[Source: Horizon, KAET, Ted Simons, 9-30-2009] — As PBS and Ken Burns examine the rich scenic and cultural values of our national parks, KAET’s Horizon focuses its lens on Arizona State Parks. We’ll preview an upcoming report from ASU’s Morrison Institute that considers the role and future of Arizona’s 30 State Parks. Guests include State Parks Director, Renee Bahl; State Parks Board member, Bill Scalzo; and Morrison Institute’s Grady Gammage, Jr. who also serves on the Sustainable State Parks Task Force. [Note: to watch the segment, click here.]
Renee Bahl
Arizona State Parks restores funding to Heritage Fund grant projects
[Source: Sedona.biz, 9-30-2009] — On Tuesday, September 22, 2009, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) gave a favorable review to the Agency’s request to backfill cuts made to its operating budget. With the Committee’s favorable review, the Parks Board unsuspended Heritage Fund grants that had been frozen in February 2009. “We are extremely happy to release funding for these very worthy trails, historic preservation, and park projects,” said Renée Bahl, Executive Director.
In order deal with a 26% reduction in the in the department’s ongoing operating budget compared to July 2008, Arizona State Parks will be reducing parks operations and hours. [Note: To read the full story, click here.]
Viewpoint: Arizona State Parks won’t get blood from a turnip
[Source: Camp Verde Bugle] — Arizona State Parks is more money-strapped than ever before under the new operating budget, but if the department is going to rely on supplemental funding from the communities it serves, state parks will be dropping like flies. Payson somehow found the money to help keep Tonto Natural Bridge State Park open on weekends this summer, and there was a similar situation in Yuma. The reality is, most towns next to state parks are not floating in spare cash. You know what they say about getting blood from a turnip.
Arizona State Parks has heightened its call for help beyond your basic volunteers. They want cash. They would especially like funds from local towns. It has a selling job to do in order to winkle money out of penny-pinching municipalities. There has to be viable proof of value to the town. If, for instance, the Town of Camp Verde found some extra coins in its linty pockets and dedicated it to a Fort Verde fund, would there really be a return on its investment? Or would it be a stop-gap measure to allow the park to hang on just a little longer?
Fort Verde is an example of a park that could do with a real concrete partnership with the Town of Camp Verde. Fort Verde has already cut operation hours and staff, and more cuts would come hard. Governmental partnerships are key to financial survival at this stage. [Note: To read the full article, click here]
Viewpoint: Arizona’s heritage? What heritage?
[Source: Editor, Phoenix Magazine] — State Parks officials announced Monday that they would be cutting the budget for Arizona parks even further, tapping special funds that were earmarked for park maintenance and conservation because the state Legislature has throttled way back on its direct support. The agency’s 2010 operating budget was officially pared down from $26 million to $19.3 million. It is contingent upon the Legislature’s renewal of special Heritage Fund grants, which support programs and places that are considered to be among the most Arizona-centric stuff in the state.
But if history is a lesson, that may be a long shot. Lawmakers have been raiding the voter-restricted Heritage Funds to pay off the state’s massive $3 billion-and-counting budget deficit. This left behind a huge mess, which Phoenix Magazine columnist Jana Bommersbach outlined in her June 2009 column titled “(Un)Clean Sweep.”
State Parks Executive Director Renée Bahl, who left San Diego County parks and took office last month, said in a recent press release that Arizona parks are seeking volunteers (and given these types of cutbacks, we’re talking much more than monthly cleanups next to dry stream beds, folks). “Now our staff will be looking for all different types of partners to keep the parks open in these rural communities,” Bahl said in a prepared statement. “In September, our staff will be presenting scenarios for salvaging the State Parks and programs. We will have to drastically reduce our expenses to meet the extremely low budget presented today.”
It’s a sad statement. Doubly troubling is that these parks that generate much more revenue for Arizona towns than the money that is actually afforded to them through user fees and direct funding from the state’s general fund. This recent economic analysis has the details, plus a handy summary.