By Larry Williamson

This op-ed originally appeared on PennLive.com October 16, 2020--

The state budget crunch caused by COVID-19 will force us to make hard choices. One choice that isn’t hard? The need to continue investing in our state and local parks, trails, and public lands.

That means keeping dedicated funds like the Keystone Fund and Environmental Stewardship Fund intact.

In the chaos of COVID-19, we sought out parks, trails and public lands. These places—close-to-home and so easily taken for granted—have become safe havens in the storm.

Places that reduced our stress and restored our mental health. Places that helped us exercise and escape our homes.

Places that strengthened family ties. Places that gave us a sense we were still connected, even as the virus forced us apart.

Public lands have seen record use during the pandemic. State park visits are up by more than a million visitors a month compared with last year. Trail use has increased more than 60 percent.

And outdoor equipment sales are so high stores can’t keep bikes, kayaks and camping gear on the shelves.

In short, we have relied on parks, trails, and public lands to help get us through the pandemic.

Now is the time to invest in them, not cut them.

These public outdoor recreation spaces rely on dedicated state funds. The Keystone and Environmental Stewardship Funds support state park and forest infrastructure and provide grants to communities to build and improve parks, playgrounds, trails, boat launches and more.

The Pennsylvania Heritage Areas Program supports the expansion of popular trails like the Delaware & Lehigh and Schuylkill River Trails.

We can’t afford to let these places deteriorate.

This year has proven that public lands are essential infrastructure, every bit as important as roads, bridges and schools.

The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) recently announced their 2020 community park grants. These grants draw heavily on the Keystone and Environmental Stewardship Funds.

While a cause for celebration, they also reveal what we’ll lose if we foolishly rob these dedicated funds - vital construction and improvements at our state parks and forests as well as more than a hundred local parks across the state.

DCNR received over 400 grant applications in 2020 alone. Even without cuts, only about half of these projects will likely be funded.

Dedicated funds like the Keystone and Environmental Stewardship Funds support real, on-the-ground projects that benefit our lives every day. They provide shovel-ready work to help regrow our economy.

And they happen right here in our local communities.

Keystone and Environmental Stewardship Fund projects happen in every county. One in three local parks in Pennsylvania have received Keystone Fund support.

Our Pennsylvania Constitution recognizes the importance of the outdoors. Article 1, Section 27 reads in part: “The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment.”

The Keystone Fund, Environmental Stewardship Fund, and Heritage Areas Program are critical to fulfilling these Constitutional rights.

Now more than ever, we must work tirelessly to defend them from attempts by the state legislature to raid these funds for other purposes.

Contact your legislator and strongly encourage them to vote NO on bills such as HB 2004. [Read more here.]

Larry Williamson, is the former Director of DCNR’s Bureau of Recreation and Conservation.

Related Articles:

-- State Parks Continue To Break Visitor Records In September: 4.7 Million Visitors, Up 31 percent Over Last Year

-- State, Regional, Local Outdoor Recreation ‘Through The Roof’ Across Pennsylvania

-- Op-Ed: As Life Moves Outdoors During COVID-19, Lean On PA’s Special Strength - Our Open Space

-- New Poll Shows 90% Of PA Voters Want Senate, House Members To Address Environmental, Conservation Priorities, Provide More Funding For Critical Programs

-- PA Farm Bureau, 45 Other Hunting, Angler, Business, Environmental, Watershed Groups Urge Senate, House To Pass On-Farm Conservation Funding Bill This Year

-- PA Conservation Districts Ask Lawmakers To Keep Same Funding For Their Vital Services As They Finalize FY 2020-21 State Budget

Related Articles - Budget:

-- Analysis: 2020 Is A Make Or Break Year For Environmental Funding

-- House Speaker Cutler: Republicans Will First Raid Dedicated Funds To Balance Budget In November

-- House Republicans Pass Bill To Freeze Funding For County Conservation Districts, Local Parks, Farm Conservation, Watershed Restoration Projects; Will Hurt Local Economies

-- House Republicans Moving Bill To Reallocate Keystone Fund, Damage Vitality Of PA’s Outdoor Economy

-- Analysis: Why Republican Freeze On Funding For Local Parks, Trails, Farm Conservation, Mine Reclamation, Recycling Is Bad For The Economy, Communities, The Environment

Related Articles - DCNR:

-- DCNR Awards $7.6 Million For 41 Trail Planning, Construction, Rehab Projects, Including ATV, Snowmobile Trails

-- DCNR Offers Online Grant Workshops To Aid Applicants

-- DCNR’s 4th Fall Foliage Report Shows Fall Colors Blazing All Across PA

-- DCNR Good Natured Pennsylvanians: Lesli Barnett & Dave Saidoo

-- DCNR Good Natured Blog: Cooperation Is Key To Managing Chronic Wasting Disease In PA

-- DCNR Invites Comments On Proposed Exchange Of Oil & Gas Rights In Elk And Susquehannock State Forests, Potter County

-- Penn State Extension: 9-Part Woods In Your Backyard Webinar Series Starts Jan. 27

-- PA Parks & Forests Foundation PA Wildfires Lunch & Learn Presentation

-- Latest Penn’s Stewards Newsletter: Staycation Ideas, Parks Used Like Never Before, Graffiti Removal, Volunteers Make It Happen

-- PA Parks & Forests Foundation Oct. 15 PA Wildfires Lunch & Learn Presentation

-- Allegheny Land Trust Receives $1 Million Grant For Churchill Valley Greenway Preservation Project

-- Gifford Pinchot's Grey Towers Ends 2020 Season; Edgar Allan Poe, Holiday Tours Postponed To 2021

-- October 14 DCNR Resource Newsletter

-- Oct. 16 Take Five Fridays With Pam, PA Parks & Forests Foundation

[Posted: October 17, 2020]

10/19/2020