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July 28, 2010

Budget cuts affect north Georgia state parks

MIMI ENSLEY, The Times, Gainesville

GAINESVILLE — As vacationers in North Georgia travel to the areas state parks and historic sites this summer, they might notice the effects of budget cuts and dwindling state support, some park managers said.

In fiscal year 2010, state appropriations to the Department of Natural Resources were cut by nearly 40 percent, which resulted in furloughs, reduced hours and reduced staffs, said Kim Hatcher, spokeswoman for Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites.

She said reductions for fiscal year 2011 werent as steep, but state agencies were recently asked to prepare for additional 4 percent cuts in August.

Randy Gambrell, assistant park manager at Vogel State Park in Blairsville, said travelers will continue to feel the effects of these cuts.

“We just cant buy the upkeep on the grounds,” Gambrell said. “We had to cut a lot of corners maintaining the facilities. We just dont have the money to maintain them. Theres rotten wood, rotten roof systems.”

He said he gets some negative comments, but theres nothing he can do.

“Right now, were on a stand still for our budget,” he said. “We cant purchase anything unless its critical to the parks operation.”

Overall, he said visitation to the park has decreased, with weeklong stays in particular seeing more cancellations. He also said visitors dont spend as much money on extra attractions, such as mini golf or paddle boats.

But for Gambrell, theres hope in the fact that “friends” memberships have increased recently.

Purchasing the membership gives money directly back to the park, Gambrell said.

“People are concerned about the park,” he said. “They feel the park is part of their own, and they want the money coming back to Vogel.”

In Dahlonega, this same level of kinship has shielded the Gold Museum historic site from budgetary cut backs.

Last summer, the museum was closed Mondays and Tuesdays until it was able to form a partnership with the community to find the funding needed to keep the site open. That partnership allows the museum to be open seven days a week this summer, said Julia Autry, interpretive ranger at the museum.

She said volunteers have also helped cover the museum duties the sites three full-time employees and three part-time employees cannot take on.

“They help tremendously,” Autry said. “Theres a volunteer almost every day to assist us with visitors.”

And the number of visitors to the museum increased slightly this June.

Unicoi State Park and Lodge in Helen is also seeing more visitors, lodge General Manager Jerry Brown said.

“We think that more people are staying closer to home but still wanting to travel and do things with their families,” Brown said. “We really appeal to families.”

To date, the park has seen an increase of more than 80,000 visitors from last year.

But the park is short staffed.

Through recent budget cuts, the park lost five employees and 20 were reduced to part-time positions, Brown said.

“We really have to do more with less,” he said. “And weve been able to do that quite successfully. Its very seldom that we hear from a guest any concerns, them noticing that were short on staff.”

Amicalola Falls State Park in Dawsonville is running into some of the same problems.

Theyve already seen an increase in reservations for October, but theyre also dealing with a more than 30 percent decrease in personnel, park manager Bill Tanner said.

“We just hope the folks stay strong and that were able to get through as far as the budget and that we dont have any major unexpected expenses,” Tanner said. “October will be a challenge, but it will be one that were used to.”

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Information from: The Times, http://www.gainesvilletimes.com

 

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