PAUL JOHNSON
No. 72 Fall 2012
Timelessness Tested by Jim Smith, Development Committee Chair
I have watched Anza-Borrego Desert State Park fall deeper and deeper in need. Ongoing and ever-steeper state budget cuts have left Anza-Borrego Desert State Park operating under half the budget it had in 2008 – we are open, but just barely. Jobs that were done by professional staff are now left to volunteers, if they are done at all. The deferred maintenance totals over $6 million. The Visitor Center is threatened with being closed almost half time, which would largely cause the park to fail in its charge to help people appreciate this California treasure. We cannot let this downward trend continue! I’m sure you will agree that one of the best things about our park is its timelessness. It still looks like it did before the Europeans came, and even before men came to North America. The sweeping vistas never change; the bighorn lambs arrive every spring; the sky blazes blue; the stars dazzle; the silence stretches on. Yet the fact is that our park’s timelessness is running out unless many more people step forward to stand with ABF in our mission to sustain the park. For it is just barely open, just barely accessible to teach the appreciation of this great place. And it is just barely working to protect its lands and borders from mounting pressures. For the foreseeable future the only hope for the park to rise above the current budget crisis, to transcend just barely subsisting, rests on your contributions to ABF. Anza-Borrego Foundation is the park’s voice and its support organization and so it is up to us to rally park lovers to meet critical needs. Also, given recent financial mismanagement in Sacramento, we must continue to strive to be as transparent as possible in order to show our donors and supporters how we raise and spend the resources they give to help our park. To keep our park open, accessible and protected beyond the meager ability of the state budget, ABF must raise over $2 million to support the park every year. on the next page, you can see where these funds are applied. More than $160,000 is needed to keep the Visitor Center open full time during the season and to support the volunteer societies, maintenance projects, and the park magazine which guides park visitors.
continued on page 2 www.theabf.org
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