The nation’s largest state parks system has a backlog of $1.3 billion in maintenance costs.

All of  California’s 278 state parks are a tangle of troubles.

.

Visitors to California State Parks have already  dealt with abbreviated schedules and services. Now decay and neglect in the parks endanger the environment, artifacts – and even public health.

Much of the park decay exists because maintenance has been largely ignored for more than a decade amid slim and slimmer state budgets. Buildings and infrastructure, subject to constant exposure and heavy use, just get worse until they fail.

As a result, the backlog has more than doubled since 2001, when it was estimated at $600 million.

The operating budget for state parks from state funding and user fees – which pays for day-to-day maintenance, law enforcement and administration – stands at about $330 million this fiscal year. In 2001, it was $314 million. Adjusted for inflation, however, that reflects a 15 percent drop.

Has the recesion lead to locking up our State Parks?

Padlocking the Gates to the Great Outdoors

By WILLIAM YARDLEY

In these hard economic times, when much of the country could use a walk in the woods or a night in the mountains or a wade in the river or a picnic by the lake, states across the country seem to be creating obstacles to the great outdoors.

Seeking to streamline their budgets, states have made their parks easy targets. Campgrounds are closing, fees are increasing, employees have been laid off.

In Colorado, some parks are down to one lone ranger. In Massachusetts, a few swimming ponds are closed for lack of lifeguards. Washington has started asking motorists to donate to state parks when they register their cars; Michigan will do so this fall.

Georgia is considering corporate sponsorships for its parks. In Idaho, a motorcycle group offered to mow the grass at a state park on the Snake River where it holds an annual reunion.

Some see a silver lining with the rising volunteerism and the public outcry that have helped keep parks open in many states. Others wonder what will come by next Memorial Day.

“Right now,” said Virginia Painter, a spokeswoman for Washington State Parks, which has seen revenue from the new vehicle registration donations fail to meet projections, “we’re hanging on.”