If you love the great outdoors and you enjoy the state parks in our area then here’s some really positive news. The below article from the Democrat and Chronicle explains how the state parks are to receive funding from the state for much-needed repairs and uprgrades. I personally cherish our park system, but I’m ashamed that I don’t make a better effort to visit them more often. Letchworth is my favorite and I much prefer it to Niagara Falls because it has been preserved in a pristine condition. To anyone that hasn’t been to Letchworth anytime other than the Fall let me assure you it’s worth it!

Below is the great news:

The Middle Falls at Letchworth State Park is just one of the attractions to draw international visitors. The park, established in 1907, averages between 10,000 and 15,000 visitors every day. (WILL YURMAN staff photographer)

Unprecedented funds from Albany mean many state parks will be upgraded

Jill Terreri • Staff writer • Democrat and Chronicle • June 28, 2008

The signs of long-neglected parks were clear: cabins held together with duct tape, a broken pool, 50-year-old bathrooms and caved-in roads.

But to bring attention to the dismal conditions, state park officials had to document them.

“We asked each of the park directors to start taking pictures of their uglies,” said Carol Ash, the state’s commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. “This was heresy, to show the public the ugly things in the parks, because everyone is used to showing them the great things.”

The photos made their way to the governor’s office and inspired an un-precedented $132 million investment this year for state parks and historic sites. The funds will finance major upgrades at levels not seen in a decade — the first steps in an effort to reverse years of underinvestment.

Locally, the funds mean a redesigned swimming pool, renovated locker rooms and a reliable source of clean drinking water at Letchworth State Park, and a new police substation and park office at Hamlin Beach.

In recent years, Ash said, only $30 million was spent annually on capital improvements at all of the 213 state sites.

“You look at the $30 million … and you look at the $650 million to $700 million in needs and there is no way but to continue to sink,” Ash said. “Pretty soon people would stop coming.”

The work on critical infrastructure such as drinking water systems and bridges will clear the way for a private fundraising campaign planned by state parks, which will allow donors to put their names on more visible developments, such as nature centers.

The renovations come at a time when camping bookings statewide are up 15 percent, tied perhaps to high gas prices, which are prompting some vacationers to stay closer to home or opt for a cheaper getaway. But that rising popularity also coincides with a fiscal crisis in state government, which has led the current operating budgets for parks to be cut by 4 percent over last year.

In the Genesee region, about $7 million will be spent on upgrades at Letchworth and Hamlin Beach in fiscal year 2008-09, compared to $900,000 per year over the last decade. About $3 million will come from state capital funds for state parks, the rest from federal and private sources and the state Legislature.

The stagnant capital support meant that inflation and increased construction costs cut the spending power of that $900,000 by about 40 percent over the last decade, said Richard Parker, who oversees state parks in the Genesee region.

Other funding includes:

$4 million for the Allegany region, which includes Allegany State Park and Midway State Park, on Chautauqua Lake.

$16 million for the Niagara region, which includes Niagara Falls State Park and parks in Erie County. Only about half of that total comes from state capital funds, because many of the upgrades will be funded with money released following the relicensing of the Niagara Power Project.

$16 million in upgrades for state parks in New York City, although only $3 million comes from funding set aside for capital improvements in state parks.Plans for the upgrades in the state park system began with a 2006 report written by Parks and Trails New York, an advocacy organization, which exposed problems in many, but not all, of the parks.Once Gov. Eliot Spitzer was inaugurated, the report was built upon by park managers across the state.Bolstered by their photos of the parks’ “uglies,” the managers determined that the total bill for all of the upgrades would be between $650 million and $700 million, Ash said.Ash calls this year’s $132 million in funding a “down payment” on the total bill, although there is no commitment for capital funds beyond this year. So the park plans to spend this year’s money wisely and quickly, using local contractors and designing future projects so they are ready to be constructed during the next budget year, she said.This will leave the governor and the state Legislature with no choice but to fund the remaining projects, she said.Letchworth

In the Genesee region’s largest state park, plans are under way for a redesigned swimming pool, an improved drinking water system, new cabins and repaved roadways. Letchworth State Park, which straddles the border of Livingston and Wyoming counties, sits on more than 14,000 acres and hosts about 750,000 visitors every year, or between 10,000 and 15,000 visitors daily during the peak season.

The park, established in 1907, boasts the spectacular Genesee Gorge and three waterfalls that draw international visitors.

There are more than 65 miles of hiking trails, hook-ups for recreational vehicles and a variety of cabins that are occupied at 95 to 97 percent of capacity during the summer. The Glen Iris Inn offers rooms for overnight stays and indoor and outdoor dining.

The park’s camping facilities are sold out every year over Columbus Day weekend, when the Arts Council for Wyoming County hosts its annual arts and crafts show. The event draws between 75,000 and 85,000 people and 325 vendors.

Two principals with the Arts Council, Director Patti Hughes and Show Coordinator Sunny Simmons, have nothing but praise for the park staff. Workers do the best with the resources they have and have corrected problems as they’ve come up, they said.

However, there is room for improvement.

“They don’t put the money into it like they used to,” said Simmons, who coordinates all of the shows for the arts council.

The park’s 59-year-old pool in the south end of the park closed last summer because it was leaking water and minor repairs couldn’t keep up with the pool’s problems. The pool will be closed again this summer but a new design has been completed, incorporating a water slide, a shallow area for children and a section for lap swimming. Construction is slated to begin once the weather breaks next year, with an opening during 2009-10. Unlike the current facility, the new pool and its new locker room will be accessible to people with physical disabilities.

A $3 million upgrade of the drinking water system in the southern portion of Letchworth will allow the park to connect to the water supply from the nearby village of Castile.

Road projects totaling about $2 million will stabilize and improve the park’s thoroughfares. A landslide last year forced one section of road to be reduced to one lane. It has since been repaired and both lanes are open.

Three cabins in the park’s year-round camping area will be replaced and new cabins will be built, bringing the number of cabins in that area from 18 to 23.

Construction on the $1.6 million project will begin in late summer or early fall, according to David Herring, capital facilities manager for the Allegany and Genesee regions.

Hamlin

A new police substation and park office are planned for Hamlin Beach State Park, in Hamlin. The new building will replace two cottages that were combined to create the current facility, which dates back to the 1960s.

“It’s just not a very attractive place for our patrons,” Herring said.

Construction, estimated to cost between $1.4 million and $1.5 million, is slated to begin by Labor Day, with an opening next spring.

The new building will offer more room for the park staff and the park police and will be located closer to the main park road, said Marty Howden, facility manager at Hamlin Beach.

And the new location will put park staff and the park’s five police officers closer to the area where visitors congregate.

“It’s not really adequate at this point,” Howden said.

The improvements are years in the making and will benefit a new generation of park users.

“Parks are being looked at more as the vacation of choice,” Ash said. “People are going to stay closer to home, and they’re going to be demanding the kinds of places in our state parks that are affordable, that they can have a good time, that they can take their kids to.

“We intend to be there to meet that demand as it happens.”

JTERRERI@DemocratandChronicle.com

Anyone plan on camping more often, swimming at the new pool at Letchworth once it opens or enjoying any of the other parks that are slated to be improved?