Successful Bodie Foundation fee system at Mono Lake prompts action
Building on the success of the Bodie Foundation fee collection effort established in 2012, the California Department of Parks and Recreation has reaffirmed its commitment to keeping the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve open for public recreation and enjoyment.
Beginning with the 2013 season, State Parks will assume responsibility for the self-pay parking fee system at the popular Old Marina location, one of several sites managed by State Parks at Mono Lake. Fees collected fund critical Reserve operations.
“Our Bodie Foundation partners did an excellent job in implementing a fee collection system in 2012, helping avert closure of the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve and proving the viability of the concept” said Sierra District Superintendent Marilyn Linkem.
Visitors will notice little difference in the parking fee system, however behind the scenes the program will become fully integrated into State Park operations. “We are pleased that the fee program at Mono Lake accomplished our goal of keeping the State Reserve open and operating and removal from the closure list. It is our hope that the fee program will continue to provide this service to the visiting public. A State Reserve in our midst helps the local economy as well. The Bodie Foundation and the Friends of Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve will continue to support Reserve operations with budgeted funds from donations received from our loyal supporters and a growing line of sales products. All funds received through the Bodie Foundation for Mono Lake are returned back to the Reserve,” commented Brad Sturdivant, President of the Bodie Foundation Board of Trustees.
The Bodie Foundation played a key role in keeping the Mono Lake Reserve open in the face of the 2011 state budget crisis. The Foundation initiated the fee collection program to provide funds that helped avert closure of Mono Lake, and recently received special recognition from Assemblymember Kristin Olsen for its efforts.
In 2013 State Parks is also stabilizing the minimal staffing assigned to the Reserve. “We are pleased to announce that the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve has hired Dave Marquart as a State Park Interpreter I,” said Linkem. “This three-quarter time position will assure consistent management and public service at Mono Lake. Due to budget cuts, parks including the Reserve continue to operate with reduced staffing.”
–Press Release
Amazing mentality that is never questioned:
Supposedly we need cops and maids (trash collectors, port-o-let pumpers and restroom cleaners) in order to have public lands, be they state parks or anything else. If we don’t pay for cops and maids, we can’t access the lands. What a crock.
How hard is it, really? Imagine how much better it would be if the only “facility” were a dirt parking lot. No fee, no gate, nada. You get out, you walk around, maybe camp, you don’t litter, you pick up and pack out your trash, you don’t stomp the vegetation. Plan ahead to poop and pee. When enough people who can’t handle those things start to show up, the experience won’t be worth having and people will stop coming until the problem rectifies itself — which it will, if you just give it enough time (contrast this no facility hypothetical to places that are cr*ptacular with permanent facilities and industrial tourism, such as Yosemite Valley and Yellowstone).
Instead there is this mentality, which extends to the whole society, that if we just have enough cops and maids we can accommodate more ignorant people and their impact, as if that were a good thing.
A better concept would be forcing people to experience their public lands as they are, inclusive of basic access such as parking and trails. No cops, no maids, no million dollar “interpretive center,” no bogus double-taxation fees for anything and everything. The experience begins where the road ends. If people can’t handle it, they can go to Disneyworld. If the place gets trashed, wait ten years and find a more remote access point in the meantime.
The argument used to be that we needed the support of the slave cattle and their industrial tourism to protect wild areas. But extractive use has had its way with most of what can be taken out at an economy of scale anyhow. With energy costs continuing to rise, neither extractive use nor the slave cattle will be going much of anywhere, so the rationales have shifted to telling us that we need cops and maids, and that if we don’t pay for all of them and give them all rich benefits, we don’t get to access our public lands. BS.