PD Editorial: Unkept parks

<p>There’s a troubling side to the governor’s announcement a week ago that none of California’s 279 state parks will close this year due to state budget cuts.</p><p>With the threat of closure removed, many residents could be left with the impression that the parks will be spared.</p><p>Nothing could be further from the truth.</p><p>In fact, it appears that the state may be moving from a policy of closure to one of benign neglect. The state still needs to cut $14.2 million — about 10 percent of general fund spending on the park system. And the hits that parks will take from this point on may just be harder to detect, until you go visit one.</p><p>Once there, you’re likely to find bathrooms locked or not as clean as they once were. Trash bins will be emptied less frequently. Broken park service vehicles will go unrepaired. Trails will be cleared less often, and campgrounds will be open for a shorter duration.</p><p>Campers already are discovering that they won’t be able to make a reservation at any of the North Bay’s state parks for the spring. For the time being, reservations for March and April are only being taken at 23 of the largest state parks and state beaches, most of them along the coast south of San Francisco.</p><p>The reality is, despite the governor’s promise, the risks to parks such as Annadel, Petaluma Adobe and Fort Ross — all of which have been targeted for closure — still exist. And the need to develop partnerships between state parks and local organizations to help maintain and protect these assets remains as great as ever.</p><p>Fortunately, as Staff Writer Bob Norberg reported Wednesday, there are a number of such partnerships that already are in the works locally and can serve as worthy models:</p><p>• The Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods and the Fort Ross Interpretive Association are raising money to keep the Jenner Visitors Center bathroom open.</p><p>• Local community groups in Mendocino are raising money to keep the Ford House Visitors Center and bathroom open.</p><p>• Fort Bragg is providing portable toilets for Glass Beach and Pudding Beach.</p><p>In the coming days, state park superintendents around California will receive new budgets which will determine the changes that will happen within their parks between now and next summer.</p><p>Community groups should keep tabs on how the parks in their area will be affected and see how they can fill in the gaps through volunteer work and fund-raising.</p><p>In the meantime, it’s time to rethink how the state oversees and maintains these vital public assets. As one superintendent noted, “parks are forever.” Unfortunately, so, it appears, are the state’s budget problems.</p><p>The parks deserve better stewardship than this.</p>