Word: californianess
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...heaven" for its panoramic views of the Napa and Sonoma valleys. These views, however, soon may be off-limits to visitors - the latest victim of the Golden State's staggering budget crisis. The trail sits within Robert Louis Stevenson State Park, one of up to 100 state parks in California that might be closed by Labor Day to help eliminate a budget gap of $26 billion. While the Department of Parks and Recreation isn't releasing a list of potential sites on the chopping block, the stairway-to-heaven park likely is at risk because it has some...
...Ruth Coleman, the state's director of parks. "We're charged with protecting these natural treasures and making them available to the public, but for the first time ever, we simply don't know how we're going to do that without closing some parks for good." (Read "Spotlight: California's Budget Crisis...
...California is not alone. Budget gaps are forcing officials in just about every state to scale back hours, reduce services and close even some of their most popular tracts of open space. But rather than panic, park officials are looking for alternative approaches to funding what was once exclusively paid for by the government. "After years of suffering budget cuts and scrambling for strategies to make ends meet, it's almost like parks people have had enough," says Phil McKnelly, executive director of the National Association of State Park Directors, an industry group in Raleigh, N.C. "People finally realize there...
Some state parks are seeking partnerships with independent vendors, who pay franchise fees to operate certain facilities owned by the state. These kinds of agreements exist in a handful of states, including California, where, for example, Angel Island State Park, near San Francisco, has a number of concessions and ferry operators that pay annual fees based on revenue they earn by operating in the park. (Read " 'Eco-Therapy' for Environmental Depression...
...Back in California, where park officials are scrambling to see how many parks they'll have to close, Coleman says she and her colleagues will consider all these options in the weeks ahead. In describing her challenge, she referred to the park system's strategic plan titled "Seventh Generation," which plays off an Iroquois Nation concept that every decision in the present must consider how it will impact people seven generations down the line. "It's hard to maintain this thinking when you're dealing with a boom-and-bust cycle, but we owe it to the public to find...