Connecticut parks closed to camping

[greenmtnboy]

You of course know due to layoffs, Macedonia Brook SP staff has been cut over the years to the point its difficult keeping the park office open to deal with camping reservations and check licenses. Personnel assigned there also perform required maintenance and attendant duties at other nearby State properties like Kent Falls. Given some of the "campers" I have seen there who apparently bring their annual household trash with them to scatter around, its a wonder they can keep the place looking as nice as they do.

I have seen the staff increased over the years. Too many workers to do the minor tasks involved in running a campground, numerous dumpsters, maybe too many at a couple sites. A complaint I heard from the DEP which was tasked with running the campgrounds near Rt 7 was "too many chiefs" especially in state government. $15 or so an hour should be plenty for workers, but the DEP people are union paid so the guarantees make it a lot more expensive. Two able bodied people could do the rather nominal upkeep required in a campground, or they could offer work for stay options or have guest hosts like Vermont tends to do. No alcohol is permitted in the Constitution state campgrounds and parks as well.

[Venchka]

It matters so outdoorsmen can go backpacking and camping without fear of permits or fees or reservations or regulations or whatever else.

Except on the other coast.
Wayne


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[coach lou]

Connecticut couldn't care less about the outdoors or outdoor recreation. I have spent 1 night on the trail here and I haven't bought a fishing license here in 4 years. But hey, let us put up a new casino!

[Tipi Walter]

Connecticut couldn't care less about the outdoors or outdoor recreation. I have spent 1 night on the trail here and I haven't bought a fishing license here in 4 years. But hey, let us put up a new casino!

Good post. It's the vibe I'm getting, too.

[Old Grouse]

The following is not to dispute anything said above, but to add some perspective. Connecticut is one of the smallest states; it was one of the first settled; it has no high mountains; its biggest rivers were bounded by fertile valleys just begging to be plowed. By the 1880s the vast majority of its acreage was in agricultural use or on its way to urbanization. Teddy Roosevelt, the great creator of national parks, wasn't even a gleam in his parents' eyes when any remaining wilderness was gone from the state. It didn't have great swaths of land owned by a few timber magnates, which could later be acquired wholesale by a Percival Baxter-type Nutmegger.

In fact, the only facility in Connecticut operated by the National Parks Service is Weir Farm, once the home of American impressionist painter J. Alden Weir And by the way, some of Weir's major work consisted of paintings of thread factories in Willimantic CT. So no, we have no National Wilderness Areas, but we do have the only national park dedicated to art. So there! [Cue Yankee Doodle, Connecticut's State Song.]

[Alligator]

I see what greenmtnboy meant and it doesn't seem intentional. By itself the thread title can be interpreted to mean all the parks. That's the way I read it. And scant information of a timely nature on first look on the web regarding the budget situation and what was happening the day he posted. I know he linked the info but gov sites aren't always up to date, particularly when the budget is cut. Is this the expected situation for the rest of the state fiscal year which ends when? Meaning is there a budget now in place?

[Traveler]

I have seen the staff increased over the years. Too many workers to do the minor tasks involved in running a campground, numerous dumpsters, maybe too many at a couple sites. A complaint I heard from the DEP which was tasked with running the campgrounds near Rt 7 was "too many chiefs" especially in state government. $15 or so an hour should be plenty for workers, but the DEP people are union paid so the guarantees make it a lot more expensive. Two able bodied people could do the rather nominal upkeep required in a campground, or they could offer work for stay options or have guest hosts like Vermont tends to do. No alcohol is permitted in the Constitution state campgrounds and parks as well.

Thats odd, facts are there are over 200 fewer park maintenance/management positions today than there were a decade ago in the CT DEEP. The seasonal workforce has been cut some 45%, which has an impact on how well parks are maintained.

[bamboo bob]

They always lock the gates and layoff the PT workers so citizens think the state needs more money. They never ever layoff the assistant deputy directors and Associate assistant managers.

[greenmtnboy]

Thats odd, facts are there are over 200 fewer park maintenance/management positions today than there were a decade ago in the CT DEEP. The seasonal workforce has been cut some 45%, which has an impact on how well parks are maintained.

All I know is what I have seen since the 1990s when I saw one or two workers doing the upkeep at Macedonia and Housatonic Meadows. I camped several times a season at each at least each year and saw more workers and a transition to the D.E.P. running those parks which is a CT agency that is huge and has been overstaffed, a reason for the budget deficits. I spoke with a local Kent person who told me that a worker there looked at the books for Macedonia with $100K in income. That should be plenty to pay for a campground, and there a plenty of ways to economize with guest hosts and part time staff.

[Sarcasm the elf]

Ppf

All I know is what I have seen since the 1990s when I saw one or two workers doing the upkeep at Macedonia and Housatonic Meadows. I camped several times a season at each at least each year and saw more workers and a transition to the D.E.P. running those parks which is a CT agency that is huge and has been overstaffed, a reason for the budget deficits. I spoke with a local Kent person who told me that a worker there looked at the books for Macedonia with $100K in income. That should be plenty to pay for a campground, and there a plenty of ways to economize with guest hosts and part time staff.

The state currently has a budget deficit of approximately $3 billion dollars, primarily caused by the previous generation who chose not to fund the state's pension contribution for 40 years. Trying to blame it on a state park that you claim is overstaffed is simply incorrect. The total operating budget for state parks – including salaries, benefits and direct operating expenses – is about $18 million a year, and that is before taking into account funds generate through user fees, special events, and maintaining areas that create demand for fishing and hunting licenses.

[greenmtnboy]

I spoke with the state worker at Housatonic Meadows who said that under governor Ella Grasso, who died of cancer, the fees from the parks all went into the general fund instead of the parks being self-supporting. He said the decision was made at the end of the 2016 fiscal year in June. Kent Falls is very profitable, though not a campground, and rather unchallenging in my opinion. Housatonic Meadows has more advanced plumbing and shower facilities. Macedonia Brook has been a pretty low maintenance facility with composting toilets and no showers, but lots of hiking options. If the parks were made to be self-supporting then they could be justified.

[Just Tom]

I spoke with the state worker at Housatonic Meadows who said that under governor Ella Grasso, who died of cancer, the fees from the parks all went into the general fund instead of the parks being self-supporting. He said the decision was made at the end of the 2016 fiscal year in June. Kent Falls is very profitable, though not a campground, and rather unchallenging in my opinion. Housatonic Meadows has more advanced plumbing and shower facilities. Macedonia Brook has been a pretty low maintenance facility with composting toilets and no showers, but lots of hiking options. If the parks were made to be self-supporting then they could be justified.

Ella Grasso died in 1981, so this statement confuses me.

As a CT resident and taxpayer, my thoughts on this are "this is why I pay taxes". I want the state parks to be open, affordable, and in usable condition. Just like I want my roads to be plowed. Services to residents cost money. The plow driver doesn't pull up at the bottom of my street holding out a can waiting to be paid before he plows my street. I don't expect the plowing to be "self-supporting". That is why I pay taxes.

Of course, we all have a different set of items we want our tax dollars to go towards, hence "the politics".

[greenmtnboy]

Ella Grasso died in 1981, so this statement confuses me.

As a CT resident and taxpayer, my thoughts on this are "this is why I pay taxes". I want the state parks to be open, affordable, and in usable condition. Just like I want my roads to be plowed. Services to residents cost money. The plow driver doesn't pull up at the bottom of my street holding out a can waiting to be paid before he plows my street. I don't expect the plowing to be "self-supporting". That is why I pay taxes.

Of course, we all have a different set of items we want our tax dollars to go towards, hence "the politics".

The policy to have all park money go into the general fund/budget happened under Ella Grasso, so that's a policy matter. My point is that campgrounds like Macedonia and Devil's Hopyard made enough in fees to pay their way, no reason to shut them down.

[Just Tom]

Every year Malloy proposes cuts to popular programs to try to look like he cares about balancing a budget, knowing full well that everyone will complain, that way he can raise taxes again saying it was the peoples will.

Not really a fan...

[greenmtnboy]

If that is what he or other politicians are doing it is absolutely cowardly--hurts low income people, boyscout troops and others who enjoy our parks.

[jimmyjam]

http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?...av_GID=1621%20

Macedonia Brook is closed for camping in 2017 due to their short-sighted budget. The A/T used to pass through there.

Well that suxs

[coach lou]

I can feel a heavyness in the noon day sun. Gentalpeople....I suggest we continue the disscusion of Connectitax at a campfire. And discuss what is open to camping along the 52 miles in our state!

[coach lou]

The shelters are on the National Trail corridor, and in Connectitax the AMC's local chapter does most of the upkeep, so I would not see that as an AT issue.


......and dare I say there may be one , possibly two stealth sites in those 52 miles.

[Mountain Wildman]

Yes we do......three actually, one in Bridgeport, one in New Haven and one in Hartford.

Ha ha ha, now that is funny!!!

[greenmtnboy]

I spoke to my state representative about the issue last week and he seemed intent on bringing it up during the budget talks, but shutting down heavily used campgrounds, especially by boyscouts, like Macedonia and Devil's Hopyard is irrational. He wondered whether sponsorship by businesses like Auto Zone with their advertising "sponsored by" signs would be acceptable, and I said that raising the fees would also be ok just to get them open.