3 state parks in Suffolk feel cuts

Some services have been eliminated at three Long Island state parks threatened with closure under the governor's proposed budget.

Since the new budget year began April 1, there has been no fly-fishing at Caleb Smith in Smithtown, where it usually starts that day, or school trips, education programs or grass mowing there or at Nissequogue River in Kings Park and Orient Beach in Orient. Food and other concessions at Orient also have not opened.

Because a 2010-2011 budget has not been approved, state government has been operating under emergency spending resolutions. But they do not provide funding for 43 parks around the state that Gov. David A. Paterson has proposed closing to save $11.3 million.

Six Long Island parks are on the list. Brookhaven, Cold Spring Harbor and Trail View have little or no facilities and staff, so the funding cutoff is virtually invisible. But at the more developed parks, visitors can already see a change.

"When I drove up I thought it was closed because the parking lot was empty," said Paulette Figaro of Dix Hills, who stopped at Caleb Smith to eat lunch Friday. "This time of year you expect to see school children here on field trips. They should really find the money to have the parks opened properly."

The grass appeared well-groomed Friday at Caleb Smith, but parks officials said it was short because geese nibble it. They added there are usually four or five school trips to the park in April.

No seasonal employees have been hired for the three parks; normally there would have been 12 so far, said Ronald Foley, regional director of the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. But the 11 full-time employees remain for now; some could be transferred if the money for the parks is not restored by the legislature and they close. "They're taking care of buildings and doing everything they normally do except mowing," Foley said.

Parks spokeswoman Eileen Larrabee said the "minimal amount" of money to provide utilities and other required costs at the threatened parks during the slow spring period was being transferred from within the parks budget.

With Deborah S. Morris