Report on CA state parks

rob_gendreau · 08-12-2013, 11:04 AM

Those who use CA state parks might find this report by the Little Hoover Commission interesting.

http://www.lhc.ca.gov/studies/215/Execu ... ummary.pdf

For those not of CA, our state park system is collapsing for various reasons. You may have noticed if you visited here; by comparison with NV or UT or OR or even large park districts within the state (eg East Bay Regional Park District) CA is a fail.

Just hope they can make some of the recs happen. They make sense.

stanw909 · 08-12-2013, 09:24 PM

I read somewhere a few years back that some states turned their less profitable properties over to private companies that ran them at a profit. I don 't ever see that happening here in Cali. I also remembering the m finding several million dollars last year. I once emailed the superintendant of Cali State Parks during Arnolds stint as Gov about adding parking lot camping at the beaches. He actually emailed me back and said they were doing impact studies. We of course know they never did it and I think they lost millions in easy revenue from a part of the general public that are the cleanest most responsible campers,namely RVers.

rob_gendreau · 08-13-2013, 11:28 AM

My idea for revenue was to lease a space at rest tops and se day use areas to food trucks & take a cut.

Jeffrey · 08-13-2013, 05:02 PM

CA has been having difficulty with funding for their extensive state park system for a few years. Of course since the state is in a state of bankruptcy, I doubt they will get this fixed in any number of years. Those who control the $$ in this state are, like everyone else in any position of power in any government entity, only interested in protecting and advancing the already extreme levels of wealth of their friends and themselves. They don't care about non-profit making parks, recreation, or the quality of life of CA residents. However, as a member of the CA State Parks Foundation, I know there are a lot of great parks still operating in full.

I don't know who exactly the Hoover Commission are, but their recommendations were already what any clear minded thinking adult would have already known. Obvious ideas and goals the are sort of generic for this type of situation. Pretty general, and of course nothing that will ever be included in any legislation. I wonder what the cost of the study was?

pinz712 · 08-13-2013, 05:24 PM

One Problem is that they charge Southern California too much while most of northern California is free.

BajaSportsmobile · 08-13-2013, 07:50 PM

One problem is the lie and cheat and hide $50 Million+ that should be spent on the parks.

**BroncoHauler** · 08-13-2013, 08:53 PM

The State Park fund probably went the way of the CA Green Sticker fund (required by CA law to only go toward off-road facilities so that they were self-sufficient) which was diverted to the state general fund totally ignoring the state law.

Herb

**daveb** · 08-13-2013, 09:42 PM

I wonder how many parks are operating in the black compared to those in the red when looking at entrance and camping fees taken in? Talking with a ranger at one of the local parks he claimed if they would take the money and put it toward the park instead of a general fund, the fees would pay to fully fund the park. I wonder if part of the equation is missing. The ranger made it sound like the whole system could be run off the fees collected at each park but he also might of meant just the one he was working at.
Not saying they aren't out there but I've never seen a free state park. The cheapest I've found was Bodie for 2 dollar entrance but it has no camping. I could see how unused or non/low fee parks could bog down the overall operation.

Gnarvan · 08-14-2013, 08:29 AM

$35-$45 a night for a camp site in a California park is really pushing the limit. I understand the advantages of hanging out in camp at a nice park but $45?

**BroncoHauler** · 08-14-2013, 09:08 AM

[quote="daveb"]... Talking with a ranger at one of the local parks he claimed if they would take the money and put it toward the park instead of a general fund, the fees would pay to fully fund the park. I wonder if part of the equation is missing. The ranger made it sound like the whole system could be run off the fees collected at each park but he also might of meant just the one he was working at...quote]

Sounds like the Ranger was probably over-simplifying the situation. Some parks could likely pay for their own maintenance based upon entry fees, but the Ranger probably wasn't accounting for salaries of the Rangers and maintenance personnel, not to mention the bureacracy at Park HQ in Sacramento. Also, I'm sure some parks 'subsidize' less popular parks.

Herb