Caledon Natural Area in King George County is one of four state parks that will close two days a week due to budget cuts. van Visit the Photo Place

Budget cuts hit area state parks

State budget cuts mean cutbacks at area state parks and natural areas.

By RUSTY DENNEN

Date published: 1/4/2003

Caledon, Sky Meadows to close two days a week

Four Virginia state parks, including two in the Fredericksburg area, will be affected most by cuts in the Department of Conservation and Recreation's budget.

Caledon Natural Area in King George County and Sky Meadows State Park in Fauquier will close two days a week, according to department spokesman Gary Waugh. Similar reductions are also in the works at False Cape State Park in Virginia Beach and the Southwest Virginia Museum Historical State Park in Big Stone Gap.

The four parks will be relegated to "caretaker" status--meaning the gates will remain open, but some essential services will be eliminated.

To save money, each of the parks, which have been open every day, will be closed two weekdays, Waugh said. Which days the parks will close have not yet been decided.

At Caledon, the popular summer eagle tours will be grounded, and interpretive programs will be suspended. The Smoot House visitor center will close, one full-time staffer will be reassigned to another park, and several hourly workers will be laid off.

Sky Meadows' primitive campground will be closed, and the Mount Bleak House will not be open for tours in the summer, Waugh said.

The park cuts are fallout from $858 million in budget reductions ordered in October by Gov. Mark Warner.

Waugh noted that all state parks and natural areas will be affected, unless the General Assembly--which begins its 2003 session on Wednesday--restores the money.

One change will hit park visitors right in the pocketbook: The tab for renting a cabin or campsite in all state parks will rise by 10 percent.

The fee for a campsite with water and electric hookups at Westmoreland State Park, for example, would go up from $21 a night to $23.10. The price for a week in a one-bedroom waterfront cabin for a Virginia resident would rise from $480 to $528.

Statewide, the parks agency will cut 10 percent of its workforce.

Money for trail improvements, wildlife habitat, wetland restoration and the like will be cut by $400,000 overall.

The agency will cut $27,000 during each of the next two years for natural area public access, maintenance and development.

Waugh said the cut in the budget--about $8 million over the next two years--comes at a time when it is already operating on the margin.

In November, voters approved a $119 million bond issue for improvements at parks and natural areas, but that money can't be used to offset Warner's budget reductions.

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Date published: 1/4/2003