{"id":26154,"date":"2016-02-25T13:16:22","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T19:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=26154"},"modified":"2016-02-25T13:16:22","modified_gmt":"2016-02-25T19:16:22","slug":"another-oklahoma-state-park-cast-off-as-department-of-tourism-takes-more-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2016\/02\/25\/another-oklahoma-state-park-cast-off-as-department-of-tourism-takes-more-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Oklahoma State Park Cast Off As Department Of Tourism Takes More Cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_26162\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26162\" alt=\"Gary Vanarsdel and Dannie Caldwell wrap up a day on the lake at Dripping Springs State Park near Okmulgee, Okla. \" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/02\/PHOTO-2-25-Pic1.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/02\/PHOTO-2-25-Pic1.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/02\/PHOTO-2-25-Pic1-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/02\/PHOTO-2-25-Pic1-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/02\/PHOTO-2-25-Pic1-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gary Vanarsdel and Dannie Caldwell wrap up a day on the lake at Dripping Springs State Park near Okmulgee, Okla.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>Tourism is Oklahoma\u2019s <a title=\"TalkBusinessLink\" href=\"https:\/\/talkbusiness.net\/brief\/oklahoma-governor-says-travel-and-tourism-spending-hit-8-9-billion-in-2014\/\" target=\"_blank\">third largest industry<\/a> behind energy and agriculture. State parks are big reason why. But the number of parks is dwindling after years of budget cuts at the Department of Tourism. And more cuts are on the way.<\/p><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/248882798&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=false\" height=\"150\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<h3>Parks in transition<\/h3><p><a title=\"TravelOKLink\" href=\"http:\/\/www.travelok.com\/listings\/view.profile\/id.2368\" target=\"_blank\">Dripping Springs State Park<\/a> won\u2019t be a state park much longer.<\/p><p>Decades ago the City of Okmulgee ran it. On April 1<sup>st<\/sup>, Dripping Spring becomes a city park once again. Gary Vanarsdel and fishing buddy Dannie Caldwell wrap up a day on the park\u2019s trophy bass lake and scoff at the idea.<\/p><p>\u201cWe dread it because we camp out here a lot,\u201d Vanarsdel says. \u201cThe state takes good care of it \u2014 keeps the bathrooms clean, toilet paper and all that. The city never did do a very good job.\u201d<\/p><p>Travel about 3 miles north on a biker-dotted, spiraling road to <a title=\"TravelOKLink\" href=\"http:\/\/www.travelok.com\/listings\/view.profile\/id.5520\" target=\"_blank\">Okmulgee State Park<\/a>, and the story is the same. <i>That<\/i> park will also be turned over to the city. Tom and Mistie Lisle and their daughter are park regulars.<\/p><p>\u201cWe ride our motorcycles out here and bring her out here to get rid of some energy,\u201d Mistie Lisle says.\u201d<\/p><p>This is the first they&#8217;re hearing about the park going back to the city, and\u00a0right away, Tom Lisle wonders how the city can afford the park, and whether he\u2019ll soon have to pay for what he currently does for free.<\/p><p>\u201cI was in South Carolina about 15 years ago. I was stationed at Fort Jackson. And one of the nice parks that they had in the area, you had to pay to get into,\u201d Tom Lisle says. \u201cAnd being from Oklahoma I was not used to that. So I\u2019m wondering how they\u2019re going to do that. Are they going to start charging people to come out to the park now?\u201d<\/p><p>Okmulgee City Manager Roger Ballenger says no, entry fees aren\u2019t on the table for now.<\/p><p>\u201cWe don\u2019t want to make it burdensome on our local people who go out to the lake for the day with their kids to swim and don\u2019t even take a boat. They go spend the day,\u201d Ballenger says.<\/p><p>But Ballenger says some new fees might be needed to make sure the parks stay nice and to help the city come close to breaking even.<\/p><p>\u201cNow if they go to No. 9 Landing down at Eufaula Lake they\u2019ve got to pay five bucks to even get in the place per carload,\u201d Ballenger says. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t do that. Now we might, if we have to, try to use some sort of a day-use fee, but I think the ramp fee for boats may be enough to get us where we need to go.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Budget cuts and changing priorities<\/h3><p>Ballenger says many factors led to the transfer of the parks to Okmulgee. The city owns the land and the state\u2019s lease was up just as the state Tourism Department is desperately looking to save money amid a budget crisis. But he thinks the agency is too quick to cut small, rural parks, <a title=\"StateImpactLink\" href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2014\/08\/07\/state-parks-director-says-state-parks-not-on-the-list-of-core-services\/\" target=\"_blank\">like it did in 2011 and 2014.<\/a><\/p><p>\u201cTourism under the current administration has kind of shied away from smaller parks,\u201d Ballenger says.<\/p><p>It\u2019s a complaint I hear from Democratic lawmakers in eastern Oklahoma, too. In the past, the Tourism Department has acknowledged it wants to treat state parks more like a business, for profit. But Tourism Spokesperson Leslie Blair says the agency isn\u2019t glad to be losing its parks. She says the department is working with a budget that\u2019s been cut by more than half since 2009.<\/p><p>\u201cWe think the state parks are a very important part of the Tourism and Recreation Department, and realize that they\u2019re economic engines for communities where they\u2019re located. So we are big supporters of the state parks,\u201d Blair says. \u201cWe just wish \u2014 in a perfect world we\u2019d have more money to be able to spend and invest in these parks. But we\u2019re making due with what we have.\u201d<\/p><p>Back at what is \u2014 for now \u2014 still Dripping Springs State Park, Dannie Caldwell says he\u2019ll keep fishing here no matter what, and hopes he can still bring his family.<\/p><p>\u201cWhat concerns me is we\u2019ve all got grandkids and little kids. Since the state\u2019s been out here the rangers come through here regularly and there\u2019s never any trouble. It\u2019s low-key. It\u2019s quiet,\u201d Caldwell says. \u201cI just hope the city has the capability to do the same. If not they\u2019ll lose the family atmosphere.\u201d<\/p><p>Leslie Blair says it\u2019s too soon to know exactly how budget cuts this coming fiscal year will affect the Tourism Department, or if more state parks will have to be transferred or closed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dripping Springs State Park won\u2019t be a state park much longer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":26162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[491],"tags":[42,111],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26154"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26154"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26175,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26154\/revisions\/26175"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}