Illinois Forced To Close 11 State Parks and 25 Historical Landmarks
September 5, 2008
The state of Illinois is being forced to close 11 state parks after lawmakers recent made a $14 million dollar cut to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources funding. All eleven parks will be closed on November 1st, 2008. The Illinois DNR is also being forced to layoff 39 employees, 36 of whom are full-time. These employees include park rangers, security, superintendants, and park technicians.
Earlier this summer, Illinois’ General Assembly passed the state budget which included a 24% decrease in DNR general funding. This funding is used to pay park salaries and maintain the current park system. Many of Illinois’ lawmakers are attributing the cuts to a poor economy, but Illinois’ DNR claims that these parks are one of few areas that actually profit in the state. The Illinois state park system had over 45 million visitors in 2007, many of which spend more funds in local economies. It is thought that the loss in local revenue from visitors will far outweigh any savings that the state hopes to gain by the closures.
The Illinois DNR was actually in the process of making a proposal to slightly raise park fees in an effort to compensate for the state’s shortcomings on funding, when the measure to close the parks was handed down.
The parks in question (which I will list shortly) do have the possibility of being reopened at a future date, but DNR officials worry that without proper maintenance, it will take much more money to get these parks back in line. With a shortcoming on funds, they fear that this option may be a far stretch and future funding will not allow for the kind of work involved to reopen the parks.
Illinois’ DNR currently manages and maintains 320 state parks, natural areas, state forests, historical areas, and public property throughout Illinois. The fear now comes that even more state managed land will be closed in the future due to funding.
The Illinois state parks that will be closing on November 1st, 2008 include the following:
- Castle Rock State Park, Oregon
- Lowden State Park, Oregon
- Hennepin Canal Parkway State Park, Sheffield
- Illini State Park, Marseilles
- Channahon Parkway State Park, Channahon
- Gebhard Woods State Park, Morris
- Hidden Springs State Forrest, Strasburg
- Kickapoo State Park, Oakwood
- Moraine View State Park, Leroy
- Weldon Springs State Park, Clinton
- Wolf Creek State Park, Windsor
BikingBis, a blog dedicated to everything ‘cycling’, has mentioned that one of the biggest blows to the state will be the closure of Hennepin Canal Parkway State Park. This park boasts over 90 miles of trails and roadways dedicated to the bicycling enthusiast.
Along with the state park closings, Illinois will also be closing 25 historical landmarks, including four National historic Landmarks. These closings will take effect on October 1st, 2008. These closures will definitely be hitting the local economies pretty hard. Many of these historical landmarks are big tourist attractions and bring in much needed funds across smaller communities while also drawing in visitors and tourists to little known areas.
To see a list of the historical landmarks being closed across Illinois, please visit this site.
The economy is definitely hitting many areas hard right now. With state budgets in the billions of dollars, it just seems like there would be a way to cut funding to more ‘less meaningful’ projects, then to take away something that is meant ‘for the people’. $14 million dollars is not a lot of money to a state whose budget is in the billions. One less road would do the trick. Just something to think about..
I would appreciate any comments you might have on this issue. Is there a better way of handling Illinois’ DNR budget shortfall? I would like to hear your answers. Comment below.
UPDATE>>> Eight Things You Can Do To Fight Illinois’ State Park Closures
SECOND UPDATE>>> Illinois House Passes DNR Funding, Awaiting Senate
From The Adventurist Vault:
Written by Jason A. Hendricks · Filed Under State Parks |
It seems like raising fees or charging a small fee for activities that were formerly free would make up some of the shortfall. If the attractions had 45 million visitors last year, just charging each of them a dollar would more than make up the shortfall.
I’d pay a dollar to use a park or view a national landmark. I’d probably pay more than that.
Kristine-
You make an awfully good point. I don’t see why there would be such a big deal about raising the prices–even $1 a person would offset these costs and actually bring in a profit. I am not sure of the thinking. It seems like even the lawmakers and government should have considered this. Perhaps there is something underlying that we don’t know. I do know that there are petitions currently circulating that are drawing some interest to keep the parks open—maybe something will change before October-November.
I have used Chanahon parks to bike ride. It’s beautiful, newly renovated park with a new building that is something to see. To fund these improvements and then close the park shows the inability of our Governor Blog and his administration to operate a fiscally responsible budget. We also spent time this year at Kickapoo State Park in Danville and this park is also on the Parks to be closed list. I am sick about this.
In the coming days I am going to be posting more information on this, and perhaps, digging a bit deeper into what is actually taking place in Illinois. I have some new information I will be putting together, as well as how you can fight these closures. From what I am hearing, this just may not be a done deal yet. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that his doesn’t happen.
Do what Wi.State Parks do, charge a Vehicle fee. That would raise a lot of money. I was on my way to a wi. State park when I read about the closing of the parks. We were just at the Illini State park and we will go back before it closes. I will be looking forward to Hendricks blog on how we can fight these closures. I have every thing crossed.
What else could we expect as citizens of a state governed by a man who refuses to live in the state capital, and instead lives in Chicagoland and commutes by air to Springfield when he HAS to be there? Governor B. is an embarrassment to the state, and obviously has no interest in the mass of Illinoisans who live South of I-80.
You may notice that the overwhelming majority of sites being closed fall below that line.
Indiana State Parks charge a small fee, as well. Perhaps I am dumb on the issue, but why wouldn’t a dollar a person be adequate to keep these parks open? With over 45 million visitors to Illinois’ parks, this would definitely give them the $14 million in funding that they need, as well as establish even more funding in the future. This seems only logical.
Roger, I do not live in Illinois, but if these charges are true, it is definitely something that needs to be looked in to further. He is wasting ‘the people’s’ tax dollars on flying back and forth-I am sure that over a year’s time, you can see where that $14 million in state park funds have went.
What is the public’s view of your Illinois governor, as well, Barack Obama is also from Illinois. I wish I could get his view on this issue. Do you know if he has taken a stance on this, one way or another? That would be interesting since he is currently the focal point of a nation–perhaps he should be talking more about what he has done locally.
What makes me mad is that these parks were essentially brought about for the people, yet the government is going to take them away due to bureaucracy—it just doesn’t seem right.
Like I mentioned, in the next couple of days I will be digging deeper into this situation and bring up some more thoughts and issues.
I would like to hear what questions all of you have on this issue, as well as ideas on how to better the situation. If you live in Illinois, do not hesitate to share your feelings about this issue, or even your thoughts on the current governor. I might make these comments public and use them in my future posting.
Thanks for the good input, so far. Let’s keep this good conversation going-
I would happily pay higher fees to use these state parks. 4 of them are central around Champaign and I’ve frequented 3 of the 4. It’s too bad. I know these decisions are hard and I haven’t studied the reasons, but I can’t help be suspect of Illinois government.
This is a petition regarding the closing of the state parks. please visit this site and as for our dear esteemed governor bag - of - ****… remember to VOTE!
http://www.gopetition.com/online/21603.html
Rhonda, that petition is only for the Historical Landmarks, which is a big cause, but the parks should be included, as well. Thanks for sharing this for sharing this information, I will include it in with my new article that will be posted on Wednesday.
I think most people would gladly pay a dollar or more each time they visit, but how could this be collected? It would be costly to have an employee collecting the fees, and having a collection box would assume that people would in fact pay, and that no one would vandalize the box and take the money. I’m not sure how that would work.
Lee- I will use my home state of Indiana as an example once more. When you drive into an Indiana state park, there is an entrance gate, with a park representative inside. You give them the money, they hand you a ticket and open the gate. The cost associated with this would be very little after the gates are established. You would be paying a wage to those who man the gates, but with 45 million visitors at $1 a piece, that would cover the $14 million DNR deficit, and leave an extra $31 million—-per year. Definitely enough to cover an expenses associated with taking this route. By the way, Indiana charges upwards of $5 per vehicle that enters the park grounds——–In Indiana, we are more than happy to pay this entry, as we know what it goes towards. That is less than one movie ticket.
Yeah, I think that we should impeach the gov.
i can’t believe that he thinks he can fix the budget by closing these parks…
charge a small admission, as most state parks do! i think that would be the best idea besides getting rid of rod.
This would not bother me as much if our governor were not handing out money to private entities like it were candy. His fiscal management has been abysmal.
Wow..does anybody like this governor? It seems like it might be very hard for him come election time. You guys all know what needs to be done…the vote seems to be pretty unanimous…get out there and VOTE–only you can change the direction of your state and it’s mismanagement
OMG…we have to write our representatives and governor to let them know we are NOT happy with their decision and there will be consequences to pay if they close all these parks and historical landscapes. They had better never ask for a raise.
The campgrounds that I have been to in Il. have park hosts who collect fees. These hosts are volunteers, the only thing they receive is free lodging. Like I said Wi. State parks charge vehicle entry. For being out of state we paid $35.00 for a year pass. That does not include your camping fees. In state pays $25.oo. They also have a daily parking of $10.00 a day if you don’t want to do the yearly pass. They even charge you to use the bike paths. So I don’t think they will be closing any parks soon.
Has the Gov. ever been to a park? I’m sure not.
The Governor only goes to Chicago. On a jet we pay for. He doesnt even live in the Mansion in Springfield. Last I heard the air conditioning was broken and probably wouldnt be fixed. It is probably safe to say it was. I say we rent out the mansion and take away his jet priveldges to pay for his stupidity. I for one can not wait for the election!
How many reasons do we need to get rid of our Governor? Unless it’s some total nut-job I will vote for anybody that runs against him. Charge a small fee and keep the parks open. How simple is that.
It seems like all of us are in agreement with what needs to be done: Vote the Governor out and enforce a park entrance fee to keep these parks open.
I am hearing of a lot of people that would prefer that these parks stay open, with many people talking about how important these parks are in their own surrounding communities..
What would this do to the surrounding economies if these parks are closed? Any thoughts?
I CAN TELL YOU IF THE HENNIPEN CANAL CLOSED THERE WOULD BE A LOT OF MOM AND POP BAIT SHOPS THAT WOULD CLOSE.WHICH IS A TRAGEDY BECAUSE THESE LITTLE SHOPS ARE WHAT MAKE IT FUN TO STOP AND TALK TO SOME OLD GUYS WITH A LOT OF COOL STORYS TO TELL .MY BOYS LOVE TO STOP AT THESE PLACES!WE ALSO CAMP UP BY OREGON WHICH IS CLOSE BY OUR HOME SO WE DON’T HAVE TO SPEND TO MUCH ON GAS!BUT WE SPEND MONEY IN THERE LOCAL ECONOMY.I WOULD HAVE NO PROBLEM PAYING A FEE TO USE THESE PARKS.PEOPLE THAT CAN AFFORD TO FLY BACK IN FORTH TO CHICAGO HAVE KNOW IDEA WHAT ITS LIKE TO HAVE A FAMILY ON A BUDGET !
If the legislators simply rased the fee for camping by a dollar, or implemented a car pass simimilar to the one being used by Wisconsin, they would EASILY make their budget. One thing is for certain, once lands are lost, they are rarely, if ever, re-claimed by the state. Please sign a petition!!
I am willing to bet our lovely Governor has never visited any of these places, or ever seen the beauty that they hold. I am ashamed that the man that is supposed to represent us as a state thinks that this is ok. Where do I eventually take my children to show them the simpler things in life? I have been going to the Hennepin Canal now for only 2 1/2 years but it is somewhere that I have come to love. My boyfriend was the first to take me there. When I came home to tell my sister where I went, I couldn’t find the words to describe its beauty. I grew up in a small town, I was used to the country. But somehow it was so much better down by the canal. The sunsets, animals, and farmland just can not be recreated and it breaks my heart to think next spring I might not be able to see the last ice melt off and it all start over again. I know that the other parks listed are special to other people and I hope that together we will all be heard. I urge everyone to talk about this to anyone who will listen. I work in Geneva, IL and my boyfriends place is in Spring Valley, IL. In that meer 75 miles, the message was lost. After I heard last week, I came to work on Monday and NO ONE knew. I have spread it like mad, hopefully to keep it going and get people motivated to write letters and sign petitions. If we don’t say something about this Gov. Blagojevich is just going to let it slide on by. Please do as much as you can if your parks and Historical Sites are important to your future.
I forgot something! The Hennepin Canal does bring in outside tourism! Not only do bicyclists come to enjoy the trails, but just this last weekend I saw a few cars with out of state plates. They have to buy gas and food from somewhere! If they don’t come local restaurants, gas stations, and bait shops will feel the brunt of it. And does anyone know where the money from purchasing fishing licences goes? Is that being used to fund our parks?
I have just posted a nice article update to the Illinois State park closings article. This lists out eight ways that you can help to get involved in trying to keep these parks open.
I have also featured a few of the comments presented in this discussion as focal points. Check it out and see if your comment got picked!
http://tinyurl.com/6e7bn4
I hope that his will answer some of your questions, if not, feel free to comment here, or on the new article, and I will se what I can find out. Thanks for stopping by and reading, but more importantly, thanks for making this a bigger issue and getting involved.
Jason A. Hendricks
The Adventurist
We are camping out in the Eugene T. Mahoney State Park in NE. We not only paid for our camping fees ($21.00 per night for full hookups) we also paid $20.00 for the annual sticker for the NE State Parks. I really don’t mind paying this amount. The park is great they concrete pads as well as all kinds of activities some of them include a driving range, horse back riding, swimming pool, hiking trails just to name a few. The park is open year round and have a beautiful lodge with guest rooms as well as 50 or so cabins. The restrooms and showers are clean and very well taken care of. Now let’ go to the IL parks. We will use Shabbona Lake State Park as an example. The roads around it are rough and full of holes. All of the sites are gravel and alot of mud, not much grass. The camping fees are $25.00 during the week and $30.00 on weekends and holidays, plus a $5.00 registration fee. What do you get for that. Pit toilets, fair showers and no water close to any of the camping areas. We were told by the hosts at the campground that one person wrote a letter to the IDNR telling them of the conditions of the park and he wanted to know how the money from the camping fees would be used to repair the park. He was told in writing that none of the money collected from the fees would be used for repair the wonderful idiot governor we have has the money going in to the general fund. So in order to get anything done we need to impeach the idiot and put someone in there that has a sense of duty to protect the park system and not fly back and forth from the second capital (chicago) to Springfield.
Right now even though we live in IL we will only camp in the Corp of Engineers campgrounds. I am tired of spending my money on camping fees that do no good
Hey what happened to “ILLINOIS FIRST” the George Ryan deal?
Remember all those fees the people of Illinois got hit with for the improvement of
parks and trails etc. I believe my license plate sticker went from 48 bucks to 78.
I know the fishing licenses went up. Almost any plate or license fee went up and not just
a few cents. It was mega bucks. The People of Illinois were sold this idea by former Gov.
George Ryan. Remember??? Even the truckers fees went way up too. Everybody’s!
Tell me where the Hell did
and where does all this money go now that all these fees were raised? I bet not to the parks and trail improvement anymore!!!!!
Typical Illinois government bureaucracy!!!! Just like the Illinois state lottery for public school funding!!!!
The $$$$ just vanishes for what it was intended for!!!! Where does it all go!!!
I’m reading a lot of comments, but what about a rally with bullhorns, chants, chairs and food outside the govs MANSION? I would dedicate some of my week-ends to such a worthy cause. Any takers?
I’m with you, Lorna, but he doesn’t live in the Gov’s Mansion. He lives in Chicago and commutes. We need to let him and Emil Jones know we want the parks open. There’s a rally planned for Illini State Park near Marseilles on September 21.
Hey all, I’ve just tossed a message board together in the hope of having some sort of central location for discussion and info about the state park closings. Somewhere a person can post articles or info about upcoming events, stuff like that. Stop by and help get things started!
Thanks,
Guy Pauley
Whoops, click on my name at the top of the post to link to the board, or the address is below
http://savetheparks.proboards102.com/index.cgi
A number of suggestions centered around enacting a small fee for visiting state parks and historical landmarks. If that is what it takes to keep these parks open and preserved for future generations there is no doubt that this approach should be pursued over closing the parks.
If our governor and representatives can’t agree with their constituents on this or a similar solution to saving our state parks, then we have the wrong governor and representatives and need to say so with one united vote at the next election.
If everyone would go to this site and sigh the petition I would appreciate it. LT. Gov Pat Quinn set it up yes we need to save our parks everywhere. I am partial to ILLINI as you can sit and watch the barges and personal water craft from many of the camp sites. I think it is the only c.ground where this can happen on the Illinois River.tis c.gr. is not set up like a parking lot,like many others are. I live about 20 min from Illinois state beach park in Zion.and they are ok but… Illini is my fav.park and well worth the drive.
oops should be sign and the web sight is
saveourstateparks.org.
sorry for the errors I am riding and we are pulling the camper just leaving Illini for the U.P. in MI. to go camp on the river there for a week then back to ILLINI. I wonder has the GOV. ever gone to a state park in his life time? Or taken his daughter to a park for a picinic? really makes us wonder.
Dawn, thanks for sharing the petition information. I am sure that his will be useful for many of us. Enjoy your trip.
[...] and allow them to not raise any new taxes in the coming year. The state park cuts come on the heels of a similar measure in Illinois that recently sent shock-waves through the outdoors community. Governor Gregoire claims that the [...]
[...] and allow them to not raise any new taxes in the coming year. The state park cuts come on the heels of a similar measure in Illinois that recently sent shock-waves through the outdoors community. Governor Gregoire claims that the [...]