State parks: more money needed for maintenance, improvements
Aug. 2—A plan for improving and maintaining Pennsylvania's 121 state parks contains 87 strategies, but none might be more difficult to attain than extracting more funding from the state to address what has been estimated to be $500 million worth of maintenance, safety and infrastructure needs in state parks and forests.
"Penn's Parks for All — A Plan for Pennsylvania's State Parks of Tomorrow," developed with extensive public input in 2017 and 2018, is seen as a blueprint for the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to carry out the work of maintaining and improving for the next quarter century a state park system encompassing almost 300,000 acres.
The state should increase the annual appropriations from the General Assembly for operations so fees collected in state parks can be used for maintenance, it says. As a way of reducing costs, the plan recommends demolishing buildings that are costly and have no historical significance and minimizing duplication of recreational services.
The plan was released recently during a period when the covid pandemic has driven more people to take advantage of the outdoor recreational activities state parks offer. Millions of people visit Ohiopyle State Park with its whitewater rafting on the Youghiogheny River, and an estimated 4.2 million people each year visit Presque Isle State Park that juts into Lake Erie.
The conservation department, which oversees the state parks, has reported there has been about a 25% increase in visitors over last year. Park visits continue to grow compared with last year's record numbers.
The plan was built on a series of surveys conducted by Penn State in 2017 and 2018 to assess the attitudes and opinions of state park visitors, stakeholders and the public regarding key issues affecting the future of the state parks.
It also called for improving transportation options to state parks to broaden access and accessibility to all water-based recreation. The state should identify the need for more trails and trails that connect state parks to communities.
Designating more areas that conserve ecological, geological, and cultural resources was another strategy of the plan. Among the ideas proposed by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy was that the state should limit the impact of visitors to environmentally sensitive areas.
Visitor information and programs should be updated to include untold stories and improve inaccuracies of cultural stories, the plan says.
The state parks are part of what the Pennsylvania Parks and Forest Foundation identified as a $29 billion outdoor recreation industry. The state should partner with outdoor recreation businesses and organizations to pilot new activities and meet increased demand and changing overnight accommodation needs, according to the plan.
The conservation and natural resources department realizes that the parks are "economic drivers for nearby communities," because state parks and outdoor recreation also are an important part of the state's economic recovery, said Cindy Adams Dunn, DCNR secretary.
Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe at 724-836-5252, jnapsha@triblive.com or via Twitter .
