Public Lands

The Bay Area Open Space Council organized a meeting on November 17, 2011, in Berkeley on the California State Parks crisis and live-blogged the event.

If parks close and stay closed, it would mark the first time the state park system would be left smaller for the next generation of Californians.

As severe state budget cuts afflict the entire country, California is not alone in this parks funding crisis. Park systems, notably state park systems, are struggling to stay open. Many states [...]

Castle Crags State Park is one of 70 that made the notorious closure list announced by California State Parks and Recreation in May 2011.

Thomas Peters, President of the Marin Community Foundation, offers insights on philanthropy's response to state park closures.

While not final yet, a few nonprofits and public agencies are in various stages of developing proposals to run parks in their communities.

The National Park Service is stepping in to preserve and prevent harm to national parks that overlap boundaries with state parks and has also come up with new ways to raise some additional funding.

The state park operations and funding model of yesteryear is cleary broken. Around the state, park advocates are looking for creative solutions to keep the beloved parks in their communities open.

Volunteers are the true heroes in the fight to save our parks, but they need help.

"Across Sonoma Mountain wisps of sea fog are stealing … I have everything to make me glad I am alive. I am filled with dreams and mysteries. I am all sun and air and sparkle. I am vitalized, [...]