"Grace Quan" sails out of China Camp, where past and future may be on a collision course. Photo by Glenn Brank of NorCal Yak. Click the image for the full story.

In a Foundation Center podcast, Peter Kim of the nonprofit Bridgespan Group cautions that it takes three to five years for a nonprofit to put a strong funding model in place. If an organization is under immediate financial distress, then “they have bigger priorities to deal with then stepping back to develop a strategic funding model.”

“Immediate financial distress” is how I would characterize our current state park crisis in California. The state hopes to lean on nonprofits, in part, to help keep threatened parks open while longer term funding solutions are worked out. Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, will propose new ways to overhaul the park system with legislation.

Since 61 parks remain on track to close by July 1, 2012, communities and nonprofits need a plan they can follow — and fast. Should the strategy be to do whatever it takes to save the parks now and worry about finding a sustainable funding model later?

What would John Muir do in the face of California state park closures?
Ask his great, great grandson.

The Mount Shasta Herald covered a meeting on January 25, 2012, facilitated by Robert Hanna, the great, great grandson of legendary naturalist John Muir, to save Castle Crags State Park. His great, great grandfather fought to save Yosemite and create our national park system. Now, Hanna, who helped save Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve, hopes to help other nonprofit groups and volunteers organize their efforts.

Hanna recommends four steps. My comments follow in italics.

1. Step One: Identify Your Park Liaison. Hanna describes the park liaison as “your pipeline to Sacramento.” In my conversations with representatives of nonprofit state park cooperating associations, each one knew the regional superintendent for California State Parks because many of these organizations have been supporting parks for decades. This person connects the local park groups to the agency’s decision-makers.

2. Step Two: Select a Proposal. In step two, Hanna recommends that groups identify the type of proposal that would work for their park. Those three types include:

   • A donor agreement that documents a donor(s) pledge to fund the park for the time required by the parks department. Advocates behind Henry W. Coe State Park were the first to successfully pursue this strategy.

   • An operator agreement that could include a coalition of groups and local government entities to operate the park. Last October, the governor signed AB42 to allow up to 20 nonprofits to help run state parks. So far many nonprofits have sent “letters of interest” to Sacramento and far fewer have sent full proposals for consideration (Valley of the Moon Natural History Association submitted their proposal to save Jack London State Historic Park in November 2011). Counties, on the other hand, already had the authority to run state parks with approved agreements. Since many county park systems are strapped for cash as well, the response has been slow. Recently, the Sonoma County Regional Parks Department gained unanimous approval from their Board of Supervisors to take over operations of Annadel State Park near Santa Rosa.

   • A concession contract that could see a for-profit business running the park. This last method has raised big concerns about privatization of the parks, especially if the proposal is by a for-profit to take over an entire park, rather than one park amenity. In the case of Mono Lake, the nonprofit Bodie Foundation, whose public interest mission aligns with the mission of California State Parks, saved that park from the closure by agreeing to collect new parking fees at the lake under a concession contract.

3. Step Three: Community Support. Hanna suggested reaching out to your local Chamber of Commerce, schools, business owners, government officials and the media. Hanna offered this important step, which should start before Step Two and remain ongoing. To create a strong and viable proposal for a park, advocates need to engage potential donors and secure the support of local public officials, volunteers and the community. Hanna was involved in the successful six-month grassroots effort organized by the Mono Lake Committee. In another example, a delegation of parks supporters in the Sierra foothills will hand-deliver over 10,000 letters and petition signatures to Governor Brown on February 8th in an effort to convince him and State Parks officials to remove the South Yuba River and Malakoff Diggins State Parks from the closure list.

4. Step Four: Victory Dance. Hannah urged communities to celebrate their accomplishments. I agree! Today, thanks to the efforts of public officials, nonprofits and other community volunteers, nine parks have been saved from the list of 70. What will happen to the other 61 on July 1, 2012? I hope we will have reason to celebrate.

California State Parks to hold workshops

The California Department of Parks and Recreation will host a series of five workshops around the state in its continuing effort to find partners to help keep parks open. At the workshops, California State Parks will pass out workbooks with guiding principles for partnership operations. They also promise to post the workbook online at www.parks.ca.gov when it is complete.

Blog series
This is the 20th article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

Six months from now, at least 61 of California’s 278 state parks will close – from historic museums to lands that protect sensitive wildlife habitats and prehistoric Native Californian sites.

Some parks saved, others deserted

In a time when the sentiment of state government officials is to give the public what they are willing to pay for, parks have not been spared. Some state parks have already been abandoned – particularly those in rural, remote and low income areas. As the Nonprofit Law Prof Blog notes:

The parks located near populous areas may have a better chance of generating the kind of fundraising that will be needed to keep them open.

In “Twilight for a state park” published today in the Sacramento Bee, Susan Sward describes Standish-Hickey State Recreation Area as a “ghostly place.” Like many of the parks on the closure list in rural regions, Standish-Hickey does not have a partner to step up and save the park. After visiting the same park, blogger Lucy D’Mot considers how past land donors might feel about the closures:

I always wonder how the families of those who donated acreage to the state (country, city, county) feel when those lands come up for closure. I would think sadness, anger and betrayal might be part of the emotions involved …

Indeed, for more than 100 years conservationists and stewards of our natural and cultural heritage have raised funds and donated lands to save and protect special places in perpetuity for all Americans. What would the Tetons be without the Rockefellers, San Francisco’s Crissy Field without the Haas family, California’s last remaining redwoods without leadership from Save the Redwoods League — and the state park system without billions in voter-approved public bond funds from 1928 to 2000?

Another remote park, Castle Crags State Park near Mount Shasta, is also being deserted: “After nearly two decades, California has terminated its contract with a non-profit dedicated to the welfare of Castle Crags State Park,” writes MtShastaNews.com.

Nine parks saved and 47 “letters of interest”

So far, California State Parks has been willing to enter into agreements in situations when public agencies and donors step up with funds and commitments to keep specific parks open. It remains to be seen if the parks department will enter into operating agreements with nonprofit organizations, now authorized to run parks under the new law AB 42.

According to California State Parks spokesperson Roy Stearns, in early January the agency had received 47 “Letters of Interest” from various nonprofits, cooperating associations, cities and counties asking about what it would take to assume the operations of a park in their community. “We are working through all of those letters of interest to answer questions to see if the interest leads to a proposal,” wrote Stearns in an email.

As of January 4, 2012, Stearns reported that California State Parks confirmed agreements with nine parks for remaining open and operating:

1. Antelope Valley Indian Museum State Historic Park – donor funds
2. Colusa-Sacramento River State Recreation Area – Operating agreement with the City of Colusa
3. Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park – National Park Service agreement
4. Henry W. Coe State Park – Donor, the Coe Park Preservation Fund
5. McGrath State Beach – Donor funds and grant money
6. Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve – Concession agreement for nonprofit Bodie Foundation to collect new parking fees will keep facilities open. California State Parks will continue to run the reserve.
7. Point Cabrillo Light Station State Historic Park – Ongoing concession/operating agreement
8. Samuel P. Taylor State Park – National Park Service agreement
9. Tomales Bay State Park – National Park Service Agreement

Senator introduces bill to require a formal review of park closures

In the meantime, on January 19, 2012, Senator Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) introduced SB 974, a bill that would require the California Department of Parks and Recreation to conduct a formal review of park closures. In the press release, Evans writes: “I have a serious problem with Parks’ decisions. There has been no transparency, no public process, and no economic impact study. It appears arbitrary.”

SB 974 would require Parks to develop a formal and transparent process to examine potential closures using defined criteria. The legislation would also require that California State Parks examine other budget savings measures in lieu of closures.

Blog series
This is the 19th article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding. A special thanks goes to Roy Stearns of the California Department of Parks and Recreation for providing the latest information on parks saved from closure.

China Camp State Park

On January 1, 2012, hundreds of people celebrated New Years Day along the scenic bluffs and hillsides of China Camp State Park located on the shores of San Pablo Bay north of San Francisco. Visitors from Bay Area cities to Hong Kong wrote, “Save this Park” in the guest book of the park’s historical Chinese fishing village.

China Camp, located in Marin County, is among 18 state parks in the Bay Area and 70 across the state identified in May 2011 for closure by the California Department of Parks and Recreation by July 1, 2012 due to a state budget crisis.

Cultural and natural features, a big concern

For Marin District Superintendent Danita Rodriguez, protecting China Camp’s cultural and natural features are a big concern. “We are in the business to manage parks, not to close them,” said Rodriguez in a recent phone conversation.

The park’s unique heritage extends back thousands of years when Native Californians lived in small villages near streams and alongside the evolving tidal wetlands of San Francisco Bay. The mid-1800s constituted another significant era when Chinese immigrants established a fishing village here. One descendant whose grandfather came here in the 1800s is Frank Quan, a permanent resident and Board Chair of the nonprofit Marin State Parks Association.

The park also protects rare wetland and salt marsh habitats. Recognized as some of the most pristine wetland left in the estuary, the salt marsh and shoreline areas in China Camp State Park became part of the region’s first National Estuarine Research Reserve in 2003. Several endangered species live here including the California clapper rail, California black rail and the salt marsh harvest mouse.

Nothing is sacred in a budget torn state

Governor Jerry Brown, who signed China Camp State Park into law in 1978 during his first term, recently released a fiscal year 2012-13 budget that keeps the park closures on track and proposes more big cuts to health and human services to reduce the state deficit. Traci Verardo-Torres, who is vice president of government affairs for the California State Parks Foundation described the situation in a November meeting in Berkeley like this:

“The governor is giving the state the government they are willing to pay for, even if it’s not the government they want. Nothing is sacred here.”

The state claims that service reductions and closures are necessary to achieve an $11 million reduction in the current fiscal year of 2011/12 and $22 million to be cut by July 1, 2012 for the next fiscal year.

Yet, an economic analysis does not exist to show how these savings will be created through park closures. How will sensitive archaeological sites and wetlands at parks like China Camp be protected while saving money?

Due to the budget cuts for this year, you have probably already seen partial closures, first-time winter closures (Sugarloaf Ridge and Castle Crags) and service reductions at parks on the closure list and other state parks as well.

Nonprofit groups and the National Park Service have temporarily rescued five of the 70 parks slated for closure including Henry Coe, Mono Lake, Del Norte Redwoods, Samuel P Taylor and Tomales Bay.

By July 1, 2012, the remaining 65 will close unless nonprofits or public agencies work out a deal with the state.

The California State Parks Foundation is not in the business of running parks, but they want to help the groups that can support these parks. The foundation was a sponsor of AB42, which was signed in to law in October 2011 to authorize qualified nonprofits to run up to 20 state parks. A major problem so far is that hopeful nonprofit groups have been challenged to get the specifics they need from the state to operate a park including expenses, revenues, minimum standards and legal requirements.

Legally defensible?

While volunteers and nonprofits continue to raise funds and develop plans in hopes of saving parks from closing in their communities, State Senator Noreen Evans (Democrat-Santa Rosa) says she will introduce legislation halting the closures until officials analyze costs, benefits and alternatives using a “legally defensible process to examine potential closures using a defined criteria.”

Evans’ challenge to the state park closures comes after a tension-filled hearing at the State Capitol on November 1, 2011 on the park closures (link to three-part video of three-hour hearing), when a State Parks spokesman described the informal process used by park professionals that led to a park closure list as a way of saving $33 million over two years.

For close to two hours of contentious questioning by Assemblymember Jared Huffman (Democrat-Marin), Assemblymember Roger Dickinson and other lawmakers, State Parks Deputy Director Bill Herms and Anne Malcolm, legal counsel, defended the Parks Department. The park officials could not offer data or other documentation to lawmakers or the public on the process followed to cut parks spending by July 2012.

Park advocates from around the state gave testimony during the November 1, 2011, hearing including Thomas Peters of the Marin Community Foundation, Elizabeth Goldstein of the California State Parks Foundation, Caryl Hart of Sonoma County Parks and the California Parks and Recreation Commission, Ruskin Hartley of the Save the Redwoods League, Sonoma County Sheriff Steve Freitas, Nina Gordon of the California State Parks Rangers Association, Geoff McQuilkin of the Mono Lake Committee and Kathy Bailey of the Anderson Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Beyond the panic to find short-term solutions, the Parks Department and the California State Parks Foundation are researching new revenue models consistent with the state park system’s mission.

Back in Marin County, the Marin State Parks Association, the official state park cooperating partner for four Marin state parks since the early 1980s, recently joined the Open Parks Coalition led by State Assemblymember Jared Huffman and Thomas Peters of the Marin Community Foundation. Like many other nonprofits new to creating operations plans for parks, they are building their capacity to create public awareness and raise funds.

Minimum coverage for China Camp at five days per week will require $355,000. A better scenario of seven days per week with more services will require $595,000 annually.



How to Contribute

If you want to help with a financial contribution, there are three ways you can donate:

• Sending in funds to a park’s local California Department of Parks and Recreation contingency fund. For example, in Marin County you can send your check, specifying your park(s) of choice, to the Marin District, California Parks and Recreation at 845 Casa Grande Road Petaluma, CA 94954-5804.

• Donating to the nonprofit cooperating association for a particular park. In Marin, the cooperating association for two parks remaining on the closure list (China Camp and Olompali) is the Marin State Parks Association.

• Donating to the California State Parks Foundation, noting the designation for your contribution if you would like to support a specific park.

Blog series
This is the 18th article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

Bay Nature's January - March 2012 front cover: Rat Island, China Camp State Park, Marin County. Image courtesy of Bay Nature.

Since September 2011, I have focused this blog on the unprecedented threats to California’s state parks and efforts by community volunteers, nonprofits, philanthropists and lawmakers to save parks now facing indefinite closure (Park funding crisis series).

While covering this topic, I have connected with park volunteers, bloggers, advocacy organizations, hikers, climbers and others who are concerned. Some fear losing access to one of their favorite parks and others see our state parks legacy falling apart.

My friends over at the nonprofit Bay Nature Institute are also closely following the issue. Hitting newsstands and mailboxes any day, the January – March 2012 issue of Bay Nature features the parks crisis as the cover story. Longtime Sierra magazine editor and local reporter Joan Hamilton illuminates the real people behind the hard work of trying to save some of the parks here in the Bay Area – from Henry Coe State Park to Jack London State Historical Park.

As we head into 2012, I would like to thank the individuals who have helped me follow the parks crisis in 2011 with information, links and camaraderie. Many thanks to:

• Andrew Vought of the Portola and Castle Rock Foundation
• Ann Briggs of Coe Preservation Fund
• Annie Burke of the Bay Area Open Space Council
• Dan Rademacher, Editorial Director at Bay Nature
• David Sanger of David Sanger Photography
• Diane Einstein of the Marin State Parks Association
• Elisa Stancil of Valley of the Moon Natural History Association
• Geoff McQuilken, Executive Director of Mono Lake Committee
• Glenn Brank of Norcal Yak
• Greg Hayes of Valley of the Moon Natural History Association
• Jerry Emory of the California State Parks Foundation
• Kai Allen of the Mount Shasta Ranger Station, US Forest Service
• Laure Latham, blogger and author of Best Hikes with Kids, San Francisco Bay Area
• Lauren Dixon of the Parks Alliance for Sonoma County
• R.D. Pasco of the Access Fund
• Ray Murray Partnerships Program Chief, Pacific West Regional Office, National Park Service
• Rich Dolesh, Chief of Public Policy, National Recreation and Park Association
• Roger Dhesi, Partnerships Division for California State Parks
• Roy Stearns, Deputy Director of Communications, California State Parks
• Shelley O’Brien, Senior manager for fundraising at the National Recreation and Park Association and blogger at Grant Garden: Where Your Fundraising Grows
• Stephanie Burkhart of the National Park Service, Pacific West Region
• Stu Langdoc of the Portola and Castle Rock Foundation
• Tom Burch, Chair of the Sierra Nevada Section, American Alpine Club

As this story continues to unfold, I will see you in 2012.

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This is the 17th article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

Castle Rock State Park, photo by Scott Haefner at scotthaefner.com

Today, the nonprofit Portola and Castle Rock Foundation launched a campaign to save Portola Redwoods State Park and Castle Rock State Park. The parks are hiking distance to California’s oldest state park: Big Basin Redwoods State Park, where the near obliteration of ancient redwoods south of San Francisco by the year 1900 led to an outcry and movement to save old growth forests as public parks.

Portola Redwoods and Castle Rock are among 18 state parks in the Bay Area and 70 across the state identified in May 2011 for closure by the California Department of Parks and Recreation, also known as “California State Parks.”

At 2,800 acres, Portola Redwoods features a deep canyon filled with first- and second-growth coast redwoods and creeks flowing along fault lines to form waterfalls and small pools. Castle Rock spans 5,400 acres, saddling one of the highest ridges of the Santa Cruz Mountains and creating a rock wonderland for geologists and rock climbers. The park’s namesake is a sandstone formation rising 80 feet above the ridgetop.

Portola Redwoods State Park, Panoramio photo by Bruce da Moose

Among park champions across the state, stepping up to save the parks, are nonprofit groups that have worked side-by-side with state parks in local communities for decades to support education programs and stewardship.

As an official cooperating association of the state parks, the Portola and Castle Rock Foundation’s imperative now is to protect the parks they have supported since 1991. Their status as a 501(c)3 charitable organization allows them to raise tax-deductible donations from the public.

Fundraising to save the parks using Coe park as a model

The foundation’s goal is to raise funds to negotiate a deal with the Parks Department in the same way park advocates are working out an agreement to fund Henry W. Coe State Park – earmarking donations for the parks and keeping park staff in their positions.

It was the campaign at Coe that inspired the Portola Redwoods and Castle Rock Foundation to take action. “We were motivated by Coe’s success,” said Andy Vought, a board member and spokesperson for the foundation. “We want to follow their model since it is something the state appears to be OK with, and it provides us a manageable scope.” They are expecting Coe to announce a final deal with the Parks Department any day now.

To keep the parks open and staffed for one year, the foundation needs to raise a minimum of $500,000, in a very narrow window of time. Beyond this initial goal, they will continue to raise funds since the foundation believes that the state’s current budget crisis is unlikely to end any time soon. The group estimates that keeping Portola and Castle Rock Parks open for three years will require more than $1,500,000.

Although these are challenging goals, the foundation believes that Bay Area corporations, foundations and citizens will step up. Judy Grote, President of the Portola and Castle Rock Foundation, said: “I encourage everyone who has ever enjoyed these wonderful parks to join this campaign now. We need to raise funds in the next few months or we will lose these park jewels forever.”

Climber at Castle Rock State Park, Flickr photo by Raul Diaz

State’s oldest conservation groups and climbing guides join coalition to save parks

Sempervirens Fund and Save the Redwoods League also joined the campaign. These nonprofits have raised funds and pursued the acquisition of lands to be preserved for the public in perpetuity – adding thousands of acres to the state park system.

Preserving endangered redwoods was one of the first motives for establishing the first few state parks in California.

Sempervirens Fund, originally established in 1900 as Sempervirens Club, organized the movement to preserve the old-growth forest that became Big Basin Redwoods State Park in 1902, before the establishment of the state park system. The Fund also helped establish Castle Rock State Park in 1968. Since 1968, Sempervirens Fund has completed 35 transactions, funded by public, adding over 4,000 acres within the Castle Rock’s planning area.

Since 1918, Save the Redwoods League has led the effort to protect the coast redwoods and giant sequoias. To date the League has completed the purchase of more than 189,000 acres of redwood forest and associated land. In 1927 a coalition of citizens, led by the Save-the-Redwoods League, campaigned for a state park bill. With unanimous approval by the legislature, Governor C.C. Young signed the bill into law in the same year.

The fourth partner in the coalition is Adventure Out, a state park authorized climbing guide at Castle Rock whose business will suffer if Castle Rock State Park closes.

If people don’t stand up, the parks will close

The state of California has already started to lock the gates on state parks slated for closure due to budget cutbacks – possibly closing them permanently. The Parks Department does not think many on the list of 70 will make it. Regions like the Bay Area have the advantage of being close to a large population, many with a passion for the outdoors and our parks.

Parks on the closure list can only survive if “people stand up and put their money and time” behind saving them, said Vought.

The Portola and Castle Rock Foundation needs donations and volunteers to get the word out through a public outreach campaign. You can find them online at www.portolaandcastlerockfound.org and on Facebook at Save Portola Redwoods and Castle Rock State Parks.

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This is the 16th article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

Sugarloaf Ridge State Park

Sugarloaf Ridge State Park is an anchor for wildland and ecological protection in the Sonoma/Napa area … Simply winding up the park entrance road to Adobe Canyon, most people experience a sense of moving into a different realm, leaving behind the familiarity of urban life and shifting into a more rural and challenging setting.

Source: Final General Plan and Environmental Impact Report, 2004

On the same day that Mono Lake advocates announced goods news for the embattled Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve, state park officials locked the gates on Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, a park that straddles the rugged ridges surrounding 2,729-foot Bald Mountain above the world-renowned vineyards of Napa and Sonoma.

Articles published on December 1, 2011, by Sonoma Valley news outlets, including the Santa Rosa Press Democrat and Sonoma Index-Tribune, reported that Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, one hour away from San Francisco and seven miles east of Santa Rosa, officially closed on November 30, 2011.

Unless a deal can be worked out between local nonprofits and the state, closure of this 5,100-acre wildland park in the “Valley of the Moon” will be permanent.

In an email, State Parks spokesperson Roy Stearns told the Press Democrat: “I think it is fair to say that some parks that close for the season, if on the closure list and no partners are found, will likely remain closed when spring gets here.”

California has never done this before: Major gaps in information and communication hinder solutions

Since news emerged in May 2011 about the imminent closure of 70 state parks, many groups with close ties to local parks have experienced great difficulty with getting information from the state on what it takes to operate each park, including costs.

Sorting everything out has taken considerable time, and time ran out for Sugarloaf advocates sooner than anticipated. According to the park’s website, the state was forced to shut the park’s gates due to “staff reductions and budgeting constraints.”

Nonprofits eager to negotiate operating agreements, authorized by a new law passed in October, are “creating new park budgets from scratch,” said Lauren Dixon of the Parks Alliance for Sonoma County when I spoke with her in late September.

Nonprofits teaming up to draft a proposal, raise funds

On November 17, at a meeting of the Bay Area Open Space Council on the state park crisis, Lauren Dixon of the Parks Alliance for Sonoma County briefly described efforts by a group of five organizations to save Sugarloaf. The group, named “Team Sugarloaf” and led by the Sonoma Ecology Center, has been meeting monthly to devise a plan. At the time, a proposal to operate the park was in draft form.

According to Dixon, the Parks Alliance is committed to helping Sonoma organizations raise funds from the local communities to build capacity to operate parks and create a long term plan for protecting the parks. The Parks Alliance itself is funded by the Sonoma Land Trust and donated office space from Sonoma County Regional Parks.

A wildland park holding the headwaters to salmon spawning habitat

Another challenge to this unprecedented crisis for our state parks is that every park varies in size and facilities and has unique ecological conditions. Over 25 miles of trails traverse through Sugarloaf’s wildlands of madrone, fir and oak forests to a sweeping 360-degree view on top of Bald Mountain. On clear days, you can see San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge to the south. The park also features an astronomy observatory, housing several telescopes, and campgrounds.

Creeks emanating from the slopes of the park support steelhead and Chinook salmon spawning and summer rearing habitats. Santa Rosa Creek flows west into the Russian River, and Sonoma Creek flows south into San Pablo Bay.

According to the park’s 2004 Environmental Impact Report:

“Small-scale changes in ecological conditions in the park could degrade water quality downstream … these headwaters provide critical spawning habitat for chinook salmon and steelhead, whose lifecycles take them far beyond the local landscape, returning to their natal streams from across the Pacific.”

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This is the 15th article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

“We must all stand up and find solutions to protect the places we love.” ~ Robert Hanna, Mono Lake champion and great-great-grandson of John Muir

Blog series
This is the 14th article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

• Dave Gould, Parks Alliance of Sonoma County and Former State Parks Superintendent, moderator
• Craig Anderson, LandPaths
• Bob Berman, Benicia State Parks Association
• Lauren Dixon, Parks Alliance of Sonoma County
• Ruskin Hartley, Save the Redwoods League
• Danita Rodriguez, State Parks, Marin District
• Traci Verardo, California State Parks Foundation

Bay Area Open Space Council POSTSCRIPT:
Over 100 people filled the Tamalpais Room at the Brower Center to hear from a panel about, and discuss themselves, the state parks crisis and the partnerships that are forming because of it. Read more …

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This is the 13th article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

If parks close and stay closed, it would mark the first time the state park system would be left smaller for the next generation of Californians.”

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This is the 12th article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

This has been building, and we are reaching a tipping point in state parks in many ways.”

Raising public funds with vehicle stickers in some states

In August, Dolesh participated in a roundtable meeting that gathered state parks directors from across the country. After analyzing efforts in other states to find new revenue sources for park systems, Dolesh considered Michigan’s solution to be one of the more successful ones. In 2010 the state began giving residents the option of paying $10 for the Recreation Passport when they renew their vehicle registrations. In its first eight months, the program brought in $10 million by selling over one million voluntary park passes. [Read more about Michigan's program in this recent article: New Michigan state parks permit brings in more cars, money]

In the state of Washington, the Discover Pass, priced at $30 for an annual pass or $10 for a day pass, is required for state park visits. The fine for not displaying the pass is $99. Park visitors can purchase the pass when they renew their vehicle license. The state-mandated pass has generated $2.9 million for state parks and other public recreation lands since the state and retailers started offering the pass in June 2011. [Read more about the Washington program in this recent article: Discover Pass funds coming up short]

In California, voters turned down a statewide ballot initiative in November 2010 that would have provided ongoing dedicated funding for state parks through a vehicle license surcharge of $18 per year.

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This is the eleventh article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

View of Mt. Shasta from granite spires rising above Castle Crags State Park

Park gates will swing shut without a rescue plan

In October, I visited Castle Crags State Park, a park spanning over 4,000 acres in the Klamath Mountains of Northern California. As the gateway to over 10,000 acres of federal wilderness, this park’s trails will lead you through forested canyons to waterfalls, views of Mt. Shasta and glacier-polished spires that rise to over 6,500-feet. Park campgrounds and a picnic area border the upper Sacramento River, a spot where whitewater explorers can gain a majestic view of the spires.

The park was among the initial group of iconic landscapes recommended by Frederick Law Olmstead, Jr. in 1929 for acquisition by the state. The wild lands became a state park in 1963. In 2005, the State Parks Department also identified this park as one of 29 park units in the system considered to have the “most outstanding natural resources values.”

Yet today Castle Crags State Park is one of 70 that made the notorious closure list drafted by a group of a dozen or so park professionals enlisted by the California Department of Parks and Recreation earlier this year.

When we arrived at Castle Crags on a Saturday afternoon, the park was in self-service mode due to service cuts. My husband and I happily dropped $25 into the self-registration tube and woke up at the crack of dawn to hike into the Castle Crags Wilderness to climb one of the dramatic granite peaks called Mt. Hubris via a technical route called “Cosmic Wall.”

Over eight miles of the Pacific Crest Trail passes through the park near mile 1,507, and the park’s campground offers a campsite for hikers passing through.

Now, with no formal rescue plans on the table (like in these parks), this park is slowly shutting down. The campground, on both sides of the Sacramento River, will close permanently on November 18, 2011, according to a supervising ranger in the Northern Buttes District of the parks department. Once the first snowstorm arrives, the state will close the gate since the park does not have the funds to plow the road and keep facilities open, as in past years. At this time, the parks department plans to open the day use areas briefly in the spring before permanently closing the entire park by July 1, 2012.

With the gates closed, a 2-1/2 mile winding road that leads to the park’s main trailhead will be inaccessible.

A recreation officer in the nearby Mt. Shasta Ranger station is concerned about how the park’s closure will strain their limited resources and speculated that his office might be in the same sinking boat in a year or two.

Blog series
This is the tenth article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

China Camp State Park, slated for closure

A Philanthropic Perspective on the Parks Crisis

With the California State Parks system in crisis, some hope that people with wealth will extend a lifeline to the state parks they treasure.

Yesterday morning a leader from one of the largest foundations in the country shared some insights from the philanthropic community. Thomas Peters, President of the Marin Community Foundation, gave testimony to joint committees of the California State Assembly during a tension-filled hearing on the topic of state park closures.

“I have never seen an issue that has galvanized such intense emotion – and will – to find a solution.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently named the Marin Community Foundation as one of the nation’s top 400 charities for raising money. In 2010, they raised $43.7 million dollars. The foundation manages and advises the funds for over 400 families. In the philanthropic world, these are called donor-advised funds. Private donors with the Marin Community Foundation support causes in Marin County as well as in other parts of the U.S. and around the world.

In his testimony on Nov. 1, Dr. Peters said that a number of the families with funds at the Marin Community Foundation are concerned about the parks. For families to step up and become involved, he told lawmakers what philanthropists will need from the state:

• A clear understanding of the financial picture for each park. What are the expenses and the revenues for each park?

• Assurances from the state that their funds will be dedicated to supporting their specific wishes. How will families know that the state will have reasonable and accurate accounting procedures?

• A clear commitment to mission and professionalism. Will the parks department be able to show their dedication to preserving the legacy of our parks system? Will parks they support be operated and maintained with a high level of professionalism?

Park Advocates, Law Enforcement, Community Stakeholders Offer Testimony

Dr. Peters of the Marin Community Foundation was one of several presenters who advocated for ways to save our parks in Sacramento. (He also recently co-authored “Finding permanent solutions for parks” in the Marin Independent Journal.) Other presenters included Elizabeth Goldstein of the California State Parks Foundation, Caryl Hart of Sonoma County Parks and the California Parks and Recreation Commission, Ruskin Hartley of the Save the Redwoods League, Sonoma County Sheriff Steve Freitas, Nina Gordon of the California State Parks Rangers Association, Geoff McQuilkin of the Mono Lake Committee and Kathy Bailey of the Anderson Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Several other park advocates traveled to Sacramento to share public testimony, but the hearing ran out of time before everyone there reached the front of the line.

Lawmakers Extremely Dissatisfied with Parks Department Process

The problem-solving part of the hearing came after close to two hours of contentious questioning directed to the California parks department by Assemblymember Jared Huffman, Assemblymember Roger Dickinson and other lawmakers. Deputy Director Bill Herms and Anne Malcolm, legal counsel, defended the parks department for close to two hours. They could not offer data or other documentation to lawmakers or the public on the process the parks department followed to cut $22 million in spending by July 2012.

Blog series
This is the ninth article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

View from Mt. Burdell, Olompali State Historic Park (slated for closure)

On October 4, 2011, Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 42 (authored by Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael) to allow nonprofits to help run up to 20 state parks.

Now that AB 42 presents a new tool for saving state parks on the closure list, on Wednesday I spoke with Roy Stearns, spokesperson for California State Parks, to find out if nonprofits have come forward with proposals. He said that groups have stepped up for three North Bay parks.

The Valley of the Moon Natural History Association is proposing to run the Jack London State Historic Park near Glen Ellen in Sonoma County. This all-volunteer nonprofit recently held a successful fundraiser and has more ideas for revenue generation.

In Napa, a county agency and a nonprofit are partnering up to save Bothe-Napa Valley State Park and Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park. The Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District and the Napa Valley State Parks Association are proposing a plan to make these parks operationally self-supporting. They will need donations of money and in-kind services to get things started and to take care of the most serious deferred maintenance issues.

The parks department expects to see many other proposals in the coming weeks. District park supervisors have been in talks with nonprofit state park cooperating associations since January. Around the state, 85 cooperating associations are members of the California League of Park Associations. Many of these groups have been nonprofit partners to state parks for decades, offering volunteers and education services.

Funding for state parks will become more localized

Before the parks crisis of today, the state parks department turned to regional public agencies and businesses to help run parks because, in some cases, nonprofits and private local companies can do a “better job than the state can,” said Stearns. In all cases, state rules apply, and the parks department provides some oversight. An earlier California law authorized the parks department to enter into operating agreements with government agencies.

The state currently holds contracts with 32 public agencies to run parks. The East Bay Regional Parks District runs Eastshore State Park, Lake Del Valle State Recreation Area and Emeryville Crescent State Marine Reserve. According to Stearns, 12 public agencies (city and county governments) have entered talks to operate parks on the closure list.

The parks department also holds 200 contracts with local private companies to run concessions like kayak rentals, snack bars, camping stores and cabins rentals.

Two nonprofits already have operating agreements for parks based on specific pieces of legislation. The Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation runs the El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park in Southern California. Near Tomales Bay north of San Francisco, California State Parks runs the Marconi Conference Center State Historic Park as a nonprofit unit.

One by one, a few parks saved

One by one, short-term solutions are emerging for at least some of the state parks on the closure list. The National Park Service rescued three Northern California parks. Philanthropists who love Henry Coe State Park will save that South Bay park in a unique agreement. While not final yet, a few nonprofits and public agencies are in various stages of developing proposals to run parks in their communities.

Blog series
This is the eighth article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

Samuel P. Taylor State Park

In May 2011, the California State Parks Department announced the closure of 70 parks between September 2011 and July 2012 due to a $22 million budget shortfall. Many of the parks on that list are in Northern California. Today that list of 70 officially dropped to 67 parks, at least for the next year.

Thanks to the National Park Service three northern California parks will remain open:

1. Samuel P. Taylor State Park, located within Golden Gate National Recreation Area in Marin County
2. Tomales Bay State Park, located within both Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area in Marin County
3. Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, located within Redwood National Park near Crescent City

According to this press release, these three state parks share legislative boundaries of national parks, where joint federal/state agreements have existed for years to share staff for resource protection and park operations. The National Park Service is stepping in to preserve and prevent harm to the national parks and has also come up with new ways to raise some additional funding, according to articles in the San Anselmo-Fairfax Patch and San Francisco Chronicle.

For now, this is a one-year trial and does not relieve the backlog of deferred park maintenance and the need for long-term infrastructure repairs.

National Park Service spokesperson Stephanie Burkhart said that her agency has been in talks with the State Parks Department since the park closures were announced in May. The National Park Service also continues to work with the state to sort out operating plans for a total of 16 parks that must stay open under federal law, as reported by a news outlets in May. Several of those parks are protected under the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which requires parks receiving funds to stay open to the public. Parks of concern include Castle Rock State Park in Santa Clara County, Twin Lakes State Beach in Santa Cruz, Portola Redwoods in San Mateo County, Candlestick Point near San Francisco, Limekiln in Big Sur and Salton Sea State Recreation Area in Southern California.

In other hopeful news, on Tuesday, Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 42 (authored by Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael) to allow nonprofits to help run up to 20 state parks. But, who will sign the dotted line? Stay tuned.

Blog series
This is the seventh article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

It is a sad statement that we can no longer afford to run these parks.”

How will the parks close?

On the Capitol Public Radio show, “The Future of California’s Parks,” Coleman told listeners that since this is the first time in the history of the state park system that they are being forced to cut off funds and close parks, this is a “really grand experiment.” She was advised by parks directors in other states to not send a message to the public that the parks would be fenced and padlocked. This approach would only attract “illicit activities.” Rather, using an approach called “adaptive management” the gates would stay open and the public would keep an eye on park activities to make sure that the parks are not overrun by illegal activities. “We hope the public will be willing to respect public safety, the environment of parks and clean up after themselves,” said Coleman.

You will be welcome to hike but you will find no rangers, locked bathrooms and no trash services.

How can parks be saved?

The budget mandates that the state parks department save $22 million. It is a done deal. Unless we rethink and reinvent park financing, the parks will close. The only way around this is if philanthropic groups, nonprofits, concessionaires and other entities come in and run the parks at least at a partial level. For example, Ruth Coleman is “cautiously optimistic” that they will be able to keep Henry Coe State Park open with backing from local philanthropists. With this approach, the concern here is that parks in poor and remote areas may not get such a lifeline. Coleman agreed:

It is a real struggle, not having entities to infuse energy and money into those parks.”

The search for creative ways to finance parks

The state park operations and funding model of yesteryear clearly is not working today. Around the state, park advocates are looking for creative solutions to keep the beloved parks in their communities open. On the state level, Ruth Coleman’s department is analyzing visitor services that will create and generate revenue, knowing that some might call this commercialization of the parks. “We are going to need a different mindset … a new paradigm.”

We are going to have to figure out other ways to fund these parks and some of them will be unconventional.”

Blog series
This is the sixth article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding as park systems are forced to reinvent.