Come July 1st, more than 50 state parks are slated to close until further notice ... That’s a fair drop from the Original 70, but if non-profits are scrambling to ink deals with the state to shrink the list further, they don’t have much time left.
This week, the Hendy Woods Community and Save the Redwoods League announced that Hendy Woods State Park in Mendocino County will remain open this summer. They haven't quite signed on the dotted line with the state, but the non-profits are confident enough to announce Hendy is now taking reservations again for campsites and cabins.
Also this week, the California State Parks Foundation announced it will award 13 grants worth more than $325,000 to organizations fighting to keep state parks off the closure list. It’s a one-time offer (at least until further notice), “one of several steps the 43-year-old foundation is taking in response to the crisis,” according to the group’s press release.
Among the lucky winners: China Camp State Park. The Marin State Parks Association and its subgroup, Friends of China Camp, received about $30,000 to bolster their efforts, according to the Marin Independent Journal.
The big money behind these grants? The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation and the Thomas J. Long Foundation, two groups that have supported state parks in the past.