URGENT!!! Coming to Your State Soon - California Closing 80% of State Parks

[The Lyin King]

Please, even if you are not from this State, use the quick letter generator to tell California's Legislators and the Governator to find some other way to fix their budgetary incompetence.

On May 26, representatives of the Department of Finance provide more details on the Governor’s proposal to eliminate state funding for the state park system. Specifically, the proposal is to take $70 million of the Department of Parks and Recreation's (DPR) General Fund allocation in the 2009-10 Fiscal Year (which starts July 1, 2009) and the remainder of their General Fund – another $73 million – in the next budget year, FY 2010-11, for a total removal of $143 million.

Representatives also indicated that the cuts will result in closures of as much as 80 percent of the state park system, approximately 223 state parks.

We need your help TODAY. A legislative hearing has been scheduled for June 2 and we need park supporters to make their voices heard.

Take Action Now!!!

Link to Quick Letter Generator . . . http://ga3.org/campaign/budget_may09

Read more here . . . http://www.savestateparks.org/

and here . . . http://www.calparks.org/takeaction/

[The Lyin King]

As an OHV user and strong supporter of our state park system, I am writing to express outrage to the Governor's proposal to eliminate core funding for our state park system that will close virtually all parks.

You already raided our 90% of our $100 million dollar California OHV Green Sticker money from the acquisitions fund account in an effort to try and fix the current budget crisis in the State. You're in the process of closing the majority of access to OUR Public Lands that are managed by the BLM and NFS. Soon, we will have no place remaining to recreate!

Our state parks exist to provide educational and recreational opportunities, preserve important cultural and historic resources, and aid the state in protecting key natural resources. They also serve a critical function in providing respite for the state's residents in times like these - when economic circumstances keep Californians closer to home, looking for low-cost ways to vacation and spend time with family.

We in the OHV community support ongoing monitoring and maintenance of the rapidly shrinking OHV infrastructure here in California. Indeed, we as an OHV community have voluntarily taxed ourselves in order to provide funds to the agencies involved so they can actively and effectively accomplish these tasks. We even volunteered to raise our fees in SB 742 in order to keep this program operating smoothly. Your proposal if implemented would likely cause a reduction in maintenance efforts and result in more Public Land closures.

This is exactly the wrong time to be proposing to eliminate the state's core commitment to this world-class resource. Not only would removing the state's General Fund support for state parks likely close the park system, it would cause an additional economic ripple effect to the state's budget and to local economies. The state would lose the ability to generate revenue from popular parks, which drives local economies. As you learned during last year's proposal to close state parks, every $1 that funds the state park system returns $2.35 to the state's General Fund, largely through economic activities in communities surrounding state parks.

I strongly urge you to seek creative solutions that provide adequate revenue to keep our state parks open and accessible to all Californians.

In closing, I am totally opposed to the Governor's plan to close over 200 of our state parks.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

[Honda1971]

That would be terrible, take action and get the letters flying!!!

[The Lyin King]

Today is the day that they are considering this proposed "piece" of Legislation, get to dialing guys.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger - (916) 445-2841

[Honda1971]

Might have to try a few times as they seem to be swamped with calls right now, imagine that!