State sites close early for lack of green
Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 3:38 pm
State sites close early for lack of green
http://www.lohud.com/article/2008810190371[e]The state's fiscal problems have forced some state parks to close earlier than planned, cut hours of operations and reduce the number of trails that will be plowed for recreation this winter.[/e]
The reduction in services ranges from closing some boat launches last week instead of next month to closing Clermont State Historic Site in the Hudson Valley from January through March instead of it being open year round.
Camping at Darien Lake, Hamlin Beach and Lakeside Beach state parks in western New York was halted last week rather than in early November as usual. The Chenango Valley campgrounds in Broome County close this weekend.
School trips, tours and holiday events at some state historical sites also are to be curtailed, including at Fort Montgomery in Bear Mountain State Park and at Stony Point Revolutionary War Battlefield in Rockland. [e]Winter tubing at Letchworth State Park in the Finger Lakes will be suspended.[/e]
State agencies were ordered this summer to lower spending by about 10 percent because of mid-year budget deficits caused by the economic downturn. [e]Parks officials said they needed to cut about $9 million, of which $4 million had to come from direct park services and included reducing seasonal staff.[/e]New York has the nation's oldest park system.
"We're trying to minimize the direct impact on the public," said Eileen Larrabee, spokeswoman for the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
The parks department already has faced a backlash from the public and political leaders in Rensselaer County after closing Schodack Island State Park until spring. It also has closed until spring a boat launch at Silver Lake State Park in Wyoming County and on Nov. 1 will close Woodlawn Beach State Park on Lake Erie.
Rensselaer County Legislator Martin Reed said the parks department should have reached out to community leaders before closing parks and eliminating services. He said that upstate New York, compared with parks in New York City, is bearing the brunt of the cutbacks. Parks officials said parks in the city also are having hours and services scaled back.
"It's unfortunate," Reed said, "that they've chosen to make the cuts and went about them quietly without reaching out to the sportsmen and the conservation community to see if they would want to volunteer to keep some of these places open."
Some parks officials said the cuts were made to have the least impact on the facilities and the public, focusing on places, for example, with the fewest visitors.
"What we tried to do with some of these reductions is to balance the amount of opportunity we are able to provide against demand and against revenue that might be produced," said James Hall, executive director of Palisades Interstate Park Commission, a state-run agency in New York and New Jersey.
The commission closed bathrooms earlier than usual at Rockland Lake State Park near Nyack. It also will limit the number of groomed trails this winter at Rockland Lake and Minnewaska State Park in Ulster County for hiking and cross-country skiing.
Robert Maher, president and co-founder of Friends of Rockland Lake and Hook Mountain, said the state parks, among the best in the country, already are in need of repairs. He said the state is missing a chance to invest in the parks at a time people are traveling closer to home because of high transportation costs.
"To go and dismantle our parks, which have truly been underfunded for the last 30 to 40 years, is just going to have devastating impacts for future generations," he said.
[e]Ironically, before the agency cuts, the state made an unprecedented investment in the parks. The current budget includes $132 million for capital improvements at many of the state's 178 state parks and 35 historical sites. It is the largest infusion of cash in the system in state history.[/e]
Some park advocates said that while many state budget cuts may go unnoticed by the public, service reductions to state parks can be felt more directly.
"These are just right in people's faces," said Robin Dropkin, executive director of Parks & Trails New York, a nonprofit group.
Dropkin hoped the cuts wouldn't affect the capital improvements plan, agreeing with Maher that because of the nation's economic malaise, "the closer-to-home recreational opportunities are going to be even more important."