The Arizona State Parks Board voted unanimously Friday, Jan. 15, to close 13 more state parks in response to budget cuts. The move leaves two-thirds of the state's parks closed.
The action shuts down some of Arizona's Old West landmarks including Tombstone Courthouse and the Yuma Territorial Prison, one of Yuma's most popular tourist draws. The decision also closes other parks that attract tens of thousands of tourists a year.
Some parks will close almost immediately. The last round of closures will come June 3 when the popular RV camping destinations of Picacho Peak near Tucson, Lost Dutchman in Apache Junction and Alamo Lake will close along with several others.
Six profitable parks and three others that generate significant revenue in the spring and summer will remain open. They include Kartchner Caverns, Slide Rock, Lake Havasu, Cattail Cove and Buckskin Mountain.
State Park staff had offered the State Parks Board solutions that potentially could keep some parks open because they recognize the $266 million crisis for rural economies if the system were dismantled. "The State Parks system offers 27 destinations for 2.3 million tourists a year to travel into these rural communities as the system was envisioned by the Legislature in 1957 when the agency was created," said Reese Woodling the State Parks Board Chair. "State and National Parks are the tourism draws for visitors from around the world and any interruption in service causes dramatic impacts on the leisure economies, including impacting more than 3,000 leisure jobs in rural Arizona," he said.
The Legislature has cut 61 percent of the state parks budget since July. In December the Arizona State Parks department's budget was reduced by $8.6 million during the 5th Special Session of the Legislature.
7 comments:
As an RVer who has visited a lot of the parks that are closing, I know it is a loss to us, hopefully temporary. However, I must admire AZ for doing what our government SHOULD be doing: not spending money it doesn't have.
Seems like they are shooting themselves in the foot. Texas has warm winters too. And not quite as crowded.
Winter Arizonan
You know it is not the closing of the STATE PARKS persay, it is the fact that they will be blocked off and we won't have access to some of the most beautiful areas in the United States. What will happen to these treasured lands??? Will they get sold off for profit to some foreign country like so many of our other assets? What will happen to the lands where the eagles fly, the coyotes howl,and the deer and antelope run free?? Why can't these leglislators come up with a solution, do what they do best raise taxes or entrance fees on these American treasures!! What a sad day for all of us.
Why are we not hearing about this in the media. Someone needs to suggest to the state that they use work campers to help keep the parks open. We can do it, mostly for a place to park our rig, espcially during the winter months.
Luckily we have many other beautiful alternatives here. Many are free, while others are federal facilities that are available for 1/3 the cost. Frankly I wouldn't stay at a State park here anyway because they gouged us with fees and weren't all that attractive in the first place!
I guess I do not understand. Why don't they lease these parks to a private company who can keep them open. Many National Forest campgrounds are operated in this manner. A win-win situation.
Lately I have revisited the idea of privatizing state parks (an idea I use to abhor) or at least letting them be operated by private interests. Maybe the laws of supply and demand might work in our favor: might mean higher costs to us RV'ers but at least the parks will remain open. It might just balance out and take some of the pressure off the AZ legislature.
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