Sacramento, CA– Assemblymember Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) joined more than one hundred Californians from across the state who converged on the south steps of the State Capitol on today for the Fifth Annual Park Advocacy Day to urge policymakers to protect, fund and preserve California’s state parks. At the event, the California State Parks Foundation released the 2007 State of Our State Parks report, which identifies inadequate funding, proposed development and transportation projects and deterioration of cultural resources as significant threats to the State Park System.

 During the press conference, park leaders and state legislators discussed critical issues facing state parks, including:

• The reversion of $160 million in funding for state parks deferred maintenance in the proposed 2007-08 Fiscal Year State Budget
• Two mega-dairies proposed on lands immediately adjacent to Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park in the Central Valley, the site of California’s only historic community founded and governed by African Americans
• The vital need for policy protection for state parks from development proposals that undermine the state’s investment in its natural infrastructure

Park Advocacy Day speakers examined solutions to ensure state parks are accessible today and for future generations, including recently introduced Assembly Bill 1457.

Huffman’s AB 1457 stops the destruction that damaging road construction through state parks brings.  It ensures that no state or local governmental body shall construct, authorize, or approve a road project that will physically impact a state park or impair the recreational value of the state park unless approved by the Director of the California Department of Parks and Recreation. 

The Fifth Annual Park Advocacy Day is sponsored by the California State Parks Foundation.