The price of a pizza
– that’s what it would have taken from each California car owner
to save our state parks. If Prop 21 had passed last month,
Californians would have added an extra $18 to their annual vehicle
registration. We would have raised $500 million each year for park
maintenance.
The price of a pizza – that’s what it would have taken from each California car owner to save our state parks. If Prop 21 had passed last month, Californians would have added an extra $18 to their annual vehicle registration. We would have raised $500 million each year for park maintenance. In exchange, California-tagged cars would get to enter the parks free of charge, letting more of our residents enjoy these recreational facilities. Unfortunately, voters said no thanks to the deal.
I agree in principle with the Prop 21 opposition’s argument against “ballot-box budgeting.” Many Californians said no to the initiative because they believe our elected state officials should do their job and make the tough fiscal decisions. They’re right. Unfortunately, the highly-partisan leadership now in Sacramento generates a political animosity that has led to sad failure in producing the budget we need to save our schools and our industries, let alone our state parks.
I wonder what Andrew Putnam Hill might think about voters nixing Prop 21. Hill helped start California’s state park system. Born in 1853, he came out west with his family in 1867. After graduating from Santa Clara College (now Santa Clara University), he worked in San Jose as a professional photographer and painter. He captured on camera and canvas the wild vistas of early California.
In 1899, a forest fire raged in the Santa Cruz Mountains. A London newspaper hired Hill to photograph the conflagration. On that assignment, he walked through a grove of towering sequoia sempervirens. Dwarfed by the tallest living things in the world, Hill felt enthralled by their imposing grandeur. Some of these coastal redwoods trees had been seedlings before Jesus Christ was born.
These giants stood on private property, and the owners intended to bring them down. A single redwood provided enough lumber to build a home. And California needed wood to provide housing for its expanding population.
In 1900, only one-quarter of the state’s old-growth redwood forests still stood. Hill decided these trees must be saved for future generations to also marvel at their magnificence. He gained support from prominent Bay Area leaders. Among them was James D. Phelan, the politically powerful mayor of San Francisco. Hill and Phelan formed the Sempervirens Club to organize the lobbying of Sacramento legislators. After Phelan promised a guarantee for funding, state legislators provided $250,000 to purchase the 3,800-acre Big Basin property. Private benefactors kicked in another $250,000. In 1902, California Redwood Park was created.
With additional purchases and donated land, California’s first state park grew to more than 19,000 acres. Now called Big Basin Redwoods State Park, it proves that preserving wilderness can benefit a local economy. Visitors who come to hike, camp and fish also often stop at the nearby mountain village of Boulder Creek and enjoy meals at local restaurants, make purchases at the general store and pump petrol into their cars at the gasoline station.
Today, 278 state parks in California preserve about 1.5 million acres of both wilderness and urban land. Every year, 75 million visitors enjoy these recreational treasures, including historic landmarks such as Big Sur’s Hearst Castle and Sacramento’s Sutter’s Fort. Here in the South Valley, visitors to San Juan Bautista State Historic Park discover California’s early days. At Fremont Peak State Park, they enjoy panoramic mountain-top views of Monterey Bay. And they explore the rugged back country terrain of Henry W. Coe State Park.
According to a 2009 Sacramento State University survey, California’s state park system generates an average of $4.32 billion a year in park-related expenses to the local economies of nearby communities. Visitors from outside California contribute $1.66 billion of this money. State parks create jobs and prosperity.
State parks provide quality-of-life benefits as well. They add to the physical health and well-being of the people who use them for vigorous activities such as hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, swimming and surfing. They provide mental health by giving visitors who journey into their wild lands some liberation from urban life stress. And they give families a place to bring children to gain an appreciation for the wonders of the natural world.
It will cost Californians to close down our state parks for lack of maintenance money. Marijuana growers and other criminals will trek into the unused parks if these vast tracts of land are unpatrolled due to employee cuts. Wildfires set by arsonists or illegal campers will cost millions of dollars to control. Buildings and trails will deteriorate without upkeep.
Perhaps Prop 21’s failure to pass reveals how little we citizens regard our parks in California. We’re saving $18 on our vehicle registration. But we’re losing our legacy. The photographer who led the fight to save the Big Basin Redwoods would no doubt want us to reconsider our priorities.
