ArchPundit

Jack Darin covers the shutting down of several parks and laying off of even MORE IDNR staff

Illinois Democrats may be hugging out in Denver, but back home on Thursday 39 IDNR employees were notified that they’ll be out of a job November 1st as a result of budget cuts announced by Governor Blagojevich in July.

Eleven state parks and fifteen state historic sites will close. The state parks that will close November 1st are:

* Hennepin Canal Parkway State Park
* Illini State Park near Marseilles
* Wolf Creek State Park
* Castle Rock State Park, Oregon
* Lowden State Park, Oregon
* Hidden Springs State Forest, Strasburg
* Channahon Parkway State Park, Channahon
* Gebhard Woods State Park, Morris
* Kickapoo State Park, Oakwood
* Moraine View State Park, Leroy
* Weldon Springs State Park, Clinton

These layoffs and closings would be totally unnecessary if our leaders in Springfield would get together on a budget solution. There is still time – but the Governor’s action Thursday started the clock ticking.

We need the General Assembly and the Governor to act before the end of September to restore the cuts, keep these parks open, and keep those who run them and look out for our natural resources on the job.

Moraine View personally hurts as I grew up going there, boated there, had large family gatherings there, mountain bike there, and take my daughters there when I visit Normal.

There is simply no excuse for this and it needs to be fixed–while I’d prefer it to be with increased funding I’d take user fee increases if that’s all we can do for now.  Long run, this just continues a pattern of neglect by Blagojevich for our natural resources and he added on our historical resources this time as well.

Illinois has never made preservation the central aspect of it’s parks system and for that reason they tend to be a bit overused–not the worst thing in the world. Now, they won’t be used at all.  No one is innocent in this fight, but one jackass is more guilty than the rest.