Action Alert

CA State Parks Need Your Help.  Read full story at: http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_14160245

Marin's state parks, and the hundreds of others throughout California, are threatened in an unprecedented way, caused by a decade of spending reductions. California parks are falling apart because of persistent underfunding, turning the nation's best state park system into one of the country's most endangered sites, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

A growing coalition of organizations is supporting a ballot measure, the State Parks and Wildlife Conservation Trust Fund Act, which would provide our state parks with a stable, adequate and reliable funding stream.

The measure is surprisingly simple.

Passenger vehicles would pay an $18 surcharge on vehicle registration. The funds generated could only be spent on state parks, urban river parkways, wildlife, natural lands and ocean conservation programs.

In exchange, vehicles with California license plates would receive free admission to all state parks throughout the year. In comparison, an annual pass can cost up to $125 and day use fees can be $8-$15 per day at most parks.

Volunteers are needed to gather enough signatures for this initiative to be placed on the November 2010 ballot.

To volunteer to join the signature campaign, please contact Ann Thomas at 924-9559, or visit http://www.calparks.org/takeaction/for more information.