News conference: AZ state parks face 'imminent crisis'

Morrison Institute News Report

Oct. 22, 2009

PHOENIX – Arizona’s 31 state parks are in “imminent crisis” and face closure and irreparable deterioration unless new and sustainable funding is established, parks officials and supporters warned at a news conference Thursday to release a special report, “The Price of Stewardship: The Future of Arizona State Parks.”

The 46-page report was prepared by Morrison Institute for Public Policy, an independent, non-partisan center for public policy research, analysis and public outreach. Morrison Institute is part of the Arizona State University College of Public Programs.

“State parks are hard assets that we as a state own, and they are deteriorating rapidly,” said Grady Gammage Jr., senior research fellow at Morrison Institute and member of Governor’s Sustainable State Parks Task Force.

“There’s about $200 million in deferred maintenance and really so very desperate needs. There are walls collapsing. There are sewage systems in the parks that are not compliant with legal requirements. Those kind of things are not being taken care of,” Gammage said, noting that Arizona’s state parks budget has been cut to literally nothing.

“We don’t receive any more state general fund monies to operate state parks,” noted Renee Bahl, director of Arizona State Parks.  “What does that mean? It means we’ve had to close parks. … We’ve reduced hours at 17 park operations; they are closed two days week. We are closing campgrounds and offering less services to the public.”

The closed parks include Jerome, McFarland, Oracle and San Rafael.

“We’re moving toward the total collapse of the park system,” said Bill Meek, member of Governor’s Sustainable State Parks Task Force, adding that fact makes little business sense since the economic impact from Arizona state parks is 10 times that of its operating budget.

Meek said he hopes the Morrison Institute report, combined with the governor’s task force on state parks to be issued at the end of this month, will help change the course for Arizona. “I hope that we can convince the governor and the Legislature that something different has to be done for the state parks system, otherwise  there won’t be a state parks system in a just a very few years,” he said.

The new report, sponsored by the independent State Parks Foundation and Arizona State Parks, offers possible solutions to the funding crisis, including potential revenue options to provide stable, sustainable funding for Arizona’s state parks. Among the revenue options are parternships with cities and communities tied to state parks and a license-plate fee of $10 to $15 that would allow anyone with an Arizona non-commercial license plate to visit state parks without paying an additional fee.

“That is the greatest deal I have ever seen for public parks,” Bill Scalzo, a member of the Arizona State Parks Board and the Governor’s Sustainable State Parks Task Force, said of the proposed license-plate fee.

Arizona’s state parks would require an estimated $40 million to sustain operations, according to the report. Presently, state parks operate on a $19 million budget, mostly derived from Heritage Fund and user fees.

Gammage said several studies have shown Arizonans are overwhelmingly in favor of preserving open spaces and have a particular attachment to the state’s natural beauty, from deserts to mountains to waterways. “These are those places” that need to be preserved, Gammage said of state parks.

For a copy of the report, go to: 2009: “The Price of Stewardship: The Future of Arizona State Parks”