Eighty-seven hundred down, 1,300 more to go.
That is the number of signatures that outdoor enthusiasts from the Westside hope to collect in the next eight days, concluding a nearly two-month long petition drive aimed at lobbying state officials to preserve three local parks threatened with closure.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal for fiscal 2008-09 includes a bid to close 48 state parks and reduce lifeguard staffing at 16 state beaches, a move that could save more than $9 million to help close a $16 billion deficit next year.
Among the parks that would be affected are Will Rogers State Historic Park, Topanga State Park and Los Encinos State Historic Park, all three of which are frequented by Westsiders.
“We are astounded by how little people know about the enormity of this issue,” Lynne Haigh, an organizer with the campaign, said on Tuesday. “This is an educational process as well.”
Located in the Santa Monica Mountains, Topanga State Park is nearly 13,000 acres and encompasses the vast majority of the area bounded by the I-405 Freeway, the Santa Monica city border, Pacific Coast Highway and Highway 27. The park drew 470,000 visitors last year and is approximately 2.5 times the size of the city of Santa Monica.
Will Rogers State Historic Park is about 186 acres and Los Encinos State Historic Park, which is located off Ventura Boulevard, is most well known for its nine-room adobe structure.
“Topanga is the largest wild park land in an urban area in city limits of a major city at least in North America and maybe anywhere in the world,” Haigh, a docent with the Topanga State Park, said.
The organization contends that the minimal savings does not justify the impact of losing 48 parks and lifeguards at 16 state beaches, pointing to the fact that the line item amounts to about 1/13th of 1 percent of the state budget.
“It’s extremely short-sighted,” Haigh said.
If closed, the parks would be placed in caretaker status and all formal entries would be gated off to the public. But many of these parks have multiple unofficial entry points, which would increase the risk of vandalism and wildfires in a worst case scenario, Haigh said.
Trails, many of which are maintained by hikers, would also be overgrown, she added.
Haigh, a licensed clinician by trade, has been a resident of Topanga for 35 years and is a volunteer docent, providing guided tours of the park. She has hiked the Backbone Trail in Topanga State Park, which is roughly 70 miles, about five times.
“I’ve been a naturalist and outdoor person a good part of my adult life,” Haigh said.
The campaign is comprised of a collection of outdoorsmen and women just like Haigh. Among the volunteers is Stephanie Waddick, a Santa Monica resident who has been a docent with Topanga State Park since January 2006.
Waddick, who has helped collect signatures for the petition, makes it a point to go hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains during her days off from work, an escape from the chaos of city life.
“When you go to Topanga, everything sort of falls off,” she said. “As soon as I can’t hear the sound of traffic, it’s sort of like a weight has dropped off and it’s so beautiful.”
The Campaign to Save Topanga State Park is among a handful of grassroots efforts popping up throughout the state in response to the governor’s controversial budget proposal. Among the organizations, and perhaps one of the biggest, is a campaign to save the Armstrong Redwoods in Northern California.
“The governor’s proposal has galvanized local communities to work within their business communities, civic groups and educational groups to stand up for what could be lost under this proposal,” Traci Verardo-Torres, the director of legislation and policy for the California State Park Foundation, said on Tuesday. “What this proposal has done is awoken people to the fact that the state park system itself is so underfunded.”
The California State Park Foundation itself launched its own campaign, called Save Our State Parks. The group is researching a number of alternatives to present to the governor.
The possibility does remain that the parks could be preserved as legislators work on the budget in Sacramento.
Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, whose district includes Will Rogers, Los Encinos and Topanga state parks, serves on the budget Subcommittee for Environmental Resources and has expressed support for saving the parks.
Lisa Page, a spokeswoman with the governor’s office, said on Tuesday that the governor has put forth his proposal and has asked legislators to do the same, adding that he is open to all options.
“The governor doesn’t want to make these cuts,” Page said. “The governor actually has put forth a long-term solution so we wouldn’t be in this situation again.”
Jump hedline: Will Rogers among parks threatened for closure
Suggested pullquote: “We’re looking at more solutions that aren’t just about returning $13 million to the state park, but how to tackle the overall issue of sustainability because we don’t want to be in the situation (again).”
Traci Verardo-Torres director of legislation and policy
California State Park Foundation
Lucida Grande 40, 4 0 400 0¬ 1 0 40, Minion 40, 4 0 231A 0¬ 1 0
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 23, 2008. Read the original PDF.