PA Parks and Forest Foundation: More funding needed for state parks, forests

The need for spending on maintenance and improvement of Pennsylvania’s state parks is glaring.

So noted Marci Mowery, Pennsylvania Parks and Forest Foundation (PPFF) president, during a visit to RB Winter State Park. She was joined by Department of Conservation and Natural Resource (DCNR) personnel representing parks and forests.

“When we are talking about investing in these places, we’re talking about investing in the communities and the small businesses across the commonwealth,” Mowery said. “We’re talking about keeping Pennsylvania an attractive place to live, work and play.”

Consumer spending on outdoor recreation is a $29.1 billion industry, Mowery said, which generates $1.9 billion in state and local tax revenue.

But many facilities within state parks go back to public works projects of the 1930s. Mowery said in some cases, roofs have deteriorated to where the interiors they were made to cover also need to be replaced.

Officials on hand noted the heavy use their parks or forest areas have seen in the last two years. While they conceded Pennsylvania is a popular destination for out-of-state visitors, the increased use has stretched personnel and in some cases seen increases in vandalism and other troubles.

Mike Crowley, RB Winter State Park manager, noted some park buildings were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the New Deal era. The park office was built in the 1950s and remodeled in the 1990s.

But Crowley said the office is again too small to house park personnel so they may do their jobs in an efficient way. An addition was approved, Crowley said, but funding is “back burner” currently.

“Twenty-one years ago there wasn’t a flush toilet in this park for visitors to use,” Crowley added. “Everything was pit toilets and they were in horrible shape.”

There have been improvements, Crowley said, but roads are in poor shape and the water system also goes back to the 1930s.

“Right now things are going well with it,” he added. “But with this rocky soil, if there is a break it is almost impossible for us to find it without a lot of work, listening devices and shutting valves off to see where water is going.”

Crowley concluded RB Winter was actually in good shape compared with some other parks.

Meantime, Mowery was hopeful that Senate Bill 525 would advance having been introduced by Sen. John Gordner, R-Montour. It would use a portion of American Rescue Plan spending on state parks and forests.

A fee for entrance or parking at state parks, as is seasonally imposed in neighboring New York state, was dismissed. Mowery said the Environmental Rights Amendment in the state constitution renders natural resources as “common property of all the people.” User fees would be incompatible with that provision of the constitution.

Crowley observed the numerous entrances to RB Winter State Park would make collections impractical and his staff had tasks to do other than monitoring parking.