocation from the state’s general revenue.
The Arkansas setup for their State parks sounds really good. It’s sounds as if they value the parks as an Asset belonging to the State which should be enjoyed and cared for.
Thanks for the edit Mike I wasn’t paying enough attention to what I was typing. I see I also typed my link wrong in the earlier comment as well. Bad habit.
Bunc´s last blog ..White Christmas in Ayrshire
It would be a shame if any parks close. I remember when I was a child traveling all around the states with my parents in their Dodge van. There were so many neat places to discover and I think 95% of the most memorable places we went were in state parks.
I was a normal kid, but besides Disney World, Disneyland and Sea World- I don’t remember any of the malls, restaurants, amusement parks or special stores. I do remember the mountains, the oceans, hundreds of lakes, and canyons- places like Mesa Verde and the Badlands. I think it would be a huge loss if they closed any state parks… but that’s just my opinion.
Michelle Gartner´s last blog ..Proof Positive: I am not dead or on the naughty list.
Well, I guess they need money for more important things like bailing out banks and car companies. Who cares abou nature, right? This is very, very sad. I hope everyone gets on board to protest this.
XUP´s last blog ..Fast Away the Old Year Passes
Michelle – Yes, it would be a shame. Of course, different states have different budget issues and parks are funded differently in every state. Most parks will not close and those that do will probably only be closed temporarily. I do think it is ironic, though that park closings are being talked about in this economic downturn where creation of parks was part of the solution for creation of jobs in the great depression.
XUP – It’s not the states that are bailing out banks and car companies. It’s the federal government that’s doing that.
The states are having financial problems of their own. With the recession, jobs are down and tax revenue is down.
Our state parks are kind of like the Canadian provincial parks.
I wrote a paper on the CCC in college. I had taken an elective course called- what else The Great Depression. I had totally forgotten about the paper (not the course) and then a few weeks ago or maybe a month or so- I was watching the American Experience on PBS and they had an episode about the CCC. It really was an amazing program- to actually she footage of the workers and the camps.
I must admit I admire FDR greatly.
Anyway it sort of got the hamster wheels spinning around wondering if we could do that again… to turns things around. Of course now bureaucracy would slow it down, so that programs like that would probably always remain as visions and not actual reality. One of the most amazing things about the CCC is that FDR had it implemented in a few months- I believe it was two. I tend to not be a cynical person, however the optimist in me can’t believe that any recent administration could match that feat. It doesn’t have to be an exact replica of the CCC either- I am sure we can create plenty of jobs with the resources we have.
Michelle Gartner´s last blog ..Proof Positive: I am not dead or on the naughty list.
I think part of the reason that FDR was able to do many of the things he did was because the country was so bad off and the unemployment was so terribly high. I know it’s a lot more complicated than that, but people were literally starving, while today, there may be some people going hungry, but the extent of hunger and despair is no where near what it was in the 30s.
I have a booklet on the CCC that was written in 1935 called “We Can Take It – A Short Story of the CCC.” From it I got the following:
FDR was inaugurated on March 4, 1933. On March 9, he met with the Secretaries of War, Agriculture and Interior as well as the Director of the Budget, Solicitor of the Department of the Interior and the Judge Advocate General of the Army in a 6 hour session that established the foundations for the CCC. By March 28, a bill for Emergency Conservation Work had passed both houses of Congress.
Well- I don’t think we will ever be in a depression like that… there were a lot of other factors that contributed to making the Depression. One was the terrible droughts and the Dust Bowl. It is really scary now and lots of folks on food stamps and losing their homes and yet this is still a very comfortable recession. Not too many people live in a shack in the middle of the Dust Bowl. I am not trying to downplay how bad it is now- there is lots of stress and people are reaching the breaking point all over, but better to be broke now than then.
Michelle Gartner´s last blog ..Almost Vintage – Looking Back at 1990
If they close the state parks I will urge people to #1 not visite Arizona and # 2 stop paying state income tax.
I would like to think it won’t come to that. However, with 8 parks already closed, the Arizona State Parks board has unanimously decided to close 13 of the remaining parks by June.
I agree the Arizona is in hard times but can’t help but wonder if the closing of the parks is not also being used to promote a sales tax increase.
It might also be seen as an opportunity for the state to unload some of the projects they have fallen behind on to local towns and cities.
I still feel that if the tax money I give the state is not being used to promote areas that I feel my money (not theirs) should go to why should I continue to give them my money.
It is very unfortunate about the Arizona parks.
We actually live in Arkansas, where, 13 years ago, a voter approved constitutional amendment went into effect that included a .125% sales tax for conservation. The state park system gets 45% of the revenue from this tax. There are no entrance fees. Our state parks are flourishing.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the choice of not giving our various governments the taxes that are levied on us, except by moving elsewhere, finding tax shelters, and voting the bums out of office.
I can say, though, that my wife and I were thinking about spending part of next year’s cold season in Arizona, visiting some of the state parks in our RV. The closing of the parks certainly makes that less likely.
This is really sad. I think of all the time I spent growing up in Parker and going to the different State Parks in the area. I used to work at Buckskin State Park, it’s a beautiful park and would be horrible to see it shut down.
From what I understand, Buckskin Mountain State Park will not be closing.