Parks Report Part Three

The 113-year-old Brann cabin at San Juan County Park. John Dustrude photo

The trails and open spaces on the island are popular with both residents and visitors, but they don’t just appear out of nowhere. Where does the money come from to keep them open? What can members of the public do to help? This is the third in a series of reports by Louise Dustrude trying to answer those questions.

The budget for county parks “is really pretty stable now,” according to Dona Wuthnow, County Parks and Fair Director, but it was slashed by $75,000 in 2009 following the economic downturn and consequent drop in county sales tax receipts.

At that time the county determined to close three small county parks on San Juan Island — Eagle Cove, Reuben Tarte, and Turn Point.

But how do you close a park?

A gate will keep cars out, but not people, and a closed park will soon become a garbage dump.

Members of the public, many from the San Juan Island Trails Committee, told the county they would help maintain the parks if the county would keep them open.

To this day there are seven volunteers watching over Reuben Tarte Park, seven cleaning up or mowing the grass at Turn Point, and just one at the moment monitoring Eagle Cove, though the San Juan Conservation Corps, a volunteer group of teen-agers, has been working for four years to eradicate an invasive perennial there called yellow archangel.

“We want to plant native plants there,” Dona says. “And it would be nice to have a park monitor to keep an eye on things.”

The general county budget depends partly on property taxes, which are fairly stable, but also to a great extent on sales taxes, which fluctuate in response to economic conditions in the region.

After the drastic budget cuts in 2009, voters in the county supported a levy lid lift to support a number of popular county agencies that would otherwise have had to be cut because they were not mandated by state law, whereas other county government functions, such as sheriff and roads, are mandated.

Included in those supported by the lid lift were county parks, the county fair, senior services, master gardeners, and county 4-H programs.

Now eight years later “we’re much more stable,” Dona reports.

Other sources of revenue are:

• Campgrounds at the County Parks on San Juan, Lopez, and Shaw
• RV and large group event camping at the Fairgrounds
• Rental of the Fairgrounds buildings (events on 265 days last year)
• Commercial permits for kayaks and bicycles using the parks
• An annual grant of Lodging Tax funds.

Current demand for camping on San Juan Island far exceeds the capacity of the only public campground: San Juan County Park.

Local, state, and federal land management agencies are working together to identify opportunities to expand camping activity.

“Camping provides a more affordable option for many families, keeping the island experience available to a broader cross section of people,” she says.

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