Now that the traditional Memorial Day rush to recreate in state-owned parks is over, the people who run, patrol and maintain those parks can catch a breather. But money woes persist. In the three-state Oregon, Idaho and Washington region, the Oregon park system is in the financial catbird seat.
Oregon is the only one of the states which does not rely on the general tax fund to run its parks. Instead, user fees provide about 40 percent of the total budget, RV registrations another 30 percent, and the Oregon Lottery pumps 7.5 percent of its revenue into parks.
That means Oregon has been able to avoid sharp cuts in staffing and maintenance. Not so in Washington and Idaho.
The Idaho department of Parks and Recreation last year got only $1.3 million in general funds, down from more than $9 million just 10 years ago. Put that up against a budget of about $33 million for Idaho parks, and there's a huge hole to fill with other income.
Idaho's done it by slashing the cost of a season pass from $40 to $10. The state automatically puts the option before vehicle owners as they renew license plates. And it works.
Last year, nearly 96,000 Idahoans bought the $10 season passes, compared with only 15,000 who last purchased the $40 passes.
Washington's Discover Pass program was set up to counteract sharp cuts in general revenue funds allocated to state parks when tax income dried up in 2008.
The $30 annual ticket to millions of acres of state land is becoming more widely accepted, but it still fails to cover expenses, even though 84 percent of the money goes to state parks.
The National Association of State Park Directors argues that state parks are an enormous asset, costing slightly more than $2 billion a year to run, while injecting more than $20 billion into the economy.