State Parks

Coming up with a list of California's ultimate parks and wild places is like being asked to choose your favorite family member. Each one is special in his own way, even that annoying brother who still owes you $100. How can you pick? If you choose the most popular parks, you end up with a list of the state's most crowded and overdeveloped parks. (Old Town San Diego State Historic Park averages 5 million visitors a year but is more like a collection of historic buildings than a park.

A judge on Thursday blocked a federal rule allowing people to carry concealed, loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges. The decision by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly halts a change in regulations issued in the waning days of the Bush administration and orders further review. She set an April 20 deadline for the Interior Department to review the rule and indicate its course of action in response to the injunction. The rule, which took effect Jan.

Stay in Washington a few days and you will quickly learn that the East Coast media are reveling in California's budget woes. However, the Beltway's current mantra -- a crisis is too good an opportunity to waste -- can be a guide for Sacramento. Cutting $20 billion to $25 billion from a state budget that has been cut repeatedly and, according to the U.S. census, supports one of the leanest state workforces in the country will be tough and traumatic.

Roads will be rougher, classrooms fuller and textbooks more tattered. The odds of encountering someone fresh out of prison will almost certainly be higher. If the budget deal crafted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and top legislative leaders is passed by the Legislature and survives the inevitable court challenges, California will undergo perhaps the biggest downscaling of government in its history.

It's not always easy to identify the tentacles that are strangling California and keeping it from fulfilling its promise for 38 million residents. Who wrecked our public school system, which was once the envy of the world? Who ruined the nation's premier network of highways, the most ambitious and reliable water delivery system, the best state parks? Who killed the spirit of opportunity and innovation that once made California the headquarters for banks and oil companies, for makers of surfboards and electric guitars, for computers and communications?

Backing away from the possible closure of dozens of state parks, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced a plan Friday that would keep them all open for now, but warned that most would see reduced hours of operation and maintenance levels. Park supporters welcomed the news that there would be no closures, but some expressed serious concern about the cutbacks, noting that the reprieve is only for the current fiscal year, which ends in June 2010. The park system faces a larger budget cut of $22 million next year.

If you want to save money, there are easier ways to go about it than by closing scores of state parks. It's surprising that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger thought otherwise back when he announced that most of the state's 279 parks would close. Later, he amended that to 100. But the list of specific parks never materialized, and now the governor is saying the number will be far lower -- possibly zero. A leaked memo written by lawyers for the Department of Parks and Recreation makes the reasons clear, outlining dozens of ways California could actually lose money by closing parks.

State parks bring to mind walking, biking or just relaxing amid beautiful scenery. But outdoor enthusiasts Shari and Christopher Boyer see something else: an efficient marketing tool for businesses. "Parks are about going out, having fun with your family, hiking," said Shari Boyer, chief executive of a small Pasadena company called Government Solutions Group Inc. "To associate your brand name with something positive is a unique experience, which is exactly what brand owners are looking for and what parks are in need of."

Paul Caldera's morning routine as groundskeeper at Los Encinos State Historic Park includes unlocking the gates at 10 a.m., raking pepper tree leaves and feeding the ducks that fly in each morning to lounge in a shady spring-fed pond. Then he clears the pond drains of debris and checks on the resident geese, including one Caldera calls "Bad Boy" because, he said, "it tries to bite my ponytail." "This job is my livelihood. It's a way of life. I feel at home here," said Caldera, 41, who landed the job nearly two years ago. Nodding toward dozens of ducks and geese preening at the water's edge, he added, "those are my babies."

It will cost more to visit many California parks starting Monday. Day-use parking fees will increase $2 to $5, depending on the park, and camping fees will rise by $10 to $21 a night, according to state parks Director Ruth Coleman. "In these dire economic times, we can no longer afford to keep our fees at their current levels," Coleman said. "The people of California understand that by charging more, we will be able to keep more parks open and preserved." A list of parks where fees will rise will be made available when the increases go into effect, Coleman said.