Daily Hampshire Gazette Editorial on Parks

This Editorial really sums up the problem state-wide.


In Our Opinion: Neglecting the parks
Daily Hampshire Gazette
7/26/06
The Pioneer Valley's Holyoke Range is a natural gem, with an extensive system of trails that wind through natural wonders. The state park, profiled in a series of Gazette stories starting this month, has grown into a popular attraction, drawing tourists, hikers and schoolchildren.
Sadly, though, the Notch Visitors Center, the gateway to this idyllic park, has been allowed to deteriorate because of a lack of state funding.
Consider its current condition: There's a nine-foot-wide pothole in the only road leading to the visitors center that fills up with water when it rains. The visitors center opened in 1982 and hasn't seen any significant improvement since then; it is uncomfortably warm during the summer because it lacks any kind of air conditioning. Its displays explaining the park's attractions are composed mostly of yellowed pieces of paper that have been taped to the walls for years.
That's hardly the kind of welcome mat the state should be putting out at its parks. Unfortunately, though, state government has put a low priority on park funding. The state's Department of Conservation and Recreation is spending 28 percent less on upkeep of state parks than it did five years ago.
A number of volunteer groups have stepped forward to help out at the Holyoke Range by donating labor and money. That's been helpful, but it doesn't excuse the state's neglect in maintaining its parks.
The state's failure to invest in its parks is shortsighted. The Holyoke Range has value beyond its status as a recreation area and educational resource. As a tourist attraction, it makes a contribution to the region's economic vitality.
The state's failure to invest in its parks is shortchanging the tourism industry, here in the Pioneer Valley and elsewhere in Massachusetts. Neglected maintenance will result in significantly higher reconstruction or replacement costs in years to come.
Tourism continues to grow in importance to the economy of the Pioneer Valley. In 2004, the most recent year for which statistics are available, tourists spent $86.5 million in Hampshire County, according to the state Office of Travel and Tourism. That benefited local business and government alike: $21 million went directly into salaries; the state picked up $4.8 million in tax revenues and local governments received $2.3 million in tax revenues.
Katherine Abbott, the former commissioner of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, estimated last December that the state had a backlog of $800 million in necessary park improvements. Some of the improvements are large, but some are as simple and inexpensive as providing the Notch Visitors Center with enough funding to hire a nature interpreter for the entire summer season.
Improvements are long overdue at our state parks, particularly at the Notch Visitors Center. The state cannot continue to run its parks on the cheap: The wear and tear is showing, and the state will eventually have to pay out additional millions in repair costs just as a matter of public safety.