FERRON, Emery County — Closing the ruggedly beautiful Millsite State Park to meet a state budget shortfall would cut the heart out of the community, residents and local leaders say.
Some 150 people from Ferron and nearby communities crowded into the tiny City Hall here Wednesday evening to voice their objections to the state's proposal to close the park just four miles from Ferron. Members of the state parks and recreation board, which will make the final decision by July 1, were also in attendance. Final action will take place in December.
The proposal to close Millsite and five other state parks was a last-ditch effort in the waning days of the Legislature's annual session to trim $500,000 from the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation's $22 million budget.
Closing Millsite would cut just $17,000, including funds left in the budget to maintain the park while it was mothballed, state officials estimate.
"Where's the sense in that?" questioned Mark Justice from Huntington.
Cutbacks started 18 months ago, park manager Ron Taylor said. A full-time position was trimmed, leaving him and an assistant managing Millsite and two other state parks, Huntington and Scofield.
The state will consider alternatives to closing the park, said Courtland Nelson, director of the state parks and recreation division. Options could include getting a private business to run the park or turning it over to the local government. But local leaders said they don't have the budget either.
Residents suggested raising the fees. The current $4 day pass raises about $13,000 a year, well under the park's annual budget of $24,000.
Johnson suggested the state scrap its policy to allow folks over 65 to use state parks free of charge. He asked how many seniors at the hearing would support that. Most elderly hands went up.
"Most people over 65 can afford it better than young families," he said.
"We don't have many alternatives (to closing the park)," said Jeff Packer, chairman of the state parks and recreation board.
But Scott Truman, a member of the board and a Ferron city councilman when the park was built 30 years ago, said closure isn't an option.
"I feel (the state parks division has) an obligation (to the community). We really can't walk away from it," he said.
"We won't let this close," County Commissioner Drew Sitterud said.
The park, built on the shores of a 435-acre reservoir that serves as the town's only water supply, was constructed in 1971, much of it with local volunteer labor, said Paul Crawford, secretary of the Ferron Canal and Reservoir Co., which provided much of the labor and equipment. Most of the financing came through federal Community Development Block Grant funds.
The city enhanced the park with a picturesque golf course. If the park goes, it could take the golf course with it, said City Councilman Kent Larsen.
"Most (golfers) who stay at Millsite are from the Wasatch Front," he said.
"The Wasatch Front has its Olympic venues," Larsen said. "The state has to step up and keep this park open if for nothing more than to pay us back for the power and mining (resources Emery County provides)."
Meanwhile, the Arapeen Trail, an off-road vehicle trail, is under development to bring off-roaders over the mountain and to the park, said Mark H. Williams, chairman of the state parks off-road advisory board.
"Millsite (would be) the hub on this side of the mountain," he said. That would bring more money into the park's coffers.
"Give it a chance to develop into an OHV destination," he said.
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