First-ever I Love My Park Day a huge success

Governor Cuomo pitches in on I Love My Park Day.

Commissioner Harvey with Saratoga-Capital Regional Director Alane Ball Chinian and Heather Mabee, Chair of the Saratoga-Capital Park Commission, at the grand opening of the expanded Nature Center at Moreau Lake State Park.

An Earth Day celebration at Moreau Lake State Park in the southern Adirondacks included the grand opening of a newly expanded Nature Center. PTNY Executive Director Robin Dropkin was on hand for the ribbon cutting ceremony. The Nature Center expansion includes a new 810-square-foot classroom space that can accommodate up to 100 people. It also houses an extensive taxidermy collection of animals native to the park. The Nature Center typically welcomes dozens of school field trips each year, and this new addition was designed to handle school groups more efficiently. Fourth-graders from South Glens Falls Elementary School were on a field trip for the event, touring the new facility and getting a lesson from park educators.

As part of the New York Works program, Moreau Lake State Park will also be receiving over $1.25 million in infrastructure improvements, including new restrooms and parking areas.  

There has been a lot of good news for parks this year and we've certainly come a long way since 88 parks and historic sites were threatened with closure in 2010. Still, not all the news is rosy. Many parks and historic sites continue to face tough choices concerning services, programming, and maintenance with limited budgets.

In the Finger Lakes, for example, the swimming pool at Stony Brook State Park will be closed for the third year in a row and pools in Seneca Lake, Long Point and Buttermilk Falls State Parks have reduced hours from daily to weekends. Fewer people will have fewer opportunities to seek relief from the heat and enjoy these and other treasured recreational resources.

Statewide, State Parks' budget has been reduced nearly 24% over the last few years - more than many agencies - and it is operating today with 1500 fewer staff than it was in 2008. The agency's operations budget has been on a downward slide for more than 15 years and parks are being starved as a result, with reduced hours, days, and seasons, fewer programs and workers, and less maintenance, not to mention fewer resources dedicated to natural resource protection and the visitor experience.

So while we have much to celebrate, let's aspire even higher. At PTNY, we will be doing all we can in Albany and across New York to keep the good news growing for parks.   

PTNY's 2006 report, Parks at a Turning Point, documented how years of neglect had contributed to the crumbling infrastructure of the NYS Park System. The challenges from such neglect have only grown; State Parks now estimates more than $1 billion dollars is needed in infrastructure repair and restoration, nearly half of which is health and safety related. While the $89 million included in the 2012-13 state budget begins to address some of these chronic infrastructure problems, a long-term funding source is needed to rebuild state parks.

The "Pennies for Parks" program would create a fund for capital expenditures at state parks and historic sites. S. 6580 (Grisanti) / A. 10343 (Cahill) would establish an avoidable five-cent fee on single-use, carry-out bags distributed by retailers to shoppers statewide. Generated revenue would provide a dedicated funding source for NYS parks and historic sites. Even with the reduced bag usage projected in response to the fee, an estimated $35 million a year would be raised for each penny charged.

PTNY strongly supports this bill, as it will generate much needed funding to restore and rebuild infrastructure at the state's aging and deteriorating state park system, as well as reduce usage of disposable carry-out bags. Read PTNY's memo in support of Pennies for Parks. 

The U.S. Senate approved a Transportation Bill amendment that would dedicate $1.4 billion to the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) over the next two years (along with funding for Gulf Coast restoration). The House and Senate are currently negotiating whether this provision will survive in the final bill; PTNY has been working to make sure it does.

LWCF provides critical funding to states for state and local park needs. Please consider signing your organization on to this statement to show Congress how important it is to your local community that LWCF be included in the final Transportation Bill this year.

To sign, please email your organization's name to: gjones@outdoorsamerica.org.    

If you have news to share in the next issue of You Gotta Have Friends, let us know.      

Not only did I Love My Park Day raise the visibility of the entire state park system, it also served as a springboard for two newly formed park Friends groups: East River State Park in Brooklyn and Hempstead Lake State Park on Long Island. These parks will now enjoy the support of more formal groups of local volunteers. 

Friends of East River State Park volunteers on I Love My Park Day

Congrats to the Friends of Thacher and Thompson's Lake State Parks, who recently won a $5,000 Every Day Capacity Grant from the National Environmental Education Foundation. The Friends will use the funds to develop a strategic plan for their organization.

The Every Day Grants provide Friends groups with grant funds of up to $5,000 to help the groups build their capacity to serve public lands. The next round of Every Day Grants will be open in the Fall. Visit the website for updates.  

Volunteers are essential to our state parks and historic sites. That's What Friends Are For, in which we profile a dedicated Friends group volunteer, is a new regular feature in You Gotta Have Friends.  

Sometimes a connection to a special place spans a lifetime. For Carol Rathbun, her love of Letchworth State Park has been a constant throughout her life.    

"The park has always been a very special place for me," says Carol, a lifelong resident of the area. "I played there as a child; created many wonderful, happy memories growing up with family and friends; worked at the Upper/Middle Falls concession stand in college; and during recent summers worked at the Gift Shop, Footbridge Nature Shoppe, and Campstore for eight seasons. As I've grown, so has my love and appreciation of the park."

Keep reading about Carol Rathbun and the Friends of Letchworth State Park.

You Gotta Have Tips is a new regular feature of You Gotta Have Friends in which we provide capacity-building and technical-assistance tips.

Does your Friends group hold cleanup or park and trail maintenance events? Maybe you hold a regular workday each month; maybe you hold a cleanup day in the Spring and a trail maintenance day in the Fall. However you organize these events, there are several reasons why your organization may want to seek outside support for your cleanup event. In addition to needing supplies and publicity, a cleanup event - such as I Love My Park Day - also offers your organization an opportunity to raise its profile in the community by providing businesses and other partners a tangible event to support.