From the blog
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It’s hard to understand the news. The Governor has proposed the closure of 220 California State Parks. 80% of our heritage, our parks, our State Beaches, our forests… To be clear, the areas will still be protected, in a kind of limbo called “caretaker” status. The places themselves are not going anywhere, just the people and systems in place to both protect them and manage human use of the parks will be stopped.
The entire park system uses about a tenth of a percent of the entire State general fund, so the closures really do nothing to help the budget. These closures are the works of a vindictive Governor trying to make a point and punishing the people of California by closing their parks because they didn’t vote for his tax increases.
I have no idea the effects these closures will have on the parks, but I intend to find out as well as bring as much attention as I can to the beauty and usefulness of these parks. I am going to tour as many of the parks proposed for closure as I can this Summer and podcast the experience. As I look over the list, there are some that I have not been to since I was a kid, parks that are important to me.
Calaveras Big Trees, Fort Ross, Indian Grinding Rock, Angel Island (are you kidding?). Del Norte Coast Redwoods is on the list! and Jedediah Smith! These hold some of the most beautiful groves of trees in the world! What will happen to them when the parks close? What happens to the Mono Lake Tufa when the park closes and idiots tramp the ground and climb the tufa with no rangers around to do anything about it? Bodie is left to rot again. I just saw Julia Pfeiffer Burns is on the list. What will happen when people erode the cliffs down to the beach? The list goes on.
Many of these parks hold our State history as well as the state’s most beautiful places. Sutter’s fort, Fort Ross, Marshal Gold Discovery State Park, Angel Island, Jack London State Park. It’s really unbelievable.
I’m gonna do what I can and do what I do best, show how wonderful these parks are. There is still a good chance that many can be kept open. Clearly, people need to be reminded of what we have here in our State Parks.
Tony