Sugarloaf, 12 Other State Parks to Stay Open Thanks to Foundation Grants

The California State Parks Foundation (CSPF) announced today that it will award 13 grants totaling $328,586 to organizations that are fighting to keep state parks off the closure list.

The announcement provides some positive news for recreational users of state-owned lands unhappy with yesterday's proposal to .

The list includes three parks in Sonoma County, including Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, Jack London State Historic Park and Austin Creek State Recreation Area, and one in Marin, China Camp State Park.

“This is fabulous news for Team Sugarloaf,” said Sonoma Ecology Center Executive Director Richard Dale. “Our struggles for nearly a year to keep this special park from closing are turning into a celebration of what a team of committed groups and individuals can accomplish. This grant will allow us to bring all public services back to Sugarloaf, and will help create a reliable revenue stream to assure it stays open into the future.”

The one-year commitment is one of several steps the 43-year-old California State Parks Foundation is taking in response to the crisis of park closures across California's state park system.  

Since the announcement of the projected closures  private donors, nonprofits, local governments and departments of parks and recreation, numerous deals throughout the state have been finalized .

This round of grants is underwritten by grants from the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation and the Thomas J. Long Foundation. These foundations have supported the work of CSPF for many years, and both have stepped up their support at this critical moment to help keep a number of state parks open.

CSPF previously awarded two grants to temporarily keep open Santa Susana State Historic Park and Jughandle State Natural Reserve. All of these awards are contingent on thewith these organizations who have developed strong and effective proposals to keep parks open.

“This is an example of the value of public-private partnerships,” said California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) Director Ruth Coleman. “We thank CSPF for mobilizing donors and resources to assist our nonprofit partners to get through this budget crisis.”

"All of the state parks community has acted in an exemplary fashion to adapt to the state’s financial distress," the CSPF statement reported. "Ultimately however, this good work can only be rewarded by the state re-funding these parks so they have a long-term future that is sustainable."

Other Northern California parks that will remain in operation after July 1 include: Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park and Bothe-Napa Valley State Park (Napa), Castle Crags State Park (Siskiyou County), Hendy Woods State Park (Mendocino), William B. Ide Adobe State Historic Park (Red Bluff, Sacramento) and Anderson Marsh State Historic Park (Lake County).