| home | print page | email to a friend |

The field staff shortage affects visitors’ experience. “If only one ranger is on duty in a park, there can’t be a campfire program,” Sevrens said, because “if a law enforcement issue comes up, the ranger would have to stop the program.”

“During the summer of 2003,” Bergstresser recalled, “we were so short-staffed I was the only ranger from Eureka to Usal Beach [in Sinkyone Wilderness State Park, more than 100 miles away by road], with 700 campsites and 5,000 to 8,000 visitors. One of those days I had a Code Three [emergency] call and drove over one hour to near Bear Harbor. A hiker had a broken ankle. That left no one available for the rest of the area.”

In a recent incident at Sonoma Coast State Beach, a ranger was dispatched in pursuit of a stolen vehicle, Bergstrasser said. “When there’s a pursuit, a supervisor must be on duty, at least on the radio. The nearest on-duty supervisor that day was at Millerton Lake, near Fresno [250 miles away]. Someone from so far away wouldn’t be familiar with the area in Sonoma Coast State Beach.”

Bill Kortum, a longtime coastal activist, recalled that during a volunteer trail building project on the Sonoma County coast, “The ranger showed up with all the [work] equipment, but he had a radio, too. Within 15 minutes he was called away to cure some fracas elsewhere. We’re stretching these rangers too thin.”

Rangers have traditionally played an important role in promoting stewardship and educating people, especially campers, about natural features, plants, animals, and appropriate behavior. Now, visitors may encounter only a park aide collecting an entrance fee or an occasional volunteer docent.

The lack of parks personnel not only affects people, it also allows harm to be inflicted on natural resources. Outright theft and vandalism happen with impunity if nobody is on guard. “Rangers find marijuana farms and mountain-bike damage, and archaeological sites have been looted,” said Sevrens. “Maybe four years ago, the burials of sailors were looted on the San Mateo coast before archaeologists were able to come along.” At Tolowa Dunes State Park, near Lake Earl in Del Norte County, there is a long history of illegal off-road vehicle use, with damage to sand dunes and vegetation. “It’s difficult to police with only one officer,” Bergstresser said.

In Northern California’s redwood state parks, “people will go carve off shingles [from redwood trees or fallen logs] and drive away in the night with a pickup-truck load worth several hundred dollars,” Bergstrasser said. “Rangers are there to protect the people from the park, the park from the people, and the people from the people. We’re not doing so well on the second one.”

A Long Downward Slide
“This is a long-term downward trajectory,” said State Parks Director Ruth Coleman, when asked about the shortage of operating funds for the parks. “Operations spending per visitor has declined steadily since the early 1980s,” she said, adding that under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger spending has been modestly higher than it was under Gray Davis.

The State Parks Department operating funds budget is $466 million. It needs roughly $200 million more than the $382 million it now expects for 2007-08, according to Traci Verardo, the California State Parks Foundation’s legislative and policy director, “just to support what exists in the parks now: adequate restrooms, staffing, cataloging of cultural resources, and so on.” That will not fund more rangers and lifeguards.To fill in for budget shortages, State Parks has drawn heavily on volunteers and nonprofit cooperating organizations to help run the park system. Nearly one million hours of volunteer time supported park operations in 2005. Volunteers staff visitor centers, serve as camp hosts, maintain trails, and lead nature walks. Nonprofit cooperating associations raise funds for educational programs and special events. But no matter how dedicated and knowledgeable the volunteers, and how creative the other efforts, they can not fill many of the gaps left by lack of professional staff. Nor can they make up for insufficient funds from Sacramento.

Copyright 2007 © California Coastal Conservancy All Rights Reserved