Campgrounds

Cattail Cove Proposal gets Legislative Committee’s Backing at $6.4 million

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Source:  Today’s News-Herald Havasunews.com – September 27, 2016

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misstated the price of each cabin. The information came from the Associated Press. The state would have the option to purchase each cabin at a price of $4,500 after six years, according to a state parks spokesman. The story has been updated to reflect the accurate information.

An Arizona legislative committee has backed a planned $6.4 million redevelopment of Cattail Cove State Park, as well as millions more dollars toward parks throughout the state to improve amenities at state campgrounds.

The funding may mark the reversal of a downward trend in budget cuts to the State Parks agency since 2012, according to records from the Arizona Budget Appropriations Committee. Four years ago, State Parks operated with a budget of about $96 million. By 2016, that budget had been slashed by more than $60 million, according to budget records.

The state also will fund $2.5 million in projects at five other parks to fund expansion and improvements to existing state parks such as Buckskin Mountain State Park near Parker and Alamo State Park in La Paz County. The state also recently announced it was planning a new state park near Contact Point.

“I’m excited to see them renovating and refurbishing the area,” said State Rep. Sonny Borrelli, R-Lake Havasu City. “It’s going to positively affect the district and obviously Havasu, and it’s very exciting to see the state paying attention to Mohave County. We are the gateway to Arizona.”

Borrelli believes the renovations will have a positive impact on the Havasu region’simages economy as state lands see improvements and upgrades over the next several years. Proposed renovations to Sandpoint Marina and Cattail Cove have lain dormant for years, Borrelli said, and completing those renovations will bolster tourism and economic development for the Havasu region.

Lake Havasu Marine Association CEO Jim Salscheider says potential development of Cattail Cove and Sandpoint Marina would make Havasu’s future much brighter. Sandpoint Marina was once a popular destination for RV motorists, but was closed in 2015 when State Parks chose not to renew the operators’ lease over the land.

“Sandpoint has great views and a marina,” Salscheider said. “I see a great future there. Cattail Cove is a great campground, and they can have high-end motor coaches at the marina – it will bring in two kinds of clientele coming from California. The renovations would also spread boating traffic out, which would be a big plus for the lake and the boaters who use it.”

Through the deal, six of Arizona’s state parks will have the option of purchasing 100 cabins from an undisclosed vendor, at a cost of $4,500 per cabin after six years, and then receive 100 percent of rental revenue, according to the Associated Press.

The state currently maintains 28 cabins at Roper Lake, Alamo Lake, Dead Horse Ranch and Lyman Lake State Parks. The rate of occupancy for each of those cabins is about 50 percent this year, and State Parks officials believe there is a market for more of them throughout Arizona.

Rebounding Arizona State Parks System Plans to Add 100 Rental Cabins

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Source:  KJZZ 91.5.com – September 28, 2016

Arizona’s rebounding state parks system plans to more than quadruple the number of rental cabins at parks statewide, one of several major projects on the drawing board to improve and expand parks facilities less than a decade after the system struggled to keep parks open during the Great Recession. A legislative oversight committee’s recent endorsement of the plan set the stage for Arizona State Parks to solicit proposals from private vendors for 100 additional cabins at six parks.

The plan would have the park system pay a fraction of the cabins’ up-front costs, with most of the costs paid by a vendor who would provide the cabins. The state and the vendor then would share the rental revenue.

Parks where new cabins would be located are Cattail Cove at Lake Havasu, Lost imagesDutchman in Apache Junction, Dead Horse Ranch in Cottonwood, Roper Lake near Safford, Alamo Lake north of Wenden and Buckskin Mountain near Parker. There are now 28 cabins at four parks: Roper Lake, Alamo Lake, Dead Horse Ranch and Lyman Lake near Springerville.

THE REASONING BEYOND THE PLAN

Executive Director Sue Black said the basis for the planned additional cabins is a belief that there’s a market for them.  “Visitor service is the No. 1 thing,” she told the Associated Press. “My theory is that people want to rent them.” Cabins are particularly useful to tourists visiting Arizona from other countries who can’t easily camp, she said.

“They don’t have all the equipment and gear to go out camping per se,” Black said. “There is the demand out there.” Investments in park improvements pay off, she said. “We electrified 60 sites at one of the parks and our revenue doubled.”

A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS

The money to pay for the state’s anticipated $963,300 share of the up-front costs would come from two special funds, including one fed by taxes on boaters’ gas purchases.  The state would have the option to purchase the 100 cabins from the vendor for $450,000 per cabin after six years and then receive 100 percent of the rental revenue.

“It’s creative financing is what it is,” Black told the AP. “Raise revenues and re-invest … to generate more revenue. Rinse and repeat.”  The occupancy rate for the existing 28 cabins is about 52 percent, according to legislative budget staff. Senior Fiscal Analyst Micaela Larkin told lawmakers during a Sept. 21 committee hearing that the question is whether that rate can be duplicated when there are many more cabins. Black expressed confidence about that during the AP interview. “There is the demand out there,” she said. “I think it’s an exciting time for the parks.”

TIMES HAVE CHANGED

The oversight committee endorsed the cabins project at a meeting when lawmakers also backed a planned $6.4 million redevelopment of Cattail Cove State Park and a total of nearly $2.5 million of projects at five other parks.  The current lineup of expansion and improvement projects stands in sharp contrast to the beginning of the current decade when during the Great Recession the parks system struggled to keep parks open, let alone add facilities or amenities.

Legislators faced with plummeting tax revenues raided the parks system’s funding, and auditors reported in 2012 that reductions or shifts of park system funding totaled $72 million over a five-year period.  Several parks were closed, and others went to seasonal status and operations as the agency shed personnel to cut costs. The state resorted to asking local governments and volunteers to help keep some parks open.

“Don’t Privatize Our Public Parks” Opinion by William Thornton

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Source:  Arizona Daily Star – September 5, 2016

Sometimes a good editorial cartoon says more than an entire column.  A good example, by Jeff Stahler, appeared in the Arizona Daily Star on Aug. 27.  A family listens to ghost stories by the campfire.  Father assumes his scariest pose and says: “And then the decided to privatize the national parks.”

It’s a story that’s becoming reality in state and national parks and public lands.  A complex multifaceted issue with strong proponents on each side.  Good information including pros and cons is available online.  I can’t begin to cover the entire subject but in 30-plus years of camping in state, National Park and Forest Service campgrounds we’ve seen the good the bad and the ugly of public vs. contracted private operation.

Fool Hollow State Park on the edge of Show Low is the gold standard for how a park should be run.  We’ve averagedFOHO_G_02 at least two visits per year over more than 25 years and always found it to be fastidiously clean and well maintained. Best of all we’ve never been bothered by loud music or rowdy behavior.  In mid-summer our favorite high-country campgrounds, Winn, and Apache Trout at Big Lake, are run by the same private company under contract to the U.S. Forest Service.

A noteworthy difference between state-run Fool Hollow and contract-operated Winn and Big Lake is the much larger ratio of campers to camp hosts at Winn and Big Lake. Good for the contractor’s bottom line but what about the quality of camping experience.  It depends on the camp hosts.  Over many years camp hosts at Winn have been some of nicest people we’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. Friendly, helpful, courteous and conscientious.

At Big Lake it’s been a mixed bag. Camp hosts included one who came on like a marine drill sergeant.  Another required a verbal kick in the fanny to enforce camp ground rules when children drove a go-cart up and down the road subjecting campers to nerve-racking noise and clouds of dust while the camp host did nothing. On another visit an overloaded trash bin stunk so badly that you could smell it half a mile away.

When camping experiences depend on the quality of hosts, we deserve better than luck of the draw whether in state, federal, or contract-operated facilities.  Oversight is the key.  On site-operators will be as good or as bad as the standards they are held to by campground owners, and that would be us. When they take the oath of office, our elected officials accept the awesome responsibility of managing our public lands for present and future generations. When they fail as stewards it’s because we’ve allowed them to.

As we celebrate the 100th birthday of our National Park Service we can be thankful for the foresight of private citizens and elected officials who created a network of protected public lands that’s the envy of the entire world. We must also accept responsibility for the $12 billion of deferred maintenance in our national parks, and many million more in our state parks.  Can private contractors be part of the solution? With effective oversight maybe so; but they must be held to a higher standard than what we’ve experienced.  It’s an election year.  On the presidential level it may be little more than a name-calling contest, but many other state and national offices are up for grabs.  If we want a well-maintained network of parks open and accessible to all now is the time to speak up.

William Thornton is a second-generation native Arizonan, conservationist and outdoor enthusiast. He serves on the boards of the Arizona Heritage Alliance and Friends of Ironwood Forest. Contact him at cactusworld@msn.com

Love Arizona parks? Then get out there and use them

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635528131686761919-VerdeKayak-CVR[Arizona Republic Editorial board, December 8, 2014] – There’s a big difference between idealizing a faraway river and feeling the current beneath your boat. That distinction matters to Arizona’s state parks, and the Arizona State Parks Foundation understands why.

When city folks express support for the state parks, it represents a casual friendship. When people get out there and experience the real thing, it leads to a committed, long-term relationship — a relationship worth working to preserve and enrich.

“The more people we get into the parks, the more people will be actively interested in the parks,” says Bill Meek, president of the parks foundation board. “We need to get people out there experiencing what we’ve got.”

An engaged constituency is essential because politicians have not been good to the parks. Funding was stripped during the recession, and the current budget deficit may lead to more pain.

Lack of funding translates into at least $80 million in capital needs at the 31 natural, historic and archaeological sites that make up the state parks system. In addition to funding to keep the sites safe and well maintained, more than $200 million in capital projects have been requested to provide better experiences for visitors.

The problem is not a lack of public support. Over the years, Arizonans have shown continued support for parks in polls, through surveys and at the ballot box. In 1990, they approved the Heritage Fund, which targeted $10 million annually to the parks from Lottery revenues.

The problem is lack of public engagement. Consider this: Lawmakers stripped Heritage funding from the parks during the Great Recession while letting it continue to flow to the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Hunters and anglers form a strong and active constituency. Lawmakers didn’t ignore them.

The constituency for state parks is much broader and less actively engaged politically.

Enter an idea that could help raise money and public consciousness on behalf of these state treasures.

Verde River kayak tours run by the Verde River Institute and the parks foundation include a guide to interpret the flora and fauna, as well as stops at local communities and a tasting session at a winery cooperative.

The $200 fee includes a $115 donation to the parks foundation. Tours this fall brought in about $5,000, which will become seed money to develop a business plan to expand the tours, parks foundation Executive Director Cristie Statler told The Arizona Republic’s Mary Jo Pitzl.

Meek says if the tours are expanded, they could develop a funding stream that lawmakers could not sweep. He says parks systems around the country are using “social enterprise,” an idea that uses commercial strategies to benefit human or environmental needs. That’s the kind of creative thinking our parks need in these tough budget times.

But that’s not all.

Giving people a hands-on experience with resources they had not previously touched deepens their understanding and appreciation. It builds deep commitment. That makes them more likely to “take action and talk to their legislators,” says Doug Von Gausig, director of the Verde River Institute. He leads the river tours.

The more opportunities people have to experience the state parks, the more committed Arizonans will be to speak up for these amazing places.

Source: http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/editorial/2014/12/07/state-parks-benefit-engaged-constituency/20058401/