Are Our State Parks Endangered?

Aug. 25, 2000 -- The nation’s 3,266 state parks are in jeopardy from encroaching urban development and government’s lack of commitment to land acquisition, a conservation group said today.

State parks attract 10 times as many visitors as national parks, despite having fewer acres and far smaller budgets, according to the National Park Trust. But Congress gets an “F” for protecting state parks, the trust says.

The group’s research found more than 90,000 acres in state parks threatened by overuse, traffic, adjacent commercialism, encroachment, land development, rising land values and privately owned land within the parks’ boundaries.

“If these trends continue, park visitors may one day find interstate highways, residential areas and shopping developments completely surrounding their parks,” trust president Paul Pritchard said at a Washington press conference announcing the report’s release.

The group identified what it sees as the most endangered state parks and the 10 states with the most threatened parks. Georgia topped the list, followed by North Carolina, Minnesota, Nevada and West Virginia. Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Montana rounded out the top 10. The study was based on surveys filled out by state park officials, but 18 states did not respond, including California, Texas, New York and Alaska.

Here are three examples of endangered state parks, according to the trust: Blackwater Falls, W. Va.: Republican Gov. Cecil Underwood recently crafted a deal with a developer who plans to build condos on a canyon rim. The housing would be accessible by park roads, generating more traffic in the park. Rosebud Battlefield, Mont.: The site of a historic battle led by General Custer, the park is threatened by potential development of a privately-owned portion of the battlefield. Wormsloe Park, Ga.: The current construction of two lanes to the park road is creating significant noise and air pollution.

Debate Over Funding

The report also lists the states with the least amount of preserved land per person. Rhode Island has the lowest ratio of parkland per capita followed by Ohio, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Iowa.

In 1964, Congress created the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the purpose of acquiring private land for parks. But the group says Washington has moved too slow to make the fund’s more than $5 billion available to federal, state and local park officials for parkland acquisition.

The federal fund collects nearly $900 million annually from excise fees placed on oil exploration on the outer Continental Shelf. Congress must approve funds for withdrawal, but has approved only a fraction needed to acquire private lands, according to the trust.

Congress is now considering a bill that would allot about $40 billion over 15 years to conservation programs including park development. The House passed the legislation, but it faces opposition from property rights activists and an uncertain future in the Senate.

The American Land Rights Association calls the bill “a cafeteria of pork, the mother of all troughs.”

Revisiting National ParksIn a similar report released last year, the trust warned against the potential development of millions of acres of privately owned land within national parks, called “in-holdings.”

Today’s report took another look at the 20 national parks identified as the most threatened. The National Park Service requested $70.5 million to acquire privately owned lands in the 20 parks, but received $44.4 million from Congress.

Several of the parks received no funding, including: Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland, Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina and Virginia, Wrangell-St. Ellis National Park in Alaska, North Cascades Complex in Washington, Golden Spike National Historic Site in Utah, Olympic National Park in Washington and Mojave National Preserve in California.

The trust gives Congress a “D” for its record on protecting the national parks.