Monday, December 14, 2009

SIERRA CLUB CALIFORNIA ENDORSES 2010 PARKS INITIATIVE

Sacramento — Sierra Club California today endorsed the State Parks and Wildlife Conservation Trust Fund Act of 2010, a proposed statewide initiative slated for the November 2010 ballot, that would provide a stable, reliable and adequate source of funding to protect state parks and conserve wildlife.

“With our state parks facing an insurmountable funding crisis and irreparable damage, it is essential we provide our parks with a sustainable and reliable funding stream,” said Jim Metropulos, Senior Advocate of Sierra Club California. “For years California’s 278 state parks have been an integral public asset that residents and visitors alike enjoyed, and it is imperative we maintain these priceless assets for our children and future generations.”

The State Parks and Wildlife Conservation Trust Fund Act of 2010 would ensure a dedicated and reliable funding stream for state parks through an $18 annual State Park Access Pass surcharge and, in return, would provide vehicles subject to the surcharge free, year-round admission to state parks.

“We encourage our members to join us in this effort to keep our parks open by helping to gather signatures and ensure that this initiative ultimately succeeds,” said Alan Carlton, Northern California Vice Chair of the Sierra Club California Nevada Regional Conservation Committee.
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Sierra Club California now joins a strong coalition including –California State Parks Foundation, The Trust for Public Land, Save the Redwoods League, Defenders of Wildlife, Surfrider Foundation, California State Park Rangers Association, Audubon California, California State Lifeguard Association and Ocean Conservancy.

To find out more information on how to help volunteer and gather signatures, please visit www.sierraclubcalifornia.org/elections.html.

For more information on the State Parks & Wildlife Conservation Trust Fund Act of 2010 please visit www.yesforstateparks.com.

3 comments:

Green is Natural said...

NO! No! NO!
More TAXES or more money to Government does NOT solve the problem - it just wastes more of your & my money!

This is the same baloney that access fees started with & now that is not enough money!!

Wastefull spending always expands to meet & exceed the budget.

Reduce manpower, reduce equipment costs, reduce frequency of maintinence.

I live within a budget, do you?
Government constantly needs to be harshley pushed to live with the money it has & continually cut out the self-expanding wastefull spending.

Lottery Money will help the Schools! said...

Where have I heard this before?
Let's create a new funding source that will ADD to existing funding.

Nope! Existing funding will be CUT by the amount this new tax adds.

Net Effect: More Taxes & Less Service

Walter Ratcliff said...

To Jim Metropulos and others on the State Parks Initiative measure:

Thank you for your energy and dedication to open lands.

While I appreciate your desire to save state parks from funding cuts, another dedicated funding initiative further undermines the effectiveness of our legislative process. Sierra Club should focus its energy on the root cause, the effort to starve state and local funding and reduce the quality of all government services in order to privatize these services. We're in hard times now. Lets work to do what's best in the long term and not get distracted by the current pain.

As a long-standing Sierra Club member, I will not support piecemeal, ineffective solutions. There is enough win-lose game playing at all levels of government.