The California Division of Parks and Recreation will quickly resolve how one can implement the Parks Ahead initiative, which really helpful creation of a state-sponsored nonprofit to lift non-public cash to assist state parks. Although properly intentioned, the initiative fails to think about two widespread and profitable options for administration of California’s state park system.

One various, at the moment trending throughout the nation, is a public-private partnership the place the state retains possession however lets an organization or nonprofit belief handle the land. For instance, New York Metropolis manages Central Park this manner, with nonprofit organizations dealing with basic operations, offering nearly all of working funds and investing in capital initiatives. Furthermore, in California there are already greater than 400 parks privately managed to a point utilizing variations of the public-private partnership mannequin.

The second choice is to cede state parks to land trusts, organizations devoted to land preservation and conservation. There are greater than 150 land trusts in California preserving greater than 2.5 million acres. Land trusts already handle an space bigger than the scale of California’s state park system of 1.6 million acres.