A $1.2 billion backlog in maintenance of state parks

From the Boston Harbor Islands to Pittsfield State Forest in the Berkshires, Massachusetts state parks are crumbling.

The state's park system, the fifth largest in the nation, is plagued by eroding trails, collapsing bridges and uncollected trash.

A leader in public open space - Massachusetts Bay colonists established a park system in 1634 - the state now ranks 48th among the states in per capita spending on parks, according to a report by the Environmental League of Massachusetts.

Maintenance problems crop up everywhere:

U Facilities at the Harbor Islands need extensive repairs, including a decaying pier on Georges Island that has been closed to the public and structural problems at Fort Andrews on Peddocks Island.

U Pittsfield State Forest campgrounds need new public restrooms and other repairs.

U Hikers at the 8,000-acre Blue Hills reservation that sprawls from Quincy to Canton encounter washed out trails, downed trees and clogged culverts.

Such problems follow decades of neglect, underfunding and understaffing that have left the parks system with a $1.2 billion backlog of maintenance projects.

Ken Foley, the deputy director of state parks at the Department of Conservation and Recreation, admits it's frustrating to maintain the commonwealth's parks on a budget that has been cut by 25 percent over the last six years.

"We would like recreation to be higher on the pecking order but how do you fight with public health or public transportation?" he said. "We try to get our piece of it and do the best we can."

The parks system relies heavily on the state budget for its $8.1 million operating costs. About 85 percent comes from the general fund, 7 percent from fees and leases and another 8 percent from federal trusts.

The environmental league's 2006 report, State of the Environment, said most states fund their parks with a much higher percentage of park-generated revenues.

As a result, the agency has lost 30 percent of its staff over the last five years. A highly visible result of that has been in the use of park rangers. Forty of them patrol the State House daily, while there are only six rangers for the 450,000 acres of state-owned parks, forests, parkways, historic buildings, beaches and riverbanks outside of the Boston metropolitan area.

"We are losing seasoned, professional park people," Foley said. "We haven't had the funding to bring in people at the bottom and train them at the lower levels."

In 2003, then-Gov. Mitt Romney promised the state a "world-class" park system, but little was done. A tight state budget has made it tough for Gov. Deval Patrick to do much better.

ELM's vice president of policy, Nancy Goodman, said Patrick failed to keep his campaign commitment to spend $10 million a year to get the parks back to the budget level of 2001. She fears park funding remains a low priority with the new administration.

"He made a commitment he was unable to keep in his first year," she said.

The governor has taken steps. Under his five-year capital investment plan, the Department of Conservation and Recreation would get $96 million from bond offerings for improvements at parks, an $18.9 million increase over 2007.

But lawmakers and environmentalists agree that more long-range fixes are needed, including public-private partnerships and dedicated state revenue, such as a set percentage of the state sales tax.

"You would have a constant stream of funds that wouldn't be appropriated through the Legislature," Goodman said. "This would be additional money."

Some environmentalists say they would be happy with the bond money for now. The governor is expected to announce the bond bill early next year. The last major financing of park facilities was a $750 million bond bill passed in 2001.

"Patrick has the opportunity to bring the parks back to excellent status, once promised by Romney," said Winston Vaughan, field organizer for Environment Massachusetts. "The environmental bond bill won't solve all the problems but it can make sure that the parks have funding over the next 10 years."

But even if the bond proposal goes through, Sen. Marc R. Pacheco, D-Taunton, vice chairman of the Joint Committee on Environmental, Natural Resources, and Agriculture, said public-private partnerships need to increase.

"We could have much more corporate involvement in our park system," he said. "We should be partnering with various agencies, tour operators, and other different groups so that we can have a good quality park system."

Rep. Michael Rush, D-West Roxbury, chairman of the Legislature State Parks Caucus, said now is the time for lawmakers to invest in the park system for future generations.

"Somebody had the foresight and thoughtfulness 100 years ago to make sure this land was never developed," he said. "Now we are the stewards."