Schwarzenegger isn’t adding parkland—even as a gift

The Mercury News is reporting that "the Schwarzenegger administration has quietly shut down virtually all expansion of California’s state parks—even land paid for with private donations".

The administration is saying it doesn’t have the money to maintain the land and is refusing to buy or even to accept new scenic beaches, forests and historic sites as outright gifts. Acquisitions have gone from 63,000 acres in 2003 to 4,000 acres so far this year.

Among the projects threatened by this policy is Pigeon Point:

70 acres of oceanfront land sits along the San Mateo County coast near Pigeon Point Lighthouse. With tide pools and a mile of beaches, the land was appraised at $8 million. The non-profit Peninsula Open Space Trust, based in Menlo Park, raised $3 million toward the purchase, and had $5 million approved in state parks bond funds in the 2001-2002 state budget. The trust removed a partially built boutique hotel, replanted native vegetation and has been trying without success to transfer the property to state parks to add to adjacent state parkland.

The problem, says the Merc, is that the land trusts can’t afford to hold on to these properties.