Salton Sea Recreation Area Closure Could Be ‘Devastating’

The Salton Sea State Recreation Area in southeastern Riverside County could be a casualty of the governor’s deficit reduction plans, it was announced today.

The 400-square-mile basin is on a list of 70 state parks slated for closure this fall, according to the California State Parks Foundation, which described the proposal as “devastating.”

“This generation is on the verge of leaving California’s state park system smaller and in every way diminished for the next generation,” said the organization’s president, Elizabeth Goldstein. “Although park closures have been threatened before, this constitutes the first time in the 100-year history of California state parks that a serious, deliberate effort has been made to significantly reduce the state parks system.

“The message to our children and grandchildren is that we can’t save their natural and historic legacy,” she said.

The governor’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

According to the CSPF, the closures would net about $22 million in savings to the state general fund. Gov. Jerry Brown signed bills passed by the Legislature in March that authorizes slashing appropriations for upkeep, security and service at the recreational grounds.

Whether the proposed cuts will make it into the final state budget remained unclear.

“When the governor first proposed the cut to state parks, we warned that the closures would be devastating, and clearly they will be,” Goldstein said. “At a time when local communities are struggling to be part of the state’s recovery, this proposal shuts the door to vital part of our economy. Closing these parks is going in the wrong direction.”

Parks would be shut down in 36 of the state’s 58 counties, and the closures would represent roughly one-quarter of the state’s park system, which comprises 278 sites, according to the CSPF.

According to the nonprofit organization, padlocking the parks would mean students losing opportunities for field trips and visitors losing out on a chance to visit “unique, historic, culturally important” places.

The CSPF also questioned what would happen to the unstaffed parks in the interim, with the likelihood of increased vandalism, theft and other problems.