List of Proposed State Park Closures -ACT NOW

[Everydaygoddess]

Several people have written to ask me for a list of the proposed State Park Closures.

Here is a link to the list of Park Closures:

List of Proposed Park Closures (https://www.calparks.org/takeaction/closurelist.html)

For anyone who has not yet heard of the issue,

If the current state budget proposal passes, 223 of California's State Parks will be closed the the public, after Labor Day of this year.

In Sonoma County, virtually every State Park will be closed. The list includes: Armstrong Woods, Austin Creek, Salt Point, Annadel, Jack London, Sugarloaf, Fort Ross, Kruse Rhododendron, Bothe-Napa, Sonoma State Beach, Sonoma SHP. In adjacent counties, we will loose Robert Louis Stevenson (Mount St. Helena) Tomales Bay SP, Angel Island, and many others.

Budget hearings take place next week. Please take a moment today to go to this link and take action to save our parks.

https://www.savestateparks.org/

Take Action: Don't Close Our State Parks! (https://ga3.org/campaign/budget_may09)

Park Supporters prevailed in 2008, preventing devastating budget cuts and Park closures, and we can win again. We faxed over 3800 signatures to Sacramento from Western Sonoma County alone on Monday. Keep the hope alive, and please help, or your parks will be closed.

Thanks for your help, and your ongoing commitment to keep our parks open.
-Amy

******
Amy Racina
Author: Angels in the Wilderness
ISBN: 0971088896
Angels in the Wilderness

A 60-foot fall onto granite. Both legs shattered. Off-trail. Utterly alone in deep wilderness. Backpacker Amy Racina’s compelling memoir “Angels in the Wilderness” chronicles her terrifying true-life ordeal.

As seen in the best selling Discovery Channel Documentary “Human Body: Pushing the Limits --Sensation”

[Speak2Truth]

I have to ask, because I do not understand something here, and I hope you can enlighten me.

When they say the park will be "closed", do they mean the public will be barred from entry?

Or, do they simply mean they will pull out any resources funded with taxpayer money like the ranger, management of the bathroom facilities, etc.?

I love running the 20 mile circuit around Annedel. I would not be impacted if they were simply pulling out resources. However, I'd be mighty annoyed if some barriers were put in place to keep me out. And what would such enforcement cost?

What form would closures take?

[Everydaygoddess]

I do not know the exact nature that the State Park closures would take. No doubt it will vary from park to park. But I'd like to respond to your message, since several people have written to me saying that they will continue to sneak into their favorite Parks, closed or not. I may even be one of them, if it comes to that.

It sounds as if you are respectful of your park, and will do no damage, but please consider this as well: if you can still get in to Annadel, other less respectful people will be able to get in too. Those would include vandals, poachers, hunters, dirt bikers, gangs, firewood seekers, and so forth.

Also consider that some of the maintenance that you believe to be irrelevant includes trail maintenance, lake maintenance, and rescue of people in any sort of trouble. There would be no enforcement of any of the rules that you may be taking for granted. Rules like no cutting of trees for firewood. Protection of plant and animal life. No overnight camping. No garbage dumping.

The protection and maintenance of the facilities already in place will be in jeopardy as well. It is much more difficult to re-claim a badly eroded trail than it is to maintain it. It is much more costly to rebuild a vandalized restroom facility than to keep it open and patrol it occasionally. Buying new picnic tables is more costly that keeping them from being damaged originally.

Another thing that concerns me: If we allow our parks to be closed, how long will it be before they are declared "Unused State Land?" This would open the way to selling them off to developers. Annadel is in a prime spot for a nice subdivision. I have no basis for fact on this one, just suspicion, but it has been known to happen before.

The California State Parks Foundation is on top of the issues. they may be able to provide an answer to your specific question.

Contact Us (https://www.calparks.org/contact/)

You may also want to check with an Annadel ranger (Is there one?) about local plans and local actions that will be taken for your specific park. There are also local volunteer organizations that support many parks. I volunteer with Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods (https://www.stewardsofthecoastandredwoods.org) supporting several of our Western Sonoma County State Parks.
You may be able to get additional information about the Valley of the Moon State Parks from:

Volunteer Opportunities in the Valley of the Moon District (https://www.parks.sonoma.net/vlmnvolt.html)

[The A Team]

HI,
I remember during the last "cutbacks" when I lived near Annadel, then with less rangers about -an big increase in "predators" in the park ( the 2 legged kind) and I personally did not feel safe hiking there.
On the bigger picture it is good to remember that thousands of people may loose jobs as well as surrounding town businesses affected.
Thanks
Andrea


I have to ask, because I do not understand something here, and I hope you can enlighten me.

When they say the park will be "closed", do they mean the public will be barred from entry?

Or, do they simply mean they will pull out any resources funded with taxpayer money like the ranger, management of the bathroom facilities, etc.?

I love running the 20 mile circuit around Annedel. I would not be impacted if they were simply pulling out resources. However, I'd be mighty annoyed if some barriers were put in place to keep me out. And what would such enforcement cost?

What form would closures take?

[Cheingrand]

When they say the park will be "closed", do they mean the public will be barred from entry?
What form would closures take?

If the closure of parks goes through, they will be posted closed to all use. Facilities will be locked up, gates padlocked and the parks will be put into a 'caretaker' status with Rangers and Lifeguards enforcing the closures. This is something we cannot let happen. These parks belong to us -- the people of the state. Instead of planning to sneak into a favorite park (and risk arrest or citation), join the California State Parks Foundation and the local Stewards support group to ensure that the Governor and his toadies do not close our parks.

These are interesting videos on the proposed closures:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNZp99L8E4c&feature=channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNZp99L8E4c&feature=channel)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE9V5USbMaA&feature=channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE9V5USbMaA&feature=channel)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdLbLRKubeU&feature=related (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdLbLRKubeU&feature=related)

[Speak2Truth]

Thanks for all that information. This does make me sad. I can think of quite a few other budget areas that should be cut, some even required to be cut by our Constitution, before the state parks are.

* sigh *