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.

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Eight Ways You Can Help Keep Illinois State Parks And Historical Landmarks Open

The state of Illinois has recently made the decision to close 11 state parks and 13 historical landmarks.  By the reaction that my first article has recieved, I can rightfully say that many people in the great state of Illinois are not taking kindly to this measure.

Here are just a few of the comments that this issue has sparked over the past couple of days:

First, From Donna:

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 Blag 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.

Then from Tom Burton:

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.

Lastly, we have this from Mark Howland:

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.

To Read The Rest Of The Comments, You Can Click here…

You can quickly see that these comments run the gammut of what is being felt by the citizens of Illinois.  Many feel that charging a small fee would help offset the $14 million needed for proper park funding.  Surrounding states currently have a system that charges a small fee to those that use the parks.  Indiana and Wisconsin both use this method, as well as many other states in this nation.

Many readers also feel that the current governor of Illinois is to blame for the budget problems.  They credit useless spending of taxpayer dollars on transportation, a governor who is ‘out of touch’ with his people, and one who might not have the whole state’s best interest at heart.  For those that feel this way, there is little more that could be done than to vote him out of office in the next election.

With that being said, there are a few initiatives to make the park and historical landmark closings a bigger issue. You can find eight ways that you can try to help keep Illinois’ state parks and historical landmarks open, by following the page-jump.

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