Partly cloudy with late local clearing..?

Anza-Borrego state park, the state park we visit the most, is not out of the woods yet but it may be spared the ax originally intended for it in the latest budget deal that was cobbled together two weeks ago in Sacramento.

A variety of options including state-federal partnering, a new vehicle registration fee and raising entrance fees at the sites themselves are all being considered as means to finance the continuing operation of the parks.

An option that didn’t appear in the article nor have we heard it discussed much is turning over operations of the park to Nature Conservancy, a non-profit group that oversees many ecological set-asides and preserves here in California, the country and around the world. We think it’s an intriguing proposition that should be explored.

At the risk of sounding hypocritical, we don’t think raising the entrance fees by a nominal amount at the state parks is all that bad of an idea. Wait a minute… weren’t we just saying in the previous post that in market economics, raising the price on something will not necessarily generate a corresponding increase in revenue? Yes, but we think that the state park situation is slightly different.

From an intuitive standpoint, we can’t see a family of four that takes the time and effort to pack lunches, load-up the mini-van with kids, dogs, day packs, hiking boots and whatnot will balk at a day trip to the Cuyamacas or Torrey Pines state preserve merely because the entrance fee was bumped up $10.

The direct benefit aspect of a fee increase would seem to be more politically, psychologically and economically palatable than the more indirect aspect the imposition of a vehicle registration hike would be. Pay to play or pay as you go, right.

Anyway, we would love to hear some ideas from you all as to what you think can be done to preserve the continued operation of California’s excellent state parks.