Santa Maria Sun / Sports Lead

State parks are an endangered species

Chronic under funding and money woes have put the California State Park system on the edge of extinction

SARAH E. THIEN

Each year, The National Trust for Historic Preservation comes out with a list of the most endangered historic places in the United States. Most years, this includes buildings, houses, and locations that are at risk for destruction or irreparable damage.

El Presidio: Jarrell Jackman, executive director of the organization that manages El Presidio in downtown Santa Barbara, said that his organization is lucky that El Presidio has support from private donors, other historic landmarks are much worse off financially. PHOTO COURTESY JARRELL JACKMAN

This year’s list includes among other things, an airplane hanger built in 1932, an old-fashioned movie theater in Philadelphia, a historic hotel in Texas, and California’s State Park System.

That’s right, the entire State Park System.

It was a surprising and unprecedented move by the Historic Trust, but not necessarily an unjustified choice. The State Park System has been poorly funded and understaffed for decades, according to the California State Parks Foundation. Last fiscal year 2007-08, the total budget for the State Department of Parks and Recreation was $549 million dollars.

There is a backlog of one billion dollars in deferred maintenance statewide, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently proposed closing 48 state parks and reducing lifeguard staffing on 16 state beaches to save money on this year’s state budget.

That decision galvanized the public, and the number of e-mails sent to the governor’s office crashed his server on at least one occasion, said Tracy Verardo-Torres, legislative and policy director for the California State Parks Foundation.

The governor granted a reprieve to the State Parks in his revised budget that was released in May, and reversed his recommendation to cut funding. It was one of only two items that were changed on the revised budget, and Verardo-Torres is convinced that the public outcry was the main reason. But, she said, although the parks are safe from closing for now, that doesn’t solve the problem of chronic low funding that plagues the system.

“The budget has been cut over the years, and cut, and cut, and cut,” said Jarrell Jackman, Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation, the organization that operates El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park.

Locally, El Presidio is able to meet its operating costs because of private funding, Jackman said, but other parks aren’t as lucky. He said that he hopes that the trust’s designation of the state park system as threatened will ultimately be a good thing, and bring the public’s attention to the problem.

La Purisima: The La Purisima Mission is one of the historic buildings that are included in the California State Parks system, a system that was named one of the top endangered historic places in the United States by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. PHOTO COURTESY JARRELL JACKMAN

Jackman has a unique perspective, because he has worked at El Presidio for the last 27 years. He’s also visited every single one of the 278 state parks in California. From the smallest, to the largest, from the desert to redwood forests, and every place in between. Along the way, he said, he’s seen some incredible things.

“The views from up on the Providence Mountains looking down are some of the most spectacular in the state,” Jackman said.
It took Jackman five years to visit each and every park, and state beach and he’s worried that others won’t be able to follow in his footsteps. Already, the public has come close to losing some of their parks. Providence Mountains State Recreation Area, the place with the great views, was one of the parks slated for closure if Schwarzenegger’s cuts had gone through.

Jackman and Verardo-Torres see the same solution to the state park’s problem. The department needs a constant and steady source of income and it can be had through a proposed piece of legislation called the California State Park Access Pass.

The proposal has been brought forth by Assemblymember John Laird of Santa Cruz. If approved the proposal would enact a $10 surcharge on vehicle license fees for all non-commercial vehicles in California. In return, all drivers who have paid the fee can get free daily entrance to California state parks with no paperwork or pass required.

The surcharge would generate $282 million in annual revenue for the state park system, according to the California State Parks Foundation, and most importantly, it would be a permanent source of income outside of state funds that are subject to cuts.

“It really is a way to get at solving these chronic under funding problems,” Verardo-Torres said.

The proposal must be approved by legislature and included in the fiscal year 2008-09 budget to go into effect.

Something must be done to help the parks system, Verardo-Torres said, because the largest state park system in the country shouldn’t be the most endangered, as well. 

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Contact Sports Editor Sarah E. Thien at sthien@santamariasun.com.