Illinois House Passes Bill To Restore Funding To DNR To Keep State Parks Open

Many of you will note that I have taken an interest in Illinois’ recent decision to cut the Illinois Department of Natural Resources funding.  This cut, brought on by the government of Illinois, will be forcing 11 state parks and 13 state historical properties to close to the public.  The Illinois DNR was refused $14 million in funding that would allow these properties to remain open.  This has sparked a huge debate in the state of Illinois.

Over the course of the last week, many communities have been staging meetings to decide what the effects of the park closings would do to their regions.  One such meeting was recently held in Oregon, Illinois.  I have been lucky enough to correspond with someone who has taken part in this meeting and who has offered some more insight into this raging debate.

The meeting in Oregon, Illinois drew in approximately 400 people who came to share their views of what these state park closings would mean.  The closing of two nearby state parks would mean a loss of nearly 404,000 people who travel to these parks on a yearly basis.  Economic wise, this could mean a loss of $172 million to the surrounding area.  This area involves four counties.  Those are some pretty rough statistics.  This area will be losing an estimated $172 million for a $14 million dollar problem..and that is just in one given year.  If these parks remain closed, these areas will be hit extremely hard and lose one of their big draws to tourists.  Remember that this only involves 2 of the 11 state parks being closed.  Two.  This doesn’t even take in to account the historical landmarks.  The total effects on the state could amount to significantly more than $1 billion in total.

I just don’t understand how a state could push through a measure to cut DNR funding of $14 million, resulting in a state economic loss of $1 billion, when that state is already deeply in debt.  You don’t have to be a genius to see that this cut makes absolutely no sense.

While this meeting was being held in Oregon, Illinois, Illinois’ House of Representatives held an emergency meeting resulting in the restoration of DNR funding.  This sounds like good news, yet, the Illinois House is only half the battle.  The Senate must also pass this resolution.  Unfortunately, the Illinois Senate is currently out to lunch and not due back in session until after the park closure deadline of November 1st.  Unless an emergency session is called in to play, it still looks very likely that these parks will close on their given date of November 1st.

So what can be done??

If you are at all interested in helping to restore funding to these state parks, I outlined eight things that you can do to help.  One of the biggest would be to contact your state senators and make your voices heard.  I have given out all of the information that you should need to get in touch with your lawmakers.

Some people are probably wondering why I have jumped into the political realm on my blog for this cause.  Quite simply, I have a voice in the outdoor world.  I am from the neighboring state of Indiana, but I was born in Danville, IL.  My grandparents lived in the state all their lives, and I still have aunts and uncles, cousins, nephews and nieces in the area.  This is about them.  This is about our government’s lack of respect for the people that pay their wages, and this about taking something away from the people.  It just isn’t right.

I don’t cover politics on a regular basis.  As a matter of fact, my first political post came just a week ago, but as you can tell from the comments associated with my first article, it has garnered some interest from those that feel the same way that I do.  All told, not a single negative comment has come in from someone who doesn’t believe in this issue.  When the people are unanimous in their thoughts, but lawmakers refuse to listen, it is time to step up and make them listen.  This is a serious issue that not only reflects the state of Illinois, but should reflect each of us that have enjoyed our own state parks, whether that be in Alaska, California, Illinois, Indiana, or Maine.  There are many of us that travel to and from states to others to visit the parks.  The Illinois government is trying to take that away.

I am interested in hearing your thoughts on this article, or the other two I have writen on this issue.  I will be following this very closely in the next few weeks, and hopefully someone will open up their ears and listen.  Make your voices heard and join in the fight-this is about your rights and the politicians we have put in place to defend those rights.  Don’t let them take it away.  Post your comments below.

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