State parks face danger of being terminated

They turn my way and freeze for several seconds, as if to gauge the threat, then resume foraging as though I'm invisible.

Moments later, on a shaded portion of trail, a gray squirrel perched on a ledge chirps raucously and causes me to jump.

I've invaded its privacy. It lifts and shakes its bushy tail, like a fly-swatter, threatening to wallop me with it.

So I venture forth, into the sunlight, where I encounter a park resident smiling through her many freckles.

Lori Callahan, whose home borders the park and who considers it her backyard, explains that anyone who appreciates the park's green splendor is worth meeting.

"I encounter people from all over the world," she says. "Last week I met people from Australia, and the week before Austria. I've met people from France and, recently, New England."

I'm hesitant to spoil her mood, but ask anyway:

"So how do you feel about Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to close this great park, and 47 others?"

She pounces on the question as a cougar would a rabbit.

"I'm a native Californian and a tax payer," she says. "My husband works for a corporation that's California-based. I am personally a California corporation.

"And this is the first time in my life that I have considered moving out of state -- all because of this. I am so upset. It seems that all the benefits of living in this state have gone down the tubes."

I half-expect the Terminator himself to burst from the bushes and blow us to smithereens.

The action-hero-turned-governor is no "good guy" when it comes to state parks.

He tried but failed recently in a bullying effort to gain approval for a toll road to be built through San Onofre State Beach.

Then he terminated Clint Eastwood and Bobby Shriver, his own brother-in-law, as members of the parks commission, because of their opposition to that project.

Now focus is back on his 2008-09 budget proposal, which he revealed in January and has not backed down from. It would close 48 of 278 state parks and reduce lifeguard staffing at 16 state beaches.

On Monday the California State Parks Foundation is staging a rally in Sacramento to express its opposition to the proposal, which the commission president calls "wrong-headed."