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RASA GUSTAITIS
ention California anywhere in the world and what comes to mind are wide sandy beaches, mountains plunging into the ocean, redwood forests in the mist, and people at play in the surf and sun. Californians tend to dismiss this mythic image of their state as a cliche, but they assume they have an inalienable right to enjoy all it describes, especially their coast.
As the number of Californians and visitors keeps growing, however, and inventing ever more ways to enjoy parks and beaches, signs of trouble are mounting:
- Agencies responsible for coastal recreation are pushed to their limits by increasing demand, while budgets fall
far short of needs.
- Recreational facilities are deteriorating.
- Intense recreational use is straining the carrying capacity of some coastal parks and preserves.
- Funds to acquire new recreational lands are depleted.
- New forms of recreation have intensified user conflicts.
- After state park fees were raised in 1990, attendance dropped. In 1995 it was still below 1987 levels.
Considering the importance of coastal recreation to its citizens' well-being and to the states economy, it seems that the goose that has laid the golden egg for California is now malnourished.
The magnificent coast has shaped both the state's culture and its economy. It is the foundation of the state's multi-billion dollar travel, tourism, and outdoor recreation industry. The California Department of Tourism reports 48 million visitors from other states, plus 9.1 million from abroad, plus 232 million trips of 50 miles or more by California residents in 1995. Most head for the coast during at least some of their vacations, there spending money and thereby supporting jobs and businesses by the ways they relax and play. A huge outdoor recreation industry looks to California as a trend setter. Now, however, all this is being undermined by insufficient attention to the needs of coastal recreation facilities today and in the future.
The agency most directly responsible for coastal recreation is the State Parks Department, which owns about 250 miles of the state's 1,100-mile coast. Others include the Department of Fish and Game, which has a network of coastal wildlife refuges, the National Park Service, the Coastal Conservancy, and local governments. All are straining to do more with diminished budgets.
Five years ago, after the legislature sharply cut the State Parks budget, the department began to charge entry fees in areas that had been free of charge, and raised fees elsewhere. The fee increases failed to bring in as much income as had been projected, and were followed by a drop in attendance. It appears that they have made the parks less accessible to some citizens. The department's current budget (about the same for the past two years but smaller in terms of buying power) is insufficient to provide for basic maintenance such as replacing old restrooms and electrical systems, and repair of parking lots and roofs. Neglect now translates into higher replacement costs later. For acquisitions, the Department has only $3.1 million this fiscal year, and most of that is restricted to habitat conservation.
Only the Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) Division is well-funded: it gets a percentage of the gasoline tax, and that money pot has been filling with every new car on a California road. The OHV Division, which operates seven parks, has $10.4 million in 199697 for acquisitions and capital outlay--roughly the same amount as the state park system has for all 261 other parks.
To keep its head above water, State Parks is now looking into possibilities of corporate sponsorship. Director Donald Murphy would like it to be near-invisible. He says sponsors will not be permitted to put up any signs in parks with their names or logos. Others warn, however, that once the door to commercialization is cracked open, it tends to open wider. They point to the Olympics, to the sale of the name of San Francisco's Candlestick Park, now 3-Com Park, and to the way sponsors of the Public Broadcasting System have assumed an ever higher profile, until it is hard to tell the difference between their PBS messages and TV commercials.
A bill to permit corporate sponsorship in National Parks failed to pass in Congress this year, but is sure to resurface. Arguing against the concept, 21 major environmental organizations stated that this "inherently commercial activity . . . is inconsistent with the fundamental idea behind America's National Park System." They also warned that financial gains thus produced could easily be offset by decreased appropriations. Opposing the bill in an editorial, The Washington Post noted that "its precisely to escape the world of corporate logos that people go to the parks." A better way to raise money might be to require park concessionaires to submit to competitive bidding, suggested Mike Clark, executive director of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and Michael Fischer, president of the Yosemite Restoration Trust.
In an effort to cut costs, State Parks is now reviewing its policies on concessions, and is looking for ways to team up with other agencies and citizens groups, as well as with business organizations. Murphy has launched the California Roundtable on Recreation, Parks and Tourism, which includes representatives of recreational manufacturing industries, user groups, and public agencies. Its purpose is to promote "quality, sustainable recreation" cost-effectively. Yet none of this will make up for the lack of adequate public funding, which is causing California's irreplaceable parklands to slide downhill.
That Californians value their parks was shown by a telephone survey conducted for State Parks in June 1996. Of 600 people interviewed, 94 percent agreed that state parks were a valuable public resource, 78 percent said they had visited a state park in the past year, and 75 percent thought it was important for government to fund parks. Murphy stresses that the park's true value far exceeds their economic value (see interview p. 24). Still, an economic argument is helpful when competing for funds. The department therefore conducted a study to assess the impact of non-local visitors on local economies. The study showed that 66 million non-local visitors to the park system's 268 units spent over $1.6 million during 1990-93, and that these expenditures generated $4 billion in sales, or $2 billion in total income, or fiscal support for the equivalent of 62,000 full-time jobs.
Some of those new jobs are in industries spawned by new forms of recreation, including mountain biking, personal watercraft use (Jet Skiing), and the use of assorted boards towed by personal watercraft. Such sports have a larger impact on natural resources than, say, hiking and birdwatching, and they place new demands on coastal parks. They are also backed by industries, whose demands might be more powerful (as were the demands of OHV users) than those of hikers and birdwatchers, many of whom require nothing more than binoculars, windbreakers, and comfortable shoes.
Mountain biking started in the 1970s with a few people in Marin County tinkering with bicycles to adapt them to trails on Mt. Tamalpais. It is now a popular form of recreation around the world, backed by a $4 billion industry of bikes, tires, parts, accessories, clothing, other gear, at least a dozen glossy magazines, other publications, and a voice in public policy-making. Some 40 cycling clubs in California are affiliated with the International Mountain Bicycling Association, which works to expand access to trails, to educate members about proper trail behavior, and to resolve conflicts with land-management agencies and other trail users, especially hikers and equestrians. Tim Blumenthal, executive director of the association, says "We consider IMBA to be a conservation group, much like Surfrider Foundation."
Controversies raised by users of personal watercraft are more difficult to resolve. According to Mark Denny, government affairs supervisor of the International Jetsports Boating Association, these small power vessels are a $1.1 billion industry (not counting parts and gear), the most rapidly growing segment of the boating industry. Between 1989 and 1995, the number purchased in the United States rose from 29,000 to 200,000. Some resemble aquatic scooters, but most now being sold are designed to carry two or three people. The larger models can tow waterskiers or various boards (kneeboards, wakeboards) that use the wake of the craft to get airborne and do stunts.
Not only are these new powertoys loud, they frighten swimmers, disturb fishers and kayakers, and scatter wildlife. "They move so fast they can be upon you in no time; youre not sure they see you," said a San Francisco rough water swimmer. Although they make up only 13 percent of registered vessels in this state, personal watercraft were involved in 42 percent of all boating accidents and 46 percent of the injuries in 1995, according to the Department of Boating and Waterways. A bill by Senator Mike Thompson to make unsafe and reckless use of these vehicles a misdemeanor has been vetoed by Governor Pete Wilson.
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VOLUME 12 / NUMBER 3 / AUTUMN 1996
