The Magnificent 70

[Russ Chung]

Although the State Park closures due to budget cuts don't directly affect the trails we like to use, many of us do like to take our vehicles and families to visit the California State Parks. This poses a dilemma because the state has been habitually raiding the OHV trust fund in order to operate the state parks. The California State Parks Foundation (CSPF) has produced this slick web site to rally support for keeping the parks open. I hope that we can keep the parks open, but not at the expense of the OHV programs.

[COLOR="blue"]The Magnificent 70 is a celebration of 70 California state parks slated to close July 2012, and a reminder of what will be lost if they are shuttered.[/COLOR]

http://mag70.calparks.org/#

[Roger]

Providence Mtns, Saddleback Bute, & and the Salton Sea are the only desert closures.
Here's some ideas I can think of:
Providence Mtns: Turn over to Feds. It's adjacent to the Eastern Mojave preserve
Salton Sea: It's so polluted that it shouldn't be there anyway
Saddleback Butte is nothing special, it's just like the other millions of acres in the Mojave Desert - Close it, and remove all State buildings and roads and let it be part of the desert.

Your ideas?

[Mike]

It looks like the Providence Mtns are already closed according to their website. This is really disappointing! I was planning a trip to the Mitchell Caverns this spring.

I was hoping to get to the Shasta Ghost Town before the vandals started tagging everything and stealing the iron doors and shutters off of the buildings.

Many of these will be truly difficult to 'close' since they are walking/hiking areas to begin with. It just means that clean-ups of the areas will need to be organized by people that are concerned. Many organizations and communities (like the off-road community) already know the drill on these events. Maybe it will give the Sierra Club something to spend their money on besides closing public roads.

[Gary]

Saddleback Butte is to close to Lake LA to leave un protected. The mountain would be covered in graffiti in no time from the Lake LA hoodlums. instead of just vacating it maybe they should just sell it to somebody for use as a RV park/campground?

[Russ Chung]

The Los Encinos State Historical Park has been given a reprieve thanks to an anonymous donor who has provided funds to keep the park open for one more year.

http://www.dailynews.com/ci_19698323