PA Parks & Forests Foundation: Cuts Would Harm Tourism Industry In State

The PA Parks and Forests Foundation sent this action alert on proposed diversions of money from environmental funds saying it would further reduce the $9 in economic benefit State Parks and Forest make to the state's economy for every $1 spent--

Gov. Rendell's current funding proposal would dramatically impact state parks, community recreation and farmland preservation. Specifically, $182 million would be taken from the state's special funds, with the bulk -- $132 million -- coming from environmental funding. These proposals would essentially shut down the:
-- Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund;
-- Growing Greener (the Environmental Stewardship Fund); and
-- Farmland preservation program and more.
If this proposal moves forward as it is currently proposed -- and it will unless we push back - we will lose funding for community parks, open space protection, farmland preservation, community-centered environmental restoration and other conservation efforts. At serious risk are Growing Greener grants, Keystone grants, and allocations for counties for farmland preservation.
-- The cut would result in reducing the Bureau of State Parks' wage hours by approximately 25 percent. A reduction of that magnitude would result in major reductions in services and staff cuts.
-- State park capital and maintenance repair projects (e.g. sewage treatment plant rehabilitation) and emergency (e.g. dam rehabilitation projects) are funded out of the Keystone Fund and would be suspended.
-- State park emergency response for major malfunctions in physical plants such as sewage lift stations, water treatment plants, bridges, roads etc. would be drastically reduced or eliminated.
-- DCNR's Community Conservation Partnership Program (C2P2) grants that assist municipalities and nonprofit organizations in recreation, park, land acquisition, planning, and conservation projects are funded through a variety of state and federal sources and would essentially be eliminated. The two most significant sources are Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund Act (Key 93) and the Environmental Stewardship Fund.
-- C2P2 requests in the last grant round topped $100 million; DCNR was only able to provide funding for 1 of every 5 projects.
-- The proposed fund transfer would reduce available grant funds for the next round to about $4 million - $3.2 million in Keystone (Key 93) and $816,000 in ESF (GG1). If the funds are transferred, less than 5 percent of the total demand could be met.
Environmental stewardship and the state parks are such a small portion of the overall budget that it is unfair to ask them to shoulder so much of the budget-balancing burden. In fact, state parks contribute to the economic vitality of the Commonwealth, with $9 of every taxpayer dollar invested returning to the state's coffers.