Park Advocacy Day Shows State Lawmakers We Care About Parks
The 11th Annual Park Advocacy Day was a great success! Participants arrived from as far as Long Island and Buffalo to show their support for New York’s parks. Park advocates met with over 50 members of the Senate and Assembly to thank them for their support of state parks and the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) over the past several years. We encouraged legislators to support the Governor’s budget that would provide a $120 million installment of capital funding for state parks, and $300 million for the EPF, including the $500,000 Park and Trail Partnership Program for grassroots Friends groups.
Parks & Trails New York and the Open Space Institute welcomed participants and guest speakers including State Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey, Senators Funke (Chair, Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks & Recreation) and Serrano (Ranker, Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks & Recreation), and Assemblymember O’Donnell (Chair, Tourism, Parks, Arts & Sports Development).
Thanks in part to our advocacy efforts, the State Fiscal Year 2017-18 Enacted Budget included $120 million for infrastructure improvements at state parks and historic sites, a $300 million Environmental Protection Fund, with $500,000 for the Parks and Trails Partnership Program, and $70 million for DEC’s capital improvements.
See the section on the state budget for more details!