Under Governor Jerry Brown's budget plan, state parks would be cut eleven million dollars this year and 22 million dollars a year after that. Last year's total parks budget was about 400 million. State Parks Director Ruth Coleman:
"This is a budget condition that none of us has ever seen before. This governor is extremely serious about making this work and we recognize this is a permanent situation - a permanent cut so we plan to be as creative as possible."
Coleman says those creative solutions include increased
partnerships with local governments, non-profits and businesses to
help keep parks open. She says the department is currently
preparing a list of parks that could be partially or fully
closed. Coleman says they're considering historic and natural
significance as well as attendance at the state's 278 parks as they
make their decisions.