Ken Travous

Board won’t close any more Arizona state parks, for now

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[Source: Casey Newton, Arizona Republic] — The Arizona State Parks Board will make it to July without having to close any more parks, provided lawmakers do not take any more funds from the agency, officials said Friday.  Ken Travous, state parks director, told the board that the agency had successfully filled a $5 million budget gap remaining after cuts earlier this year.  The board filled the gap by suspending and canceling grants, holding positions open and reducing operating expenses.

Like most state agencies, the parks board has seen its budget cut dramatically over the past 12 months.  Three state parks already have closed indefinitely to allow for repairs and to save money, and the agency had initially put eight more parks on the chopping block.  However, Travous said Friday that the parks system can survive fiscal year 2010 as well without closing parks, pending the outcome of this year’s budget session.  Travous said lawmakers were threatening to take $12 million from the parks in 2010, a potentially devastating move.  [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

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.]

Viewpoint: Arizona State Parks blind-sided Jerome

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[Source: Dan Engler, Editor, Verde Valley News] — During the past month the rallying cry from the folks at Arizona State Parks is that the Legislature does not care about the state parks system.  By the same token, it’s also fair to say that Arizona State Parks does not care much about the communities in which their parks reside.  In early February, State Parks Director Ken Travous recommended to his board that five state parks in Arizona be closed immediately followed by three more later in the year.  Included among those parks initially recommended for closure was Fort Verde State Park in Camp Verde.

The Parks Board was not so convinced that it should take such drastic measures, even though the state is broke and there are few state parks in Arizona that generate profit-making revenue.  Nearly three weeks later, Travous announced that he was sticking to his guns about the necessity for closing some of Arizona’s state parks, and among those topping the list this time around was Jerome State Historic Park and Red Rock State Park in Sedona.  He made his announcement on a Thursday, and one day later it was a done deal. [Note: To read the full editorial, click here. To read a reader’s opposing viewpoint, 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.