Arizona State Parks Board

Tubac state park avoids closure, for now

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Tubac Presidio State Historic Park

[Source: Green Valley News] — Tubac Presidio State Historic Park was among eight state parks that saw a reprieve Tuesday after the parks board said it would look at other options before closing the doors to save money.  State parks director Ken Travous went into Tuesday’s meeting with a list of eight locations recommended for closure based on visitor counts and operating costs.  The agency is struggling with a deficit projected to reach $647,000 by June.  “We need to make up a lot of money real fast,” Travous said.  “We’re out of time.”

Rather than endorsing the plan, the board asked Arizona State Parks to look at options such as employee furloughs and cutting park hours before it takes up the issue again Feb. 20.  “We need a bigger menu of options,” said State Land Commissioner Mark Winkleman, a member of the board.

Along with Tubac, Travous proposed closing Riordan Mansion State Historic Park in Flagstaff, Fort Verde State Historic Park in Camp Verde, Homolovi Ruins State Park in Winslow, Lyman Lake State Park in Springerville, McFarland State Historic in Florence, Oracle State Park, and Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park.

Garry Hembree, a 27-year resident of Tubac and president of the Tubac Chamber of Commerce, said he found the proposal upsetting.  “The people who established the state park knew the historical significance of it and knew that it was important enough to open Arizona’s first state park,” he said.  “I just think that for that reason, regardless of the attendance or anything else, it’s worth preserving.”  [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

Viewpoint: Regional rescue plan needed to keep Fort Verde state park open

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Fort Verde State Historic Park

[Source: Dan Engler, Editor, Verde News] — Talk of government budget cuts are often like the boy who cried wolf.  They’re designed to attract attention.  They are the means to an end.  Such was the case the last time the folks from Arizona State Parks announced plans to close some of our state parks in the Verde Valley.  It was March 1991 and both Fort Verde and Dead Horse State Parks were on the chopping block.  At least that was what we were told by Arizona State Parks.

It caused an uproar.  More than 100 folks showed up to a public meeting in Cottonwood to protest the closing of Dead Horse. There, we learned courtesy of former District 1 Rep. Don Aldridge, that State Parks was playing poker.  The strategy, Aldridge explained, was to create controversy in various communities throughout the state to stimulate political pressure to preserve, or even bolster, the budget of State Parks.  Aldridge characterized it as bureaucratic gamesmanship and outright scare tactics.

In the end, Aldridge was proved right when former Gov. Fife Symington devised a plan to earmark 50 percent of State Parks’ acquisition of development fund to maintain the operation of the existing parks, Fort Verde and Dead Horse among them. State Parks simply was given permission to shift funds from one portion of its budget — the Kartchner Caverns slush fund — to another to stem the early ’90s so-called budget crisis.

The boy who cried wolf was exposed.  His bluff was called.  This time, it’s different.  This is not a case of crying wolf.  This budget crisis is the real thing.  [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

After emotional hearing, Arizona state parks board puts off decision on closures

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[Source: Andrea Wilson, Cronkite News Service] — Eileen Gannon’s ancestors gave Arizona the land and structures that make up Riordan Mansion State Historic Park in Flagstaff.  The agreement has the property reverting to the family if the park closes.  On Tuesday, with Arizona State Parks recommending closing Riordan and seven other parks as it deals with budget cuts, Gannon said her family would wind up having to protect the 13,000-square-foot mansion and its historic artifacts, something that she said it isn’t in a position to do.  “This would be an enormous problem for my family,” Gannon told the Arizona State Parks Board during an emotional public hearing.

Rather than endorsing the plan, the board asked Arizona State Parks to look at options other than closures, such as employee furloughs and cutting back on park hours, before it takes up the issue again at its Feb. 20.  “We need a bigger menu of options,” said State Land Commissioner Mark Winkleman, a member of the board.

Ken Travous, the agency’s executive director, also proposed closing Fort Verde State Historic Park in Camp Verde, Homolovi Ruins State Park in Winslow, Lyman Lake State Park in Springerville, McFarland State Historic in Florence, Oracle State Park, Tubac Presidio State Historic Park and Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park.  Travous said he selected the parks based on visitor counts and the cost of running them as the agency tries to deal with a deficit projected to reach $647,000 by June.  “We need to make up a lot of money real fast,” he said. “We’re out of time.”

The board’s seven members said they regretted having to address the possibility of closures because they have attachments to the parks.  “It makes me sick to think that we are in this situation, but we are,” said Reese Woodling, the board’s chairman.   [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

Arizona state park closures delayed

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[Source: Casey Newton, Arizona Republic] — The closure of eight state parks was delayed Tuesday as the Arizona State Parks Board asked to be given more alternatives to consider.  The board voted unanimously to ask parks director Ken Travous and his staff to consider closing parks seasonally, furloughs for employees, and other reductions in operating expenses in an effort to spare the parks targeted for closing.  “I’d like to see a bigger menu,” said Mark Winkelman, a member of the board and the Arizona State Land Commissioner.  “We need to come up with some options instead of (just taking) one approach.”

The board will meet again Feb. 20, when it is scheduled to make a final decision.  The parks up for closure are: Fort Verde State Historic Park in Camp Verde; Homolovi Ruins State Park in Winslow; Lyman Lake State Park in Springerville; McFarland State Historic Park in Florence; Oracle State Park in Oracle; Riordan Mansion State Historic Park in Flagstaff; Tubac Presidio State Historic Park in Tubac; and Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park.

About 20 people from around the state spoke out during a Tuesday morning meeting that lasted more than three hours.  In all cases, speakers urged the board to resist closing the parks and seek alternatives to closing a 2009 budget deficit estimated at $650,000.  “We must be vigilant in saving our few remaining historic buildings as a legacy for our future generations,” said Shifra Lea Boehlje, a volunteer at Fort Verde.  “If we don’t preserve these buildings and artifacts, we will be destroying the only remaining monuments devoted to the memory of those soldiers who gave their lives for this great state.”

Despite residents’ cries, Travous was not optimistic that park closings could be avoided. “We need to make up a lot of money real fast,” said Travous, who has worked at the parks department since 1986. “We can chip around the edges, but the fact is that we’re out of time.”