California Lives is a 501(c)(3) non-profit. Your donations, of any amount, are deeply appreciated to help support our State Parks.
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California Lives
Our state parks, beaches, and lagoons are interconnected- they not only matter ecologically, but also economically to our great state. California Lives, a newly minted non-profit organization, was created for the sole purpose of raising funds to maintain and improve these systems.
The California State Park System contains over 278 unique areas, including beaches and lagoons, and encompasses over 1.3 million acres. Most park areas within our state are recognized as having regional, statewide, national, or international significance. Ideally, funding and staffing would be available to restore and maintain all important park natural and cultural values and manage recreational uses. Such fiscal resources, however, do not exist and hard decisions are made on where available funding is to be directed. Many factors must be considered in making these decisions, including the state government’s fiscal needs elsewhere.
State Parks saw $14 million in budget cuts last year. Parks officials had initially proposed closing a number of parks, placing them in mothballs until funds were found to reopen them, but they instead met budgeting targets in part by slashing park hours and services. Deferred maintenance on our park system now totals $1.2 billion, not including capital outlay projects, for which the backlog is an additional $1.8 billion.
In the spring of 2012, visitors at campgrounds in the Humboldt area were met with a laminated sign that stating said campgrounds were closed "until further notice" due to state budget cuts, state budget cuts that threatened over 70 park areas statewide. Since that time, corporations such as Coca Cola and Pepsi have stepped in and given $$ to the state parks in return for running those same type parks as concession stands for their products- still lowly operated, but at no cost to the state.
With California Lives, we have the opportunity to not only prevent our parks, beaches and lagoons from succumbing to corporate interests, but also to raise enough money to see them operated as they should be- with proper facilities and maintenance, and a respect toward growing these great areas for the benefit of the state and our visitors. I look forward to having you all on board for this great need.
Thank you!