Texas State Parks' Funding - Wild Texas Forums: Parks, Travel & Recreation

Shannon · 04-08-2006, 11:58 PM

Original news release from TPWD:

Quote:

Dateline: April 3, 2006
State Parks Advisory Board To Seek Funding Options

AUSTIN, Texas — A new Texas State Parks Advisory Board has been appointed to explore several issues facing the state park system. The board will hold its first, organizational meeting from 1-4 p.m. April 13 at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department headquarters in Austin.

TPW Commission Chairman Joseph Fitzsimons appointed the board and has asked for recommendations on four topics, including exploring funding options for the state park system. The board is also charged with considering any existing units of the state park system that might be operated by more appropriate entities; the role of public-private partnerships in parks, including concessions, sponsorships and incentive based solutions; and options to accomplish goals for state and local parks in the Land and Water Resources Conservation and Recreation Plan, the 10-year operating plan for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

The new 14-member board includes former state legislators and leaders of state agencies and conservation and tourism organizations. (See list below.)

“The formation of this board has been in the works for many months; I deliberately chose a broad cross section of citizens, taking the time to speak with each one and hear their thoughts on the importance of our state parks,” said Joseph Fitzsimons of San Antonio, TPW Commission chairman. “It is an impressive group of people with integrity, experience, a predilection for practical results and a demonstrated passion for state parks. However, those of us who love parks should by no means assume that all our problems will be solved because this group is now in place. A great state deserves great state parks, and it will take all Texans who care working together to achieve that goal.”

The state park system began in 1907 with the establishment of the San Jacinto Battlefield site. It has since grown to a system of more than 115 sites representing important pieces of Texas’s natural and cultural history. Each year, state parks attract an estimated 10 million visitors. Tourism is one of the largest components of the Texas economy and the state park system is a keystone element, generating more than $1.2 billion in economic benefits annually, mostly in rural Texas. This adds to the obvious value of inexpensive, nearby family oriented recreational activities and places to learn about the diverse history and landscape of Texas.

Advisory board members include:

Al Henry of Houston. Human services consultant and owner of the East Fork Ranch in Tyler. An advisory director at Comerica Bank Texas. Member of the State Bar of Texas, the American Quarter House Association and the Smith County Farm Bureau. Past Vice-Chairman of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission.
George Bristol of Austin. President, Texas Coalition for Conservation, an umbrella coalition of diverse groups formed to support funding for Texas parks; former member, National Parks Foundation; steering committee, Texas Farms & Ranch Lands Conservation Program.
Ann Lents of Houston, President, Center for Houston’s Future. President, Park People (Houston); President & CEO, Center for Houston’s Future, and serves on the Boards of Scenic America and Houston Wilderness. Earlier in her career, Lents was a partner with Vinson & Elkins and practices law in the areas of antitrust, securities, and commercial trial law.
Sandy McNab. San Antonio businessman, interested in historic resources. Past service to the Rock Art Foundation and Witte Museum in San Antonio.
Carter Smith of San Antonio, Director, Nature Conservancy of Texas. Former TPWD staff member.
Andrew Sansom, Executive Director, River Systems Institute at Texas State University in San Marcos. Former Executive Director, of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; former Executive Director of Nature Conservancy of Texas.
Clyde Alexander of San Antonio. Former State Representative from Athens, served on the Recreational Resources Committee.
John Montford of Lubbock. Former State Senator who established the sporting goods tax as a state park funding source, former Texas Tech Chancellor. Currently President of AT&T.
Dianne Dies Schoch of Austin. Extensive fundraising experience with the University of Texas and Austin area nonprofits. Long involvement in East Texas conservation efforts.
Brad Locker of Brownwood. Sporting goods manufacturer representative. Chair, Brown County Republican Party.
Jeff Rogers of Dallas. Partner in Hampton/Rogers, a media relations and production company.
Hector Gutierrez of Austin. Managing Director of HILLCO PARTNERS, he is responsible for all business development and assists with legislative strategies for this Austin lobbying firm. Gutierrez was a senior marketing and sales executive for SBC Corporation for 19 years and served as then-Lieutenant Governor Rick Perry’s Senior Advisor for Legislative Affairs during the 1999 session.
Paul Serff of Austin. President, Texas Travel Association, as well as President of the Texas Festivals and Events Association and Texas Nature Tourism Council. He is also a board member of the Texas Industry Association of America (TIA) and serves on its Legislative Affairs Committee and as vice-chairman of the Tourism Works for America Committee.
Beth McDonald of Austin. President, Texans for State Parks, a coalition of individuals and groups working to enhance the state park system.

Two ways we as individuals can provide additional funding to Texas State Parks are:
(1) Purchase a Texas State Parks Pass annually for 12 months of unlimited, no-day-use-fees access to all TPWD-managed Texas State Parks. Renew now and get 1 free year of Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine!

(2) Get TPWD Texas Conservation License Plates for your vehicles. Plates cost $30 per year (in addition to your standard vehicle registration fees), but $22 of that $30 goes to support your choice of either Texas State Parks (bluebonnet plates); wildlife diversity (horned toad plates); TPWD Wetlands conservation program (Ducks Unlimited plates); or largemouth bass fishing in Texas (largemouth bass plates).

Alchemist2000 · 04-09-2006, 08:27 AM

Thanks for posting this, Shannon. I don't have any particular insight into the current crisis in Texas State Park funding, but found an article from the Texas Obserer interesting. It is very long, so I won't reproduce it here. Here is the link.

Annual passes and license plates are a good start and something that we can each do, but I think it is going to require much more. I suspect it is going to require more state funds going to the parks. There are obviously many needs for limited state funds, but if those of us that enjoy the parks don't somehow make our voices heard, the park system may degenerate further and eventually disappear as we know it. I know that sounds like typical scare tactic talk, but it is already happening.

CyberCelt · 04-09-2006, 10:34 PM

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has suffered budget cuts by the Texas Legislature.

TPWD has cut staff, reduced expenses, transferred management of some areas, and dealt with the aftermath of hurricanes ... all on an ever diminishing amount of resources.

I would like to add that you may also help by:

volunteering your time to take up the slack left by staff cuts
donating goods to be sold in park stores and buying same
writing your representatives about parklands in their district that need attention

DayTripper · 05-21-2006, 12:22 PM

The Longview News-Journal is running a series on our state park system. Other newspapers throughout the state may be carrying the series as well. If you don't have access to the series, you can view it online at

http://www.news-journal.com/news/con...rks/index.html

It began last Sunday with the initial story on the Rusk/Palestine parks and the Texas State Railroad.

Enjoy!

Cube · 05-23-2006, 08:15 AM

It's pretty simple.
Parks must become a protected class, one that folks are willing to holler about and get excited.
TPWD (or an advocate PAC) should run a series of advertisements with closed parks, no parks, parks without facilities to get folks eyes open.

As I understand it, even if we buy the passes and the plates and such, the Leg has capped what TPWD will get in terms of funding, and are sucking the surplus into the vacuum of the general fund. It is a major case of bullspit, but it is what it going on..

Take care folks,

Alchemist2000 · 07-03-2006, 06:25 AM

Here is another newspaper article (July 2, Fort Worth Star Telegram) about the sad state of the state park system:

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/14952804.htm

I have never written to my representatives, but I am considering doing so on this issue. I don't know that it will do any good, but I don't see how it will hurt. I discovered an easy website for finding who my representatives are and their addresses: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/fyi/fyi.htm Following the links to my representative or senator got me to info about their e-mail addresses.

If anyone else feels similarly and would like to take a stab at a general format for a letter, I would love to see it. I have a tendency towards being too verbose.

JanetMermaid · 07-31-2006, 04:13 AM

If enough people write polite letters (not emails) to their state legislators it can make a different. Nothing moves a representative to action faster than fear of the next election, and the general assumption is still that each snail-mail letter represents 1000 people (the rules aren't the same for email -- it's more like 10 people per email).

We recently bought a travel trailer and have started visiting state parks again. I haven't camped in our parks for years and I'm deeply saddened by how much they've deteriorated in that time.

agjwatson · 07-31-2006, 04:19 PM

Has anyone heard anything new on this?

Last week I heard on the news radio station in Houston that Gov. Perry was introducing legislation to be taken up next session to increase the State Parks' piece of the sporting goods tax. They didn't say by how much.

I've searched high and low and can find no mention of it anywhere else.

agjwatson · 07-31-2006, 04:23 PM

I must have not searched very hard. I just found this.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060727/dath035.html?.v=53

rockhill · 07-31-2006, 05:32 PM

Using the sporting goods tax sounds good BUT, you have to get the legislature to appropriate 100% of the funds and get the monies to the TPWD. My understanding is that the legislature has not even allocated 100% of the meager budget the last several years. Probably using "park" money for some other boondoggle. Just my opinion on the mis-use, but pretty sure I read about the underfunding in the paper.

dwalsdorf · 08-02-2006, 05:10 PM

From mySA today:

Quote:

Panel sees a quick fix for state's park woes

Web Posted: 08/02/2006 12:09 AM CDT

Gary Scharrer
Express-News Austin Bureau

AUSTIN — Texas lawmakers should take quick action to fix the state's crumbling parks system by using special tax revenue long intended for parks, according to a draft report on chronic problems facing state parks.

"We need to do what's necessary to give us the best state parks system in the nation," Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission Chairman Joseph Fitzsimons said Tuesday.

All revenue from a sporting goods tax for state parks that Texas voters approved 13 years ago should flow to the parks, according to the report by a state parks advisory committee.

The report also recommended that unused bonds from a special bond package for parks approved by voters should be issued to fix the rapidly deteriorating condition of the parks.

Only $15 million of the $105 million the sporting goods tax brought in last year went to parks. Lawmakers put a $32 million cap on the tax revenue for parks in the mid-1990s, but have diverted millions of those dollars to other uses.

As a consequence, many of the state's 114 parks are understaffed and operating with reduced hours. Maintenance has been delayed and the vehicle fleet is aging. The state has been unable to buy or develop new parks despite booming population growth.

"The current situation of our parks is critical. They are in desperate need of capital expenditures and more personnel," said John Montford, a former state senator who heads the state parks advisory committee.

Parks and Wildlife Chairman Fitzsimons, a San Antonio attorney, appointed the advisory committee to recommend ways to deal with immediate funding problems and take care of future needs.

Fitzsimons and his commission will consider a final report at an Aug. 24 hearing.

The state's investment in its parks clearly has been "inadequate for many years," the advisory committee's report says.

"We're working within the system, and we wanted to try to help the Legislature find a solution to the problem — not just be a bunch of rabble-rousers and say, 'Hey, you have a problem you need to fix,'" Montford said.

Using all the sporting goods tax, as originally intended, could fix current needs in addition to addressing ongoing major repairs and future park acquisition.

The report suggests using $15 million of the sporting goods tax revenue each year to expand existing parks and to develop new ones.

The report also recommends park grants for local communities be increased to $25 million a year from $5 million today.

"Local parks are on the front line of our parks system, and they've taken a disproportionate amount of the cuts in the last two legislative sessions," Fitzsimons said.

The grants allow communities to build soccer and baseball fields and jogging trails, Fitzsimons said, emphasizing the payback potential from the sporting goods tax.

Gov. Rick Perry favors using money from the sporting goods tax for parks but doesn't want to elaborate until the commission gets a final report, spokeswoman Kathy Walt said.

"He believes that when Texans are told that's how their tax dollars are being used, the state has an obligation to keep its commitment," she said.

The condition of the state's parks likely will emerge as a campaign issue this fall.

The consequences of neglected parks are catching up, said Chris Bell, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, who's on the road this week visiting state parks.

"People have been told that they can have it all and that state government can meet all your wants and needs and desires — and you don't have to pay for it," Bell said. "I think people are waking up to the fact that that's simply false."

State parks are valuable, said retired aircraft machinist George Garner of San Antonio.

"They are going to be mighty disappointed when these parks get run down where they are not even attractive anymore," Garner said. "I am very interested in public lands and public access to those lands. State parks — gosh, we need more of them."

The advisory committee's Montford said he knows that funding pressures makes it tough for legislators.

"I'm not going to rear up and make a series of recommendations that I don't think will be palatable for the Legislature," he said. "On the other hand, we're going to look at the facts and call it like we see it."

Alchemist2000 · 08-25-2006, 05:42 AM

Here is some info on a thread in another forum about the six recommendations made by the Montford Committee to the State Parks and Wildlife Commission about State Parks funding.

http://www.bigbendchat.com/viewtopic.php?p=17111#17090

oldude51 · 08-25-2006, 02:34 PM

well i am by no means political and certainly do not pretend to know the workings of our system....but it sure seems to me that the moneys are there for our park system but are not being allowed to be allocated for the benefit of the parks. we are such a throw away society as it is..... it breaks my heart every time i see an old building torn down for something new... and so on...but i digress......and that is the same with our parks......they are just fading away and one of these days people are going to wonder what happened? these like our old structures and such are things that cant be replaced......once they are gone they are gone....and the new just isn't the same as the old historical things we have left....lets try and preserve these as best we can.....

if there is a way to get more people involved with form letters and addresses and so on.....where its very easy and doesn't take much effort, well maybe we can try and get someones attention......

please advise....sorry for rambling...

rockhill · 08-25-2006, 03:33 PM

Being a lover of our parks, this issue really gets me. Not just the decline of our park facilities, loss of personnel, lack of park growth etc. But the bigger issue of total loss of confidence in our elected officials. If I as a voter agree to pay extra for license tags, extra taxes or fees, or whatever on the faith that those monies would go to help support our parks, then that money better d--n well go to that cause. Unfortunately we are all learning that we, as park supporters in general, and tax payers as a whole, are being lied to. How much other money has been "redirected"? Wonder if all those billions from the lottery are really getting to the schools and education as it is supposed to? Can not be sure can we! I do not care about the legal loop hole they are using. I gave my $ to support our park system. To use it any other way constitutes fraud in my opinion. Just my two cents worth, but I hope the voters of this great state rise up and slap some reality into the folks in Austin, starting with Rick Perry.

ploddinTod · 08-25-2006, 05:52 PM

I too feel your frustration. And I think that the voters have finally made their voices heard on this issue. Gov. Slick Rick is going to feel some serious heat from his opponents on this.

I think we all assumed that the park system would get 100% of the sporting goods tax fund. That's when we all got blinded (or mesmorized) by the "political two-step" in Austin. :mad:

Here's hoping that it all works out for the better of our parks.

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