Camp Verde worries as state park is threatened with closure

Jack Stewart (left) of Flagstaff and Jesse Rodrigues of Prescott, volunteers at Fort Verde State Historic Park (Photo: Andrea Wilson)

[Source: Andrea Wilson, Cronkite News Service] — Dressed in a handmade cavalry uniform, Jack Stewart gives a crisp salute to a veteran touring the adobe buildings at Fort Verde State Historic Park.  In the museum, Peggy Morris, outfitted in a prairie dress, explains to a visitor how a painting accurately depicts when Gen. George Crook commanded the fort in the late 1800s.  Other volunteers churn butter, cook hardtack and tend a garden to let visitors feel what life was like when the garrison protected settlers in the Verde Valley.  “The park and its artifacts are priceless,” said Morris, a retired widow who lives in neighboring Camp Verde. “Our hearts are really in this.”

“This place is cherished and loved,” said Stewart, who drives from Flagstaff for his volunteer duty.  “I shudder to think what would happen if it was abandoned.”

A roadside display topped by a cannon bills Camp Verde as “Home of Historic Fort Verde.”  But Fort Verde could soon close due to state budget cuts, a move that would sever community ties extending far beyond the park’s economic value.  Mary Taylor, chairwoman of the Camp Verde Chamber of Commerce, dropped by the park on a recent weekday to check in with the rangers.  She’s among the area residents with a family connection to Fort Verde: her great-grandfather was a doctor here, something that makes the prospect of the park closing especially painful.  “It’s hard because it’s personal,” Taylor said.

Mayor Tony Gioia said losing Fort Verde would take away the main draw for downtown Camp Verde, where many businesses are designed to complement the park’s historic flavor.  “The town functions on sales tax,” Gioia said.  “Now, in these economic times, tourism is especially vital.”  [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

Arizona House panel backs funding special fund for state parks

Florence's McFarland State Historic Park, including 1878 courthouse, now closed.

[Source: Associated Press] — Republican legislators on Tuesday moved to keep state parks open by taking money from a special fund for land conservation, rejecting criticism that the proposed diversion could violate a constitutional protection for voter-approved laws.  The House Government Committee voted 6-3 to postpone for one year a $20 million annual payment to the Land Conservation Fund and use the money to undo parks-related spending cuts and fund transfers included in a recent midyear budget-balancing package.

Parks officials have said the budget cuts could force closures of eight parks, and backers of the new proposal called it a creative way to keep some or all open.  Parks tabbed for possible closure: Fort Verde State Historic Park in Camp Verde, Homolovi Ruins State Park in Winslow, Lyman Lake State Park in Springerville, 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.   One of the eight, McFarland State Historic Park in Florence, was closed Friday because of deteriorating facilities.

The Land Conservation Fund was created under so-called “Growing Smarter” legislation that was approved by voters after being referred to the 1998 ballot by the Legislature.  Under the Arizona Constitution, changes to voter-approved laws can only be made with 3/4 votes by each legislative chamber and if the change furthers the intent of the original law.

Rep. Warde Nichols, a Chandler Republican who proposed the diversion, called it a “creative way” to keeping parks open while comporting with the 1998 law’s intent by promoting conservation and recreation activities.  Besides, with housing construction in a slump, “urban sprawl in our state is not currently a problem,” he said.

Rep. Tom Chabin, D-Flagstaff, said the conservation fund was for land acquisition, not other purposes.  “It could be considered a twist of logic,” he said.  Sierra Club lobbyist Sandy Bahr said the 1998 law “was sold to voters” as providing money for land conservation.  “You’re really out on a limb here,” she said.  [Note: To read the full article, click here.  To read related Arizona Republic article, click here.]

Tubac state park avoids closure, for now

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

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.]