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Show 12D 4 The Salt Lake Tribune Sunday, April 28, 1983 Pressure Growing on Utahs State Parks By Craig Hanscll Tribune Sports Writer ZBEAH LAKE If Bob Anderson was a businessman, most Utah legislators would know him and be grateful for what he Is contributing to Utahs economy. As it Is Anderson might as well be Just another physical feature in one of Utah's 44 state parks. Anderson heads the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation (UPR) northern regions ten parks. His parks, adjacent to Utahs population centers, include the state's most popular. Anyone who doesnt think Utahns treasure their recreation, did not watch some 50 boaters (some who waited two weeks) line up for the Bear Lake State Park Marina dock allocation recently. Tho lake was still frozen but one prospective dock renter even had Mountain Bell install a phone line into his rented motorhome so he could continue to conduct business while waiting for a dock. The story is similar when UPR opens reservation signups for other facilities, The pressure on, and the need for more, Utah State Parks is increasing. UPR Director Ross Elliot has coined the phrase, "Utah's Parks are being loved to death. The legislature likes to look at the Parks budget as a spot to trim so that other pressing state expenditures can be met and the UPR has i isssn-1- 3 17SSR-1- 3 175SR-1- 4 185SR-1- 4 33.95 36.95 38.95 39.95 17570SR-1- 3 1S570SR-118570SR-119570SR-1- lacked the aggressive commitment to successfully sell its needed budget to the legislature. Certainly in a place like Garden City, which would normally be considered very economically depressed if it werent for the raspberry season and the lake access provided by Bear Lake State Park, the local economy would be shaky. answer Anderson gave Money, is the to the question about the biggest challenge facing UPR. "We had a lot of money infused (into UPR about 12 years ago and we built a lot of facilities. Now our parks are pretty much overused and we have never developed a user constituency to go to the legislature. Studies validate the value of parks. We may only collect $1.5 million directly but indirectly we bring in $60 million. "We would like to get a percentage of the recrefund ational vehicle property tax for an guarantee. "When people look at their personal budgets, recreation is the last place they cut. But when the legislature cuts, the first place it looks is recreation. What we have is a special interest group putting in taxes without getting a return. What we need is stable funding for Utah Parks and one-wor- d g "The day has come when we aren't able to keep all those balls in the air," Anderson said of juggling the demands placed on UPR. According to Utah Outdoor Recreation Expenditures, prepared for the UPR in 1982 by Michael J. Dalton, the average party outing. That spends $43 61 on an party traveling by compares with a car spending $113.02 per outing. In 1981, Utahns spent $350 million for outdoor recreation in Utah and 88 percent of that was spent out of the community of residence. As Utahs economy changes, the areas rich in natural beauty and soft in employment can use UPR help to bolster local economies. Bear Lake State Park, for example, hosts about 225,000 visitors annually on Its 882 Park acres with a budget of about $150,000. That works out to about $1.50 spent on each visitor. If you assume a party consists of four people, those 225,000 Bear Lake visitors spent $2,453,062.50 last year (using Daltons 1982 figures). Since 1962, about $4 million has been spent for property acquisition and development at Bear Lake. So, every two years Bear Lake State Park generates more cashflow than the amount spent for the facilities and that doesn't include the property taxes. JOBS! SMALL JOBS! riI. 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