California State Parks Foundation Statement on Governor's 2008 May Revise Proposal

Finally, the Governor woke up to what tens of thousands of Californians throughout the state have been saying for months– that our precious state park resources are not to be taken for granted and it's essential to keep the doors to our state parks open and keep lifeguards on our state beaches.  It's clear that the May Revise is responding to the overwhelming statewide outcry opposing the closure of state parks. 

The Governor's proposal is headed in the right direction and staves off an immediate crisis for our state parks.  But whether "cage-rattling" or not, the Governor's original threat to close 48 state parks and reduce staffing on 16 highly-used state beaches showed how woefully underfunded our state park system has been for years. 

All Californians should be able to afford to visit their state parks and should not have to worry, year-to-year, that their parks are in danger of being shut down.  The Governor and the Legislature should be working to identify long-term funding solutions that support our state parks, address the more than $1.2 billion in deferred maintenance backlog, and keep them open and accessible for all Californians.   The California State Parks Foundation and our partners in the Save Our State Parks campaign will continue to fight for those long-term solutions and urge the Governor and Legislature to join us in that effort.