Mar 14, 2008

Nature lovers fight to save state park

Proposed budget cuts threaten public access to redwood preserve

By Julia Scott / Bay Area News Group

More than 27,000 visitors witness the stirring beauty of Portola Redwoods State Park each year, setting up tents or day-tripping down trails that lead from Skyline Boulevard and up to the folds and vistas of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Those visitors could find the gates of the park closed to them next year. It has been selected as one of 48 state parks proposed for closure under a plan to help the state stave off a projected $8 billion budget deficit.

If Portola Redwoods closes, it will be the first time since the park system was founded in 1902 that a state park is forced to close due to budget pressure, said California State Parks spokesman Roy Stearns.

The closure of the 2,900-acre park would shut Bay Area nature lovers out of one of the last few redwood preserves in the area. Its 18 miles of trails and foothill overlooks are part of a greenbelt connecting it to the Long Ridge Open Space Preserve, which is maintained by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, and to the much larger Pescadero Creek Park on its western flank.

"Portola Redwoods is just so close to the Bay Area. It's so easy to get to. It's so pristine and beautiful, and it's such a healthy ecosystem," said Lowell Moulton, a San Mateo resident who has hiked there since the 1970s. "You go down that State Park Road, and you're in the redwoods. It would be a shame to lose it."

A 1,200-foot, 300-year-old redwood welcomes visitors to the park, which also provides the closest public campground access to the Bay Area - for the base price of $25 a night.

"There are so few opportunities to camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Unless you go all the way down to Castle Rock State Park, or Big Basin Redwoods State Park or Butano State Park (the only other campground in the county). It's much more accessible to folks on the Peninsula side," said Bill Young, who leads hikes through Portola Redwoods and other local parks for the Loma Prieta chapter of the Sierra Club.

Young is helping raise awareness about the "Save Our Parks" campaign, launched in January to convince the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to leave state parks alone when the 2008-09 budget comes up for final revision on May 15. Led by the California State Parks Foundation, its backers include the San Mateo County Department of Parks as well as individuals and environmental groups.

Other Bay Area parks on the chopping block include Candlestick Point State Recreation Area, Tomales Bay State Park and Henry Coe State Park near Morgan Hill.

California State Parks was asked to propose general fund cuts of up to 10 percent, for a savings of $13.3 million. Although 83 percent of existing parks would remain open, 113 park rangers and maintenance workers could lose their jobs.

Elizabeth Goldstein, president of the California State Parks Foundation, used words like "absurd" and "draconian" to describe the proposal to cut 10 percent of the budget of an agency that only constitutes 0.1 percent of the state's overall general fund.

"The cuts achieve maximum harm for a minimum gain," said Goldstein. "Thirteen million dollars is change on the cutting-room floor of the Department of Finance."

Not only would locals lose "the second biggest purveyor of education beyond the school districts," she fears they would probably never see them reopen.

"When you shut down a natural site, these sites don't take care of themselves. They're going to be deteriorating to the point where they're extremely costly to reopen, and that will incentivize the state not to reopen them," Goldstein said.

She suggested that the closed parks could be a target for trespassers who might build a fire that, left unchecked, could burn out of control.

Stearns, spokesman for State Parks, acknowledged the possibility of trespassing and vandalism of areas remanded to "caretaker" status - a nice way of saying that rangers and maintenance crews would rarely stop by.

"We don't want to abandon them, we aren't going to sell them," he said.

At the same time, though, the department also can't afford to maintain them. According to a State Parks memo, the department's budget has been slashed nearly every year since the 1980s, and maintenance costs are underfunded by $117 million each year.

"Rather than reduce every park in the area 10 percent, which would reduce their services beyond safety levels, we decided to close some," he said.

Not that the public has been happy about it, based on the feedback he's received - especially from communities that depend on tourist dollars generated by park visitors.

In the case of Portola Redwoods, Molton worries locals could lose out on an even bigger benefit - their connection with nature.

"People need to see wildlife. If they don't, they won't fight for it. They'll let the land get logged," he said.





INFO BOX

To lend your voice to the Save Our Parks campaign, visit www.savestateparks.org.

For directions and other information about Portola Redwoods State Park, visit http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=539