The State Park and Recreation Commission, in conjunction with the Parks Forward Initiative, is conducting public workshops throughout the state during September and October 2013. The workshops are being conducted to gather new ideas on how to improve efficiency, create financial sustainability, and better leverage partnerships within California State Parks. All of the meetings are webcast live on www.cal-span.org and archived on that site as well.
Category Archives: State Parks
The California State Parks Foundation continues to push for better policies and legislation that will protect California’s park system. If you haven’t read through their Park Excellence Project, you really should.
From the CSPF website:
California’s state park system is at a crossroads. As a system, California’s state parks have persisted even in the face of challenging and shifting political, social, and environmental priorities. Yet, after more than a century of leading the way in preserving and protecting precious resources, today’s pressures – including proposals for wholesale shutdowns, current and indefinite closures, a $1.2 billion deferred maintenance backlog, and more – are the most challenging the system has ever seen.
CSPF’s Discretionary Grants Committee met September 11 and awarded 10 grants totaling $49,743 to benefit a number of California’s state parks. The organizations that received grants include:
- Anza-Borrego Foundation, $6,000 to support an expanded outreach campaign to increase visitation to the park, participation in park programs and activities, and park stewardship.
- Benicia State Parks Association, $800 to support a Volunteer Appreciation Event.
- California State Railroad Museum Foundation, $5,000 to support upgrades and enhancements to its website to increase park visitorship and engagement in park programs, activities, and stewardship.
- Coastside State Parks Association, $5,000 to expand and repair the boardwalk at Año Nuevo State Park to make the park and viewing of the elephant seals more accessible to all visitors. Continue reading
The California State Parks Foundation says that October is a great time to volunteer!
From their newsletter:
Make a difference and help improve your favorite state parks by volunteering with Park Champions this October. Join one of our volunteer teams to improve trails at Mount San Jacinto, repair the boardwalk at MacKerricher, plant a new garden at Henry Cowell Redwoods, improve the lifeguard headquarters at San Buenaventura, build a split rail fence at Palomar Mountain, or restore habitat at Jack London, Candlestick Point, Baldwin Hills, or Silver Strand.
Visit our website to see a map of upcoming projects at parks near you and our Flickr page for examples of Park Champions in action! Mount San Jacinto and MacKerricher are offering their last camping weekends until spring. Sign up today!
You can visit the California State Parks Foundation website HERE.
You can find out more about the Park Champions program and sign up for an upcoming volunteer event HERE.
As a big fan of our open spaces including national forest, state parks, and so on I firmly believe that using them to grow marijuana is a bad idea. It’s not that I’m against the plant in any way – I’m very 420 friendly – I just don’t believe public lands should be used to grow it. I’m a firm supporter of the Mendocino County, California’s yellow zip-tie program from a couple of years back. It was a great idea, and it’s a shame the state of California didn’t stand behind it and allowed the federal government to swoop in and wipe out the legal and law-abiding growers crops.
Being a conservationist and being cannabis friendly and living in a state where medical marijuana is legal, I was surprised to see that the unnecessary immigration reform bill includes ANYTHING having to do with pot or federal lands. It seems to me that a bill about immigration should be about … immigration.
From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:
The Senate recently approved a measure that would add — on top of the sentence for illegally growing marijuana — up to 10 years in prison for those cultivating the drug on federal land. The measure, a little-noticed addition to the immigration overhaul bill, also calls for new penalties for environmental damage such as that caused by the use of toxic chemicals.