Different approaches to the state park budget crisis

Lots of outdoorsy folks have been bemoaning the proposed state parks closures. The plan would shut all but 59 California state parks, including virtually every state park in the bay area, including Big Basin, Henry Coe, Mount Tamalpais, Tomales Bay, and Mount Diablo. The only bay area state parks which would remain open are ones operated by local agencies, like San Bruno Mountain, Crown State Beach, and Pacifica State Beach.

The plan creates a dismal prospect for some favorite outdoor activities throughout the state: no autumn camping at Salt Point State Point, no late winter hiking at Big Basin, Mount Diablo, Henry Coe, no redwood strolling at Armstrong Redwoods or Samuel P. Taylor, no soaking in the hot pool at Grover hot springs... the depressing list goes on and on.

The proposed closures are devastating for outdoor enthusiasts and folks who work at the state parks. Could there be different solutions to the problem?

This got me thinking about how the state fails to collect use fees. Time after time I see unstaffed parking lots at state park trailheads where at least 2/3rds of the vehicles have not self-registered and paid the use fee. What if these trailheads and parking lots were staffed? Pay one person to sit in an entrance kiosk for 6-8 hours a day -- the cost would be what, $100? At destinations with plenty of high traffic day use, fee collection would pay for itself, and then some, in as little as 30 minutes. Consider the parking lot at Tam's East Peak, where the use fee is $6. I would estimate that during tourist season, a few hundred vehicles visit this trailhead, most for just an hour or so. Even estimating conservatively, 400 x $6 = $2400. A day. Some of that money would need to go to daily maintenance of trailhead facilities, and I'm sure there are other costs associated with collecting and transporting fees, but the remainder could pay some park salaries.

Parks with advocacy groups might even be able to collect day use fees with the use of volunteers. Docents of the bay area unite!

Of course, not every park has high day-use visitation. Since a good deal of California has mild weather 12 months a year, some state parks (particularly those on the coast) are year-round camping destinations. Would campers be willing to pay an additional recession-surcharge of $10 (or more) per night? I would! It would be worth it to me to keep the campgrounds open.

I'm sure my ideas aren't fully thought out; surely someone out there who completely understands state parks economics could come up with something better. I have to hope there are other creative plans out there for keeping the parks open. Rather than simply protesting the closures, let's come up with some solutions!

The cruelest month?

T.S. Eliot wrote "April is the cruelest month," but in our SF neighborhood, May has been a harsh and deadly time for this year's barely-fledged sparrows and finches. For a few consecutive days I found sparrow wings (and a head) in the garden, which I figured had become a regular meal stop for a sharp-shinned or Cooper's hawk. Then 2 days ago I was out walking with our son and saw a scrub jay attacking and carrying off a young house sparrow, right on the sidewalk! I've seen scrub jays eating acorns in oak woodlands and food from our bird feeder, but I didn't realize they are omnivores. Nature is not always pretty, even (especially?) in the city.

La Honda Creek OSP master plan

I'm currently a lapsed outdoor volunteer. Before I became a mom I spent plenty of weekends volunteering at peninsula open space preserves. I did all kinds of projects: fence building, seed collecting, invasive plant removal, trail repair, and twice, trail building. The later was no doubt the most complicated; full days of closely supervising digging, scraping, filling, retaining, packing, and more.

But I never thought too much about all the work that led to the trail building until I got word that the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District was preparing a master trail plan for La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve. This little-known preserve stretches from Skyline Boulevard (just south of El Corte de Madera Open Space Preserve) southwest to a boundary at Highway 84, past the town of La Honda. The preserve's best known feature is the "big red barn" right along Highway 84, but the barn and that part of the preserve are closed to the public. The only accessible part of La Honda Creek OSP is in the northern section of the preserve (with a trailhead at the end of Allen Road), and that area requires a permit to explore.

As indicated in the master trail plan, MROSD considers La Honda Creek OSP a "gateway to the San Mateo coast," and is considering miles of new trails (see the pdf) and several new trailheads for the preserve.

This is all very exciting, especially if like me, you've hiked the upper part of La Honda (this photo is from a 2001 hike) and have been lucky enough to get a glimpse of the area around the Red Barn (volunteering does have its perks!). There aren't many trails on the west slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains, and La Honda Creek has a great deal of variety, with some massive Doug firs, amazing ocean views, and beautiful grassland.

Also incredible is the work that goes into preparing a master plan. In pdf format the master plan is 402 pages long. Staff have considered everything: water resources, sensitive biological resources, regional trail connections, access for disabled visitors, and on and on.

I look forward to the implementation of the La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve master plan -- there's something here for just about everyone. Now if I could just get our 3 year old son Jack trained on a weed wrench, so I could return to pulling broom on weekends....

Federal money coming soon to bay area parks

According to the SF Chronicle, the recent American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will channel millions of dollars to several bay area national parks. Projects targeted for funding include rerouting of the Dias Ridge Trail in the Marin Headlands, structural upgrading in Muir Woods, demolition of old buildings at Fort Barry, and the construction of trails, overlooks and exhibits at the new Giacomini wetlands.

One last local item: campground rehabilitation at Tomales Beach. Tomales Beach is not part of Tomales Bay State Park -- it is on national park land on the bay side of Point Reyes, between Marshall Beach and the elk reserve, well north of the state park. The beach is accessible only by kayak. Here's a map of places on Tomales Bay where boat-in camping is permitted.

How great that Point Reyes provides so many opportunities for boat-in and hike-in camping. What a shame there is no car camping anywhere on the peninsula. You used to be able to pitch a tent at a walk-in campground at Tomales Bay SP, but no more. I don't know why or when the state park campground closed, but the campsites are still there, tucked under a dense canopy of coast live oaks, mere steps from the parking lot (but unsigned and unadvertised in any way). Since the campground is unmaintained, before long ferns and huckleberry will grow over the wood picnic tables and the site markers will rot. With the state of California's economy, we'll probably never get to make use of the easiest camping on the Point Reyes peninsula.