October 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 16

Front Page
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14

Parks & Recreation

| O C T O B E R 2 0 1 3 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

private nonprofit foundations and conservancies, privatizing
certain functions in parks, leasing entire parks to for-profit
businesses, and other strategies to reduce costs and produce
new revenue streams. As the Resources for the Future report
points out, each approach has advantages and disadvantages.
The key to success is the long-term sustainability of any one
approach or any combination of strategies. Clearly, developing new partnerships is key to going forward. What is also
clear, though, is that present models are no longer working
and they will not be sufficient to meet the needs of the future.
More troubling perhaps than the pains of recovering from
the effects of the recession is the trend for some states to
look at increasing revenues from the sale or exploitation of
protected natural resources or even the sale of state parks
themselves. The state of Florida recently identified more
than 160 parcels of state parks, wildlife refuges and conservation lands totaling more than 5,000 acres in a non-public
process that would declare the lands " surplus " and then sell
them. Conservationists have reacted swiftly and with deep
suspicion, not only to the way the properties were selected without public notice or participation, but also to the
rushed way the Department of Environmental Protection
seems to be proceeding with the planned sales. Other states,
such as Ohio, for the first time ever, approved plans to open
state parks to energy exploration and extraction in order to
utilize the royalty revenues from oil and gas drilling.
At the recent meeting of the National Association of
State Park Directors (NASPD), concerns were expressed
concerning the cumulative impacts of deep budget cuts
and increased pressure for new revenues. Priscilla Geigis, state park director in Massachusetts and president
of NASPD, said, " With challenging budgets, succession
planning has been a major concern, with long-time employees who have key institutional memory retiring and
agencies having limited or no staff on the bench ready to
fill in. Some systems have not been able to fill positions
when staff retires, leaving even more of a void. Deferred
maintenance is also a deep concern. "
With regard to the future, Geigis voiced the hopes of
park advocates and professionals alike: " Universally,
across the country, while challenging budgets remain discouraging, the pride and dedication of our park professionals is apparent. We promote and protect the things
we love and we hope that the more positive experiences
people have in our parks, the more they will advocate for
appropriate funding for our parks. "
Richard J. Dolesh is NRPA's Vice President for Conservation and Parks
(rdolesh@nrpa.org).

October 2013 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2013 - Parks & Recreation