[Source: Andrew J. Shainker, Cronkite News Service] — Jack Edwards gives visitors to Red Rock State Park a handshake and hello along with a pamphlet on the park’s history. Louise Appleton leads visitors on moonlight walks. Those who sneak onto park grounds after hours will get a lecture from Don Swanson, who stays overnight in his trailer. This nature preserve, set beneath the spectacular cliffs overlooking Sedona, has several employees, but the three aren’t among them. The retirees are part of a crew of about 80 volunteers that keeps the park running. [Note: to read the full article click here.]
Arizona Heritage Alliance
Cave Creek, Arizona makes plans for open spaces
[Source: Beth Duckett, The Arizona Republic] — From the lush backwoods of Cave Creek Regional Park to the rugged Spur Cross Ranch, Cave Creek is known for its sweeping open spaces. But with another 8.8 square miles coming inside the town’s borders through annexation this year, Cave Creek faces a dilemma – how to manage its open spaces. With the plan, town and park officials would steer the use and management of thousands of acres with one document. Future visitors centers and trail systems would be included in an open-space master plan.
“Planning as a system makes a whole lot more sense,” said Maricopa County Parks Director RJ Cardin. “It would be a system of open space, rather than a piece of state land there, a piece there.” The master plan would merge the 2,155-acre Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area, 3,000-acre Cave Creek Regional Park and 4,300 acres of conserved annexation land, plus State Bureau of Land Management and conservation lands. [Note: to read the full article click here.]
Arizona State Parks Foundation letter to Gov. Napolitano
September 4, 2008
The Honorable Janet Napolitano
Governor
State of Arizona
1700 W. Washington, 9th Floor
Phoenix, Arizona 85007
Dear Governor Napolitano:
I am writing to you as the president of the Arizona State Parks Foundation (ASPF), a not-for-profit organization that works in a variety of ways to help the State Parks Department meet its goals. My purpose in writing is to inform you that ASPF strongly supports the request from the Arizona State Parks Board that you appoint a blue ribbon committee to analyze the current and future needs of the park system and explore stable revenue sources to meet the goals of the park system.
You may be aware that during the recent budget crisis ASPF engaged in a very public campaign, including contacts with statewide news media and Arizona legislators, to try to minimize the damage to State Parks from fund sweeps and budget cuts. While we may have had some limited success, the experience convinced most of our board of directors that the parks system cannot meet the expectations of Arizona citizens while continuing to ride a financial roller coaster. In response, we recommended the action that the Parks Board has taken.
I know you are well aware that the parks system contains several of the state’s scenic treasures, historic sites that would crumble into oblivion without protection and some of the most popular recreation areas in the southwest. The parks generate far more economic benefit to Arizona communities than the cost of maintaining them. We are convinced that an expanded network of parks and open spaces, including county and municipal properties, is also an important social safety valve in a state that is already among the most urbanized in the country and growing more so.
For all of these reasons, ASPF seeks a long-range view of the role of State Parks and a reliable means of funding its mission. Toward that end, we fervently support your appointment of the blue ribbon committee requested by the Parks Board. ASPF stands ready to assist such a committee in its efforts in any way possible.
Sincerely,
Bill Meek, President
Arizona State Parks Foundation
Funding sweeps leave Arizona state parks in shambles
[Source: John Collins Rudolf, The Zonie Report] — The steady gaze of Ernest McFarland, who in the mid-20th century served Arizona as a U.S. senator, governor and state supreme court justice, looks down on every visitor to the state park that bears his name, a restored frontier courthouse in dusty Florence, built in 1874.
“We will never be perfect in our government, but high ideals can predominate,” reads a brass plaque beneath the portrait, quoting one of McFarland’s favorite sayings. Yet perfection is hardly the word that comes to mind during a tour of McFarland State Historic Park. Massive cracks stretch from floor to ceiling on more than one of the building’s original adobe walls. A support beam braces a crumbling exterior wall, keeping the wall and sections of roof from collapsing. In another room, which over the years served variously as a jail, county hospital and prisoner-of-war camp, caution tape warns visitors to avoid a gaping hole in the floor. [Note: to read the full article, click here.]