Discussion: Closing Parks

We in the U.S. state of New Jersey are experiencing the latest threat of park closures to reduce spending by the state. Other than a locked gate on the entrance roads, doesn't this free up the grounds for more use by the public?

It has always seemed to me that bureaucracy, orienteering, and the natural environment do not mix well.

Why isn't the best option for our orienteering areas a program featuring: no spending, no maintenance, no new facilities, and complete abandonment?

Gates locked? Park elsewhere and do your warm-up jog to the map. But go with a friend: search and rescue might be a bit tardy in such closed areas.

At least 2 of DVOA O-maps will be affected.

"...
The list of nine state parks that would close:

-- Monmouth Battlefield State Park, 2,928 acres, Monmouth County. Visitor center, restrooms, closed.

-- Stephens State Park, 805 acres, Warren County. Camping area closed.

-- High Point State Park, 15,827 acres, Sussex County. Swimming, camping, interpretive center, office, closed. Trail access limited.

-- Brendan T. Byrne State Forest (formerly Lebanon State Forest), 36,647 acres, Burlington County. Camping, group picnic area, Indian King Tavern, office, closed. Trail access limited.

-- Round Valley Recreation Area, 3,684 acres, Hunterdon County. Swimming, camping, Wallace House, office, closed.

-- Parvin State Park, 1,952 acres, Salem County. Swimming, camping, interpretive center, office, closed.

-- Jenny Jump State Forest, 4,288 acres, Warren County. Camping and office, closed. Trail access limited.

-- Worthington State Forest, 6,584 acres, Warren County. Camping and office, closed. Trail access limited.

-- Fort Mott State Park, 104 acres, Salem County. Hancock House, historic sites, office, closed. Access to ferry service, open.

The list of three New Jersey state parks that would partially close under the proposed budget:

-- Ringwood State Park, 4,044 acres, Bergen and Passaic counties. Shepherd Lake swimming area closed; Ringwood Manor, reduced hours. State Botanical Gardens and Skylands Manor, open.

-- D&R Canal State Park, 5,379 acres, central New Jersey. Bulls Island Recreation Area closed to campers. Rockingham Historic Site and towpath, open.

-- Washington Crossing State Park, 3,126 acres, Mercer and Hunterdon counties. Significantly reduced hours at Clark House, Johnson Ferry House and the museum.

Winter hours at all remaining parks would be reduced. All but Liberty and Island Beach state parks would be closed Mondays and Tuesdays from Nov. 1 through March 31."

In general, I think closing parks is a bad idea. And I don't think it is helpful for orienteering short or long term.

True, we often have headaches dealing with park bureuacracy, but with a park there is infrastructure that supports outdoor activities. Presumably, the land will still be retained by the state, but things will be allowed to fallow.

Maybe die-hard orienteers are fine with this. But no parks mean the marginal or potential outdoor enthusiasts may be deterred, and sustaining our numbers grows harder.

How many non-orienteers want to fight around a trail-less expanse of wilderness? We need to get them in the door.

Ringwood is also a mapped area (HVO).

How many non-orienteers want to fight around a trail-less expanse...?

Well, it has been my observation that when people are confronted with a trail-less expanse, they quickly understand and appreciate the challenge of orienteering.

For years the Cook County forest preserves suffered from "benign neglect." But no one took particular notice when we held our events, and a $25 permit was all that was required. The trails appeared...and disappeared, depending upon usage alone.

Now, with a new administration, we must have several permits which total $210 per meet. And we must discuss each course for each event with headquarters. New picnic tables are evident, and roads have been repaved and expanded further into the forest.

But for the orienteer, do these improvements enhance the orienteering experience? Or interfere with it?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it doesn't sound like orienteering would be affected much (directly) by removing the lifeguards at Shepherd Lake or reducing the hours for buildings at Washington Crossing.

Ridley Creek State Park is still "open" but operating on a greatly reduced budget. As a consequence, restroom facilities were deprecated or abandoned, roads closed (and hence access limited), and trails inexorably overtaken by invasive species. The trails are disappearing.

But, it is still open and is patrolled, etc...

If a park remains a park, ceteris paribus, it is more attractive to the masses from which orienteers may be devloped. That may not be critical in some places, but I submit that at Ridley that it is important, and at say Fairmount Park in Philadelphia it is very important less a state of nature prevail. There, some users would prefer less park-like features, but I doubt they are likely orienteers.

On the other hand, some of the finest orienteering venues in these parts are state forests, some of which have little or no park-like infrastructure (which I knowingly point out despite the fact that I am invoking one of the IOF's slogans).

California closed several state parks a few years back and the major result was an increase in illegal activity. The newly unsupervised or lightly supervised areas showed increases of various types of off road vehicles, pot growing, homesteading and illegal dumping. None of the above being good for orienteering.

Related issue on west coast. With new budget issues, California has proposed closing 50 state parks. Of greatest impact to BAOC may be Henry Coe. Figures say they'll save some 13 million dollars next year. Don't know how much value gets lost in facilities decay and lost opportunities to the public...

Very poor planning if you ask me. It's like if you own a Lexus, then just leave it sitting in the street, cause you're too lazy to pay the extra few bucks for a tune up and gas. In the meanwhile, the tires get slashed and the frame rusts out.

But, I'm sure the governor would gladly lay out 130 million to attract a new NFL team or two to LA. Now which type of recreation should our governement really be supporting?

Yeah, well, can we afford the lobbyists the NFL uses.?

For a Swedish person the discussion is quite strange, since we don't have the system of parks like you have in the US. Unlike you, we don't need a staffed information center, restrooms and a picnic area to go out in the forest. Around Uppsala we have two major nature reserve areas close to the city (Nåsten and Lunsen - made famous in the US by Boris' training log?). These are heavily used by both orienteering clubs and the general public, but there are no facilities, except for some parking lots equipped with a simple information sign and a box with a brochure. Still, the trails don't disappear and there is usually no pot growing, homesteading or illegal dumping going on.... But lots of orienteering :)

I can vouch for that. Near Stockholm there is a wonderful large forested area. You can reach it with a 15 minute bus ride from Slüssen - the central station. Just ask for Hellesgården. I think it is the #6 bus... You can also take a tunnelbana line to the south side of this map (pardon my spelling).

Altho this area contains a few very compact planned suburban centers, with newer apartments and stores, for the most part this huge area has been left open and forested.

At the Hellesgården refreshment stand you can buy orienteering maps of the whole area. Permanent and temporary courses are always set, with real control bags. I've spent many enjoyable days just running and walking on this map whenever I'm in Stockholm. I've never seen any desecration, dumping or danger.

mata, are you intimating there's a correlation between not growing pot and orienteering?

The Swedish principle of 'Right of Access' to land, be it state or privately owned, is so foreign to us in North America that we need a network of federal, state/provincial and municipal parks or the vast majority of us would never get off the pavement.
As for the park closures one can hope that this is a way for the State to dump some heavily paid employees and eventually turn the parks' operations over to private interests. It could be a way to get around 'no contracting out' language that has crept in to many management-union labour agreements here in Canada and probably the same in the States.
First they would close down the facility and lay off the staff. Then after a suitable cooling off period they seek proposals for private operations. A better alternative is to do what the Park authority(NCC) here in Ottawa did. They negotiated with the workers who agreed to form their own companies to do the work on a set contract. It was a win/win for sure.

>>First they would close down the facility and lay off the staff. >>Then after a suitable cooling off period they seek proposals >>for private operations. A better alternative is to do what the >>Park authority(NCC) here in Ottawa did.

A similar thing happened in Alberta, I believe in the mid 1990's or so, though I didn't live there at the time, so I don't know the details. It's harder than you think to make a go of these things as a for-profit enterprise(especially in remote areas), so I highly doubt that its a "win" for the ex-"highly paid employees", except perhaps around populated (high-use) areas, in which case if I am trying to make money, I'll start charging more for stuff that used to be cheap or free (like using the park to go for a run) and I'll probably stop caring very much about the environmental impact of use (ie if it costs me money to fix eroded trails, I probably won't do it - though I suppose if your lucky, you could get a "Friends of so and so park" group to do it for free, but are these groups likely to be willing to voluneteer for for-profit enterprises? Probably, less likely).

(Wow that is a long sentence)

Remote areas don't even have a chance. In the forest management area around Hinton (just east of Jasper National Park), the forestry licence holder also presently operates all of the campgrounds and recreation areas. My understanding is that the revenues are less than half of the expenses, and they look at it as more of a risk management thing, ie, get all the people camping in the same places (with nice wood-burning facilities, free firewood, etc.) instead of randomly and they are less likely to burn your forest down.

To j-man (and all) re: Ridley Creek State Park:

If you don't want to see parks close, then get out and volunteer to keep them alive!

There is a volunteer organization which is adjunct to the admin of Ridley Creek State Park and we need members!!

I "patrol" and maintain about 5 miles of trails - on my own time... sawing branches, clearing brush, picking up litter, etc. ALL 12 miles of the Park's trails are "adopted" by volunteers each season to attempt to clear and prevent the horrid invasives from encroaching.

Check out www.FriendsOfRCSP.org - because if you don't want to see the parks disappear - then roll up your sleeves, trim some brush and join a trail maintenance crew on the first Saturday of the month - get involved. Ridley Creek State Park is free to use, but the privilege should be paid back - as it should to ALL the parks we use.

I use RCSP daily - run 7 days a week in RCSP, serve on the volunteer organization's Board of Directors, and I actually live in one of the historic homes in the park. That might be a bit excessive for most, but the state will only do so much to maintain the park... conservation is EVERYONE'S responsibility. If we want to keep the parks thriving and inviting ... then get your butt out there and start pitching in! :-)

So ---- if you want to keep Ridley Creek State Park open and thriving, check out

the Friends of Ridley Creek State Park at

www.FriendsOfRCSP.org. :-)

It's only 15 bucks for an annual membership... and you can meet lots of great folks of all ages and backgrounds on the first Saturday of each month for our trail work day. Free refreshments are provided afterwards, too!

We host educational programs, photo contests, and stop by the office to pick up your Ridley Creek State Park photo calendar!

Thanks. I hadn't heard about that and I will join ASAP.

Incidentally, if you are running in Ridley, and want some company, we have a group that runs there on Thursday evenings. Let me know, and I can get you more info.

They'll never close Henry Coe. The closure was put into the budget by Arnold as a great distraction from the real problems the state faces. The closure will only save <$100k yearly, so after much public uproar they'll most likely relent. And the public will sigh with relief—never mind that public transit is not being built and Prop. 13 is still around.