Not since John Muir famously trekked from San Francisco across the San Joaquin Valley to find his home in the craggy high country of the Sierra Nevada have California's state parks faced the kind of threat they are facing at this hour. The threats come not from fire, earthquake, or storm, but from the threat of closure, of
padlocking and sealing off 80% of a park system which has justifiably become the envy of the nation.
After surviving a brush with mass closures in 2008 and the hard-fought "Save Trestles" movement to save the integrity of state parks by preventing a toll road from being built through the heart of the San Onofre backcountry, the Governor's current recommendation to mothball, padlock, and cut off Californians from their state parks in the name of fiscal necessity is cruelly rash. If 80% of California's state park system is shuttered, it will only be more difficult and expensive to reverse the closures and re-open them ever again.
Of course, you can't just close down the Great Outdoors. No one can, so bereft of any kind of regular supervision, management, or a law enforcement capability to protect them, California's revered state parks will be made vulnerable to disrepair, vandalism, poaching, unsupervised entry, and unregulated off-road vehicle use, especially in the vast open spaces of Anza-Borrego, a state park since 1933 and a bulwark to the further resource destruction and dissection of Southern California's desert habitat. Poaching of endangered animals and trees from the state's Redwood forests to the stately oak meadows of the Central Coast is a chilling likelihood, as is the increased risk statewide of fires from unsupervised campsites and careless trespassers. We did not struggle to set these lands aside so their treasures may be squandered.
The access to these great places was designed with the idea the state would hold them in perpetuity for Californians, not just for a few decades, but forever, and manage them in a way to effectively balance taxpayers' recreation and enjoyment while preserving the natural balance. While some, perhaps remote, park infrastructures will only fall into disrepair once they are padlocked shut, some run the risk of severe damage and compromise, potentially robbing the sites of what made them worthy of state park designation in the first place. We are in dire risk of squandering what this state and thousands of tireless volunteers and conservationists have worked for over 80 years to save and preserve.
If any of these parks are to be re-opened in the future, providing they're not sold off to the highest bidder for development and resource extraction in the interim to pay down the state's debt, they will all need sufficient rehabilitation once re-opened, thereby costing the state even more money. Visitor centers, roads, trails, historical structures, and other basic amenities, if not regularly attended to, will fall victim to dilapidation, and the resources the parks seek to protect may be so compromised by trespassing and illegal, destructive activity the very process of putting them back in order may set individual parks back 50 years, thereby costing the state even more money.
Furthermore, the impact on local economies dependent on park visitors will be enormous:
•
Every major state park in the Bay Area, the state's second-most populated region, are slated to be closed, from the solitude-rich wild country of the Diablo Range at Henry Coe State Park, to two of the Bay Area's most famous and beloved landmarks,
Mt. Diablo and Mt. Tamalapais. Closed.
• From Doheny to Torrey Pines to the Silver Strand, many of the
beaches in Orange County and San Diego which dutifully made the region world famous as an unparalleled surfing and swimming destination are threatened with closure, as well as San Diego County's Palomar Mountain and Cuyamaca Rancho State Parks, both of which just celebrated their 75th anniversaries as state parks.
• From Carpinteria State Beach to Gavioa State Beach, the number of
state park sites in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties earmarked for closure are head-spinning, including Point Sal, San Buenaventura, and one of the region's integral historic landmarks, La Purisima Concepcion, recently renovated in 2004.
• Newly renovated and revitalized parks which the state spent millions to enhance, like Sutter's Mill near Sacramento, Will Rogers near L.A., La Purisima Concepcion near Solvang, and the visitor facilities at Anza-Borrego in the San Diego County backcountry, will be closed to the very visitors and school groups the park renovations were intended to attract.
Upon John Muir's arrival in the Sierras, the recognition of California's natural heritage and astonishing natural wonders was confirmed at a valley called Yosemite, carved out by eons of glacial ice and the modern-day Merced River. At the behest of Muir, Yosemite started off as California's first state park, briefly, before being selected to become the first National Park in the U.S. National Park system, surely as auspicious a beginning as any conservation enterprise.
Big Basin Redwoods State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains followed as California's next, and first officially enduring state park in 1902, after the efforts of local citizens' groups and activists led the way to begin saving the area's native Redwoods from the relentless march of the timbermen. Logging and timber interests also applauded these moves to save what was already a diminishing resource, over 100 years ago, and yet, not even Big Basin's longevity is saving it from a padlocked future, certain disrepair, destructive activity, and the compromise of resources.
In a world where we are beset on all sides by the forces of noise, pollution, media, mounting problems and limited answers, Californians need a place to recharge, renew, and find solace and peace and time for reflection. Our children need places to exercise, explore, undo Nature Deficit Disorder, and learn the value and wisdom of the outdoors. California's State Parks are truly the envy of the nation, but these proposed closures are only helpful in balancing books, not enriching people's lives and California's local economies, nor safeguarding and showcasing California's brilliant natural wonders.
When you arrive at a California State Park, whether it's the new visitor center at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, enticing you to sample the wild surprises of the Colorado Desert, or the cathedral-like, multi-canopied silence of noble Redwoods along the North Coast at Jedediah Smith State Park, you know you're in a special place, where this state's natural heritage, from expansive desert to lush forest, is protected and looked after by dedicated personnel in the name of all Californians.
Today, the Golden State's park system is fighting for survival, and the state's residents stand to lose much of the natural beauty and special places which make living in California a dream come true for so many. To save our state, the Governor lamentably argues, we must undo what makes our state worth living in. We cannot let this happen. We can do better. We must find solutions for California's calamitous boom and bust cycles, we must provide options for lawmakers, and we must stand and say no in a loud enough voice so Sacramento and the nation know Californians will not be robbed of their natural heritage.
Write letters! Write your elected state officials and tell them to leave California's State Parks open and accessible for all, no matter the economic climate. Tell Sacramento and the Governor not to shut down our parks at the moment we need their solace, wisdom, and time with families the most! Go to the
California State Parks Foundation for more information.