Historic Preservation

Newsweek magazine covers Arizona State Parks mess

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[Source: Jessica Ramirez, Newsweek Magazine] — Ken Travous has spent the past month trying to get out of the red.  During a meeting with Arizona State Parks Board members Feb. 3, Travous, who serves as parks director, explained that statewide budget cuts would mean he’d have to close up to 11 state parks. The board naturally wanted to avoid such drastic measures and asked him to come back with “more options” for cutting $27 million.

Unfortunately, the options aren’t necessarily better.  Shutting down the parks would mean closing some of the oldest public lands in the state, a loss of about 31 jobs and roughly $50 million dollars in economic impact to the state. Plan B would mean asking employees to take furloughs, laying off up to 40 park workers, and cutting about $12 million in funds for community projects like local parks, trail developments, and historic preservation.  Without that funding, landscapers, carpenters, and plumbers hired by these communities would be out of work.  It’s this choice that made him feel like he’d been punched in the stomach every time he sits down at his desk.  “I have spent the last 23 years as the director of this state park system, building it up,” he says.  “Now I see it crumbling beneath my feet, and it makes me sick.”   [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

Arizona State Archives shuttered due to budget crisis

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[Source: Ray Stern, Phoenix New Times] — The new, $29 million Polly Rosenbaum State Archives and History Building Reading Room that opened late last year has closed until further notice — another victim of state budget cuts.  “I’m hoping something is going to happen so that we can re-open it,” says GladysAnn Wells, state librarian and director of the Arizona State Library, Archives, and Public Records.

Stuck for years in a cramped space at the State Capitol, the new facility at 19th Avenue and Madison Street pleased state workers and visitors alike with “50 times more room” for reading and research, according to a November 30, 2008 Cronkite New Service article.  Wells says the facility had been seeing about 10 to 25 visitors a day, but now will be available only for research “emergencies.”  The state agency’s Law and Research Library Divison, the “primary legal resource” for state officials, will remain open on reduced hours — from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wells says. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

Arizona’s budget crisis may cut funding, close several state parks

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Riordan Mansion, Flagstaff (Photo: Jen Merrill, NAU Lumberjack)

[Source: Matthew Vinsko, JackCentral] — In response to Arizona’s $1.6 billion deficit, the Arizona State Parks Board (ASPB) decided on Feb. 20 to close two state parks.  Many others will receive a drop in funds, and may be closed in FY 2009, including Flagstaff’s Riordan Mansion.  These parks cost too much to maintain compared to what tourism and other outlets bring in financially.

Bill Meek, the president of the Arizona State Parks Foundation, said with the obvious need for cuts throughout the state, it was a foregone conclusion that parks would be affected.  “It was pretty apparent that (they) could not make it through the year with the money that they have,” Meek said.  “(Because) we face the same problems as the universities, it is just as hard to get away from the legislature.”

Kendra Stoks, a volunteer for more than two years at Riordan Mansion, said this time of uncertainty has been hard on all those involved with Arizona state parks.  “It is a scary time right now,” Stoks said.  “State parks mean a lot to Arizona.  We are all still shocked about (potentially) losing that little piece of history.” [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

Viewpoint: Local vigilance needed as Arizona’s state parks close

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File:Douglas Mansion.jpg
Douglas Mansion, Jerome State Historic Park

[Source: Camp Verde Bugle] — It’s official.  Jerome State Historic Park will close its doors.  By all appearances, Fort Verde will not be far behind.

Don’t panic.  When the State Parks Board voted Friday to shutter the Jerome park, it was with the understanding that repairs would be done and that some day the grand old place would be open to the public again in better shape than it is now.  Like Tonto Natural Bridge State Park near Payson, Jerome has long needed a repair closure. Though personnel had not received official notification Saturday, the understanding is the Jerome park will be shut down by Feb. 27.

Even if Fort Verde State Park follows the same path, which could happen at the next meeting of the Parks Board, this should not be considered a permanent move — not if residents remain vigilant.

While other parks like Oracle and Homolovi Ruins were temporarily spared, we have to agree with Parks Director Ken Travous that it is unlikely that the concerned groups will be able to raise enough money to maintain them. That is also true of Fort Verde, which has been even more costly to run than Jerome has.  No matter how many Friends or ex-Friends the fort may have, no one has that kind of money, certainly not the Camp Verde Historical Society.

What is important in Jerome (and in Camp Verde if and when the fort closes) is for residents to keep an eye on operations during the closure.  Jerome’s Douglas Mansion is supposed to be closed for repairs.  If residents note that the state is not spending money on such repairs, then it would be time to get more involved.  If the buildings and fences of Fort Verde appear to be taking a slide, locals should dig down and help with the upkeep of Camp Verde’s centerpiece.

The closed parks are not being abandoned by the state, just shuttered.  The rest of us should not abandon the parks, either.  In hard economic times, it will take vigilance to make sure these closures are only temporary.