Arizona State Parks Board

Free state parks from Legislature

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[Source: Bill Meeks, Arizona State Parks Foundation, Arizona Republic Opinion] – When the Parks Heritage Fund was eliminated, the Legislature didn’t touch the $10 million Game & Fish Heritage Fund. Why? Because the hook and bullet crowd — the state’s 390,000 licensed fishermen and hunters — are a fearsome adversary.

In contrast, parks and open space advocates are almost invisible to lawmakers. More than 2 million people visit state parks every year, but we don’t know who most of them are or how to reach them.

So, how do we solve the disconnect between lawmakers and Arizona’s heritage?

We should eliminate it by vesting responsibility for today’s parks system and future open space needs in a state parks district not subject to legislative largesse. We can’t plan, build and operate a parks system the way we do now, lurching from one financial crisis to another.

Never mind the details now. Today, the Legislature probably would not refer such a measure to the voters. Getting it on the ballot as an initiative is a million-dollar proposition.

In the meantime, parks supporters need to seek out parks-minded legislative candidates by nailing down their views and commitments during the primary elections. The Arizona State Parks Foundation can assist in this process.

For its part, the foundation is working to vastly improve its social media capabilities in order to attract and motivate a larger corps of supporters and donors.

We are also working to establish a strong interface with the statewide business community. State parks are an economic engine contributing more than $260 million to the Arizona economy. They would contribute much more if they could operate on all cylinders.

Bill Meek is president of the non-profit Arizona State Parks Foundation headquartered in Phoenix.

Don’t let Legislature rob our parks

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[Source: Ken Travous, Arizona Republic My Turn] – You have to hand it to a guy like Bryan Martyn, executive director of Arizona State Parks. He has a smile of confidence and a can-do attitude that you would expect of a former soldier. I would rather not be there, however, on the day he discovers that neither of those attributes will fix a collapsed sewer pipe. It won’t be long before one of his hikes finds him stepping in the goo of neglect.

It wasn’t always this way. In the mid-1980s, Gov. Bruce Babbitt found a way to partner with the Legislature to begin the process of identifying and conserving key areas with the purpose of securing them for future generations. Red Rock State Park, Slide Rock State Park, Homolovi State Historic Park and Verde River Greenway became part of the State Parks system. Soon thereafter, Babbitt and Sen. Barry Goldwater met in Barry’s backyard to announce their support for the creation of a Heritage Fund that would provide predictable funding for State Parks by tapping lottery-ticket revenue.

At about the same time, State Parks approached the Legislature with a proposal to purchase and develop what is now Kartchner Caverns State Park. The intriguing part of the story revolves around the way this development would be pursued. The Legislature in essence said, “We don’t have any money for this, but if you think it’s that important, why don’t you start acting like a business? We’ll let you keep the money you make at the gate, and you can apply it toward this new park.”

The transformation was remarkable. Parks staff began looking at ways to increase revenue to develop and operate the system. It started to talk about cost centers, revenue opportunities and return on investment.

In 1988, total revenue for the park system was about $800,000. Ten years later, it was almost $10 million. Kartchner Caverns was developed at a cost of $36 million with only a $3 million loan from the general fund needed to open the park in 1999.

Things were looking pretty good, and I guess that’s the problem. In some odd kind of way, employing some type of sideways logic, the Legislature deemed that if State Parks is getting along well, it must be out of our control. So, after 15 years of parks acting like a business, the Legislature decided to act like a government and take their money. A little bit here and there in the beginning, to test the public reaction, and then in breathtaking swaths.

Heritage Fund … gone. Enhancement fund … swiped. General fund? No way. A $250,000 bequest? Oops, they caught us; better put it back.

State Parks now has a mountainous backlog of maintenance projects all because the Legislature would rather wholly own a failure than share a success. We need to put people in the halls that care about those things that we want our children to enjoy, and a governor who will stand in the breach when the next onslaught appears.

Until then, we’ll all be stepping in the goo.

Kenneth Travous was executive director of Arizona State Parks for 23 years.

The “State of State Parks”

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Bryan Martyn, Arizona State Parks Director, gave a detailed “state of state parks” update to the Arizona Heritage Alliance‘s board of directors this morning. — with Bob White, Barbra Barnes, Woody Wilson, Russ Jones and Peter Culp at Flinn Foundation on February 19, 2013.

Governor Jan Brewer Announces Appointments to State Parks Board

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Governor Jan Brewer announced the appointments of Mark Brnovich and R.J. Cardin to the Arizona State Parks Board.

“Mark and R.J. are dedicated public servants with a diversity of experience that will benefit users of Arizona’s beautiful system of State Parks,” said Governor Brewer. “Mark is well-versed in the law, and has spent years working to help government operate more efficiently. R.J. has invested his career in parks and recreation, so he’s well-prepared to confront the challenges and opportunities facing State Parks. Together, both men will help ensure Arizona’s thirty state parks remain crown jewels for the people to enjoy.”

Since 2009, Mr. Brnovich has been Director of the Arizona Department of Gaming. Previously, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney with the District of Arizona (2007-‘09); Senior Director of State Customer Relations for Corrections Corporation of America (2005-’07); Judge Pro Tem for the Maricopa County Superior Court (2004-’08); and Director of the Center for Constitutional Government at the Goldwater Institute (2003-’05); Assistant Attorney General (1998-2003); and Deputy County Attorney for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (1992-1998).

Mr. Brnovich earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of San Diego School of Law (1991), and graduated cum laude from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s in Political Science (1988).

Mr. Cardin’s career in parks and recreation spans 25 years. He has been Director of the Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department since 2006, a role in which he is responsible for all facets of parks operations and development for the Nation’s largest regional park system.

Earlier, Mr. Cardin worked as: Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Glendale (2001-’06); Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Sioux City, Iowa (1998-2001); Chief of Park Operations (1998), Chief of Research and Marketing (1994-’98) and Recreation Planner (1991-’94) for Arizona State Parks; Research Assistant for the Department of Recreation Management and Tourism at Arizona State University (1989-’91); General Manager of the Ballard Golf and Country Club in Huxley, Iowa (1988-’89); and Manager of Operations at Sheldon Country Club in Sheldon, Iowa (1986-’88).

Mr. Cardin holds a Master of Science in Recreation Management and Tourism from ASU (1993), as well as a Bachelor’s of Science in both Recreation Management and Business Administration from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa (1987).
Mr. Brnovich joins the Arizona State Parks Board for a term that expires in January 2019; he replaces Tracey Jo Westerhausen. Mr. Cardin replaces William C. Scalzo on the Board, and will serve until January 2017. Both appointments require Senate confirmation.