State park closure hearing in San Jose, April 15

Next month, the State Park and Recreation Commission will be holding a hearing in San Jose to take public testimony about the park closures and lifeguard staffing reductions.

In San Mateo County, Portola Redwoods State Park is also threatened with closure.  This park includes stands of virgin redwoods and its trails provide essential links with other parts of the open space system in our area. Check Bay Area Hiker for a hike you may want to take while you still can. There’s a great story about the potential closure of this park by Julia Scott on the Palo Alto Daily News site:

"There are so few opportunities to camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Unless you go all the way down to Castle Rock State Park, or Big Basin Redwoods State Park or Butano State Park (the only other campground in the county). It’s much more accessible to folks on the Peninsula side," said Bill Young, who leads hikes through Portola Redwoods and other local parks for the Loma Prieta chapter of the Sierra Club

Among the 48 parks targeted for closure, the largest is Henry Coe State Park, which is mostly in Santa Clara County.  At 87,000 acres it is the largest State Park in Northern California and the second-largest in the State.

The public hearing will be on Tuesday, April 15 at 6pm at the Santa Clara County Government Center, 70 West Hedding Street, San Jose.  You will have a chance to speak and also to submit written comments.