Bill Roe is a member of Arizona State Parks Foundation Board and has served on the Arizona State Parks Board

Health Care
CENTRAL ARIZONA COLLEGE
DIRECTOR OF HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Health Care
Sierra Tucson
Eating Disorders Program Coordinator Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Health Care
Dependable Health Services
Physical Therapists Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Administrative & Professional
Tucson Urban League
CEO/President Construction
West-Press
Printing

Opinion by Bill Roe

Across the state, communities from Tucson to Flagstaff, Parker to Pinetop and dozens of places in between derive millions of dollars annually from activities associated with Arizona State Parks.

Yet to look at the state Legislature's latest budget-cutting plans, you would think the economic, recreational, scenic and historic values of State Parks count for naught.

For the second time in five years, the Legislature is poised to take State Parks funds in an ill-conceived bid to balance the state budget on the back of an agency that actually helps make money for the state.

Making the point, an economic study done for State Parks by Northern Arizona University in 2002 showed that the state's 27 parks and conservation areas generated more than $126 million for local economies in that year. But this seems lost on Legislators who fail to appreciate the business-like workings of the State Parks Department.

In the years between 2001 and 2003, the Legislature responded to the state's last deficit woes by sweeping $40 million from specially designated conservation, lake improvement and park enhancement funds, leaving the systems unable to conduct even basic maintenance and upkeep.

Results of those cuts are seen to this day in collapsing walls and roofs at historic buildings, eroding beaches and unsafe waste disposal systems at popular Colorado River parks and an utter inability to keep up with growing use of park facilities.

Now the Legislature's budgeters are gearing up to do it all again. With plans to strip some $38 million from Arizona State Parks, they would ransack the system to trim the state's $1 billion deficit by less than 1 percent.

For Southern Arizona, the hit would halt building stabilization at the historic Tombstone Courthouse and Yuma Territorial Prison. A needed water system at Kartchner Caverns, the state's most visited park, would be stalled.

Oracle, Catalina and Tubac parks would go without exhibits, trail work and septic system upgrades. Lack of funds to pay utility and fuel costs coupled with serious staffing shortages could force park closures and damage the system for years. Other state parks in Southern Arizona will be affected: Boyce Thompson Arboretum, McFarland, Patagonia Lake, Picacho Peak, Roper Lake, San Rafael Ranch, Sonoita Creek and the Tubac Presdio.

Needed is a more sophisticated budget approach that recognizes values of Arizona's parks and manages deficits without sacrificing the goose that lays golden eggs.

Ask any of the 2.3 million people who annually visit Arizona's parks — whether it's Kartchner, Red Rock or Slide Rock parks near Sedona or Lake Havasu's popular shores — and they would probably tell you the Legislature is heading down the wrong path.

By providing diverse opportunities at spectacular sites across the state, our State Parks department meets needs that Arizona's national parks and monuments cannot.

Instead of hacking away at the department, Legislators ought to be looking at ways to improve the unique park sites and facilities that serve so many so well.

That is the message that the non-profit Arizona State Parks Foundation, parks friends groups and affiliates, thousands of park volunteers and user groups want legislators to hear with this passionate warning:

Stop pillaging our State Parks. The damage is becoming unforgivable.