New York's state park system is coming back
Then-state parks commissioner Carol Ash at Bethpage State Park in Bethpage in 2007. Credit: Newsday/Jim Peppler
As a former state parks commissioner, I am inspired and gratified by the way the agency and its employees are being utilized in service of all who love and need safe and welcoming connections to the outdoors.
The greatest perk of my four years as commissioner was spending time exploring and learning about New York’s glorious state park system. Both as commissioner and previously as head of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, I loved showing up at the gates unannounced and seeing young families or campers pile out of their vehicles and set their sights on a nearby trail or beach. Their jubilation and enthusiasm for being in nature was always a highlight of my visits.
In contrast, among the worst parts of the job was having to explain to a young mother why a pool or bathroom was shuttered or why a popular swimming lake was now off limits. For years, decaying park infrastructure, crumbling parking areas, and outdated plumbing and electrical systems defined a system that had slipped into disrepair. This crisis was well-documented in a front page Newsday article in September 2007. The editorial that followed took leaders to task for allowing funding levels to drop, concluding, "Fixing our parks must be a top state priority."
But help was not immediate. Things got worse as a budget crisis forced the closure of 55 parks and historic sites and service reductions at 24 more. It would take a full 15 years for parks to gain their rightful place as a state budget priority.
Today, the state parks renaissance is in full swing. Thanks to steady budget increases over the past 10 years, new facilities and programs, major overhauls, and park additions are making the outdoors more accessible and welcoming to more New Yorkers.
On Long Island, large-scale overhauls at Jones Beach and the Sunken Meadow bathhouse have garnered much attention. Just as significant are smaller projects, including the return of camping at Heckscher, refurbished tennis courts at Hempstead Lake, new trails at Napeague, and the installation of 19 playgrounds throughout the region’s state parks. Funding for these and other improvements were simply unimaginable in my day.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed budget vigorously embraces this spirit of park renewal. Her call for $200 million in state park infrastructure dwarfs the paltry $29 million capital appropriation from just over 10 years ago. Not only does the governor’s budget respond to the growing public desire for parks and the outdoors, it also sets the course for future generations by creating new parks, access points, and trailheads, and offers the possibility of re-imagining places like the Heckscher Pool and the Jones Beach East Bath House, each of which has been closed for more than a decade.
Now Hochul and the State Legislature must ensure that this new standard of funding is in the final budget to help further the work of the thousands of park workers who, every day, make our magnificent state parks more welcoming and inspiring.
This guest essay reflects the views of Carol Ash, a trustee of the Open Space Institute and former commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
