There are no parking fees to pay when you visit your favorite Ohio State Parks this season, despite what you may have read or heard earlier this year. Why the turnabout? It’s a simple as this: the people spoke and state government listened. Ohio State Parks remain free!
Throughout my 26-year career with Ohio State Parks - and as chief of the state park system since 1997 - I’ve seen time and again just how passionate and supportive Ohioans can be of their state and local parks. That happened this winter, when Ohioans demonstrated their love and support for their state parks by contacting lawmakers with concerns about a proposal to begin charging parking fees to enjoy those parks. It was touching to read e-mails and letters from Ohioans who recounted treasured family memories from times spent at our parks. They wanted their children and grandchildren to have those same experiences for years to come, and without the added expense of a fee.
Those opinions mattered, and the proposed parking fee is no longer being considered thanks to Governor Bob Taft and the Ohio Legislature. Working together, state leaders found alternative budget solutions to keep our 74 state parks free and accessible to the public. And while that budget language still requires final legislative approval and the governor’s signature, it is likely that parking fees will not be in the picture.
No one is more pleased with that turn of events than the men and women who manage Ohio State Parks and make them among the best-regarded state parks in the nation. While the parking pass was never our preferred option for funding park operations, five years of significant budget cuts had left us few alternatives for maintaining Ohio State Parks at a level of quality the public has come to expect.
Cost-cutting measures had taken their toll on the quality family experience that makes our state parks so special. We had reduced staff, turned to volunteers and friends’ groups to assist with routine upkeep, and tightened our belts in every facet of our operations. Most significantly, we had postponed nearly $300,000,000 in maintenance on everything from our state park lodges to picnic shelters, restrooms and parking lots.
The additional appropriation currently provided in the state budget bill for Ohio State Parks will provide needed funding to help maintain park facilities, but we are also realistic that it will be only sufficient to help maintain the parks at their current level. Despite the increase in funding, our staffing level today is still 25 percent less than five years ago - challenging us to keep parks well maintained, safe and enjoyable.
We are eager to begin greeting visitors this summer, and we know that that “no parking fees” will be welcomed news. State park managers have been busy getting ready for the new season by doing needed spring cleaning, making sure that trails are safe for hikers and cleaning up debris from the devastating floods we experienced at many parks in the early spring.
Staying in a cottage or camping overnight has never been easier thanks to a new reservation system and a variety of camping getaways for those who may not have all the gear. Nine full-service state park resort lodges also provide deluxe accommodations for those who don’t wish to sleep in the woods!
Come on out to an Ohio State Park this summer. Enjoy a week’s vacation, a weekend getaway or a quick escape from the daily grind. However you chose to enjoy your park visit, be assured there’s no parking fee to pay. Ohio remains one of the very few states in the nation without a fee to enjoy its state park picnic groves, beaches, trails and waterways.
EDITORS NOTE: A digital image of Ohio State Parks Chief Dan West is available at ohiodnr.com/media .