May 29, 2008

Corona Chamber Leads Efforts to Save State Park Funding

Throughout California, 48 state parks have been proposed for closure, including 17 state parks, 17 state historic parks and museums, 3 state beaches, 9 state recreation areas, and 2 state reserves. The 48 parks slated for closure represent 17 percent of the entire state park system.
 

"For every $1 spent supporting the state park system, $2.35 is returned to the state's General Fund in the form of economic activity from park visitors, through purchases in local economies and in the state parks themselves," stated Cynthia Schneider, Chair of the Corona Chamber Legislative Action Committee.

These two actions result in a savings to the state of about $8.8 million, but require the state to forgo at least $4.8 million of revenue it would have otherwise brought in through visitation to the 48 closed parks.

Visitation at the 16 state beaches that will have reduced lifeguard staffing represents more than 30 percent of the visitation to the entire state park system. (In 06-07, there were 24.5 million visits to the state beaches, and 79 million visits to the entire system.) These actions will shut out at least 6.5 million Californians from their state parks.
 

At a time when state residents need low-cost, accessible places for recreation, fitness, education, or simply an experience with nature, closing down state parks is absolutely the wrong thing to do and a huge mistake.

California’s parks and beaches remain as popular as ever. Demand for state parks is increasing, not decreasing. When reservations opened last November for Memorial Day Weekend 2008, park demand broke a record with over 8,400 reservations made in a single day. (Parks that have sold out or are 90% at capacity for that popular weekend are affected by this proposal, including Seacliff State Beach (SB), Bolsa Chica SB, Doheny SB, San Clemente SB, San Elijo SB, and South Carlsbad SB.)