State Parks Announces Closures

Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park NOT on list 

Today, May 13^, 2011, the California Department of Parks and Recreation announced its plan to close 70 parks, beaches, and recreation areas. California State Parks director Ruth Coleman told reporters “We regret closing any park, but with the proposed budget reductions over the next two years, we can no longer afford to operate all parks within the system.”

This summer service cuts will begin with park closures starting as early as September and all 70 parks closing by July 2012.

State Parks had three primary goals for developing the closure methodology:

• Protect the most significant natural and cultural resources
• Maintain public access and revenue generation to the greatest extent possible
• Protect closed parks so that they remain attractive and usable for potential partners.

The closure plan will allow the Department of Parks and Recreation to preserve the majority of the system’s attendance and revenue; attendance will be reduced by 8% and revenues by 6%.

The park system currently has 32 operating agreements with cities, counties and non-profits to operate state parks and they are looking for new partners to operate parks.

Please send a letter to your legislators to let them know you do not support the closure of state parks.

When Governor Brown releases his updated budget proposal on Monday the list of parks may grow.



Stephen Hill, Sr.