Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 31, 1991 TAG: 9104010204
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Only six of the 18 campgrounds operated by the Virginia Division of Parks and Recreation opened Friday in time for the traditional last-weekend of March beginning. The others will remain chained off until Memorial Day Weekend.
"We are shortening the season because of budget cuts," said Gary Waugh, a park division spokesman.
Park officials already have announced an early closure of the camping season, Labor Day instead of the traditional last weekend of November.
"To cut back is against our nature, Waugh said.
Until last fall, when several campgrounds were closed early, the park system had been expanding camping dates. The briefer season impacts some of the parks' most faithful users, those who come early and stay late, Waugh said.
"We hope when they know what is happening they will weather the storm. They will come back or they will switch and do some summer camping. This isn't something that is going on forever."
Waugh had no figures on how much of a budget cut the agency is facing.
Several other organizations that offer public camping say their seasons have not changed.
Camping facilities along the Blue Ridge Parkway are scheduled to open on time, May 3. The Jefferson National Forest will open its major campgrounds May 1. Some of the more primitive ones operate year-round.
The Corps of Engineers is following a traditional April 1 opening of its camping season at Philpott Reservoir, but the agency unlocked the gates at some of its facilities Friday to accommodate Easter Weekend campers. Visitors won't be charged until Monday.
The state park campgrounds that opened Friday were at Claytor Lake, False Cape, Occoneechee, Pocahontas and Seashore. The campground at Douthat State Park opened March 15 to accommodate early season trout anglers who cast to the park's 50-acre lake.
"We have tried to keep a sampling of campgrounds around the state open during the spring," said Waugh.
Those with a Memorial Day beginning include Smith Mountain, Grayson Highlands, Fairy Stone and Hungry Mother.
The park's popular cabin rentals also are being affected by budget cuts, Waugh said. Cabins in three parks - Douthat, Hungry Mother and Seashore - will have a traditional April 29 opening. Elsewhere, including Claytor Lake, it will be May 20.
Most state park camping fees remain unchanged, $8.50 for a standard campsite; $12 if there is water and electricity. Primitive campsites are $6. An exception, the price of a campsite has been boosted from $12 to $14 at Seashore State Park in Virginia Beach. Cabin rentals are up slightly.
There will be no change in camping fees along the Blue Ridge Parkway and only a slight boost at Philpott Lake and Jefferson National Forest facilities.
On a national scale, the U.S. Forest Service is preparing a proposal to expand recreation fees, which could result in charges at boat launching sites, picnic areas and primitive campsites, which have been free in the past.
Why not charge more and stay open longer is the question state park officials are receiving, Waugh said.
"The reason for that, our revenues do not go back into the operation of the state parks," he said.
Campsite and cabin fees are earmarked for a maintenance reserve fund, which is used for major construction and renovation, not daily operation, he said. At Claytor Lake, for example, even though the campground season is being shortened, a new bath house-concession complex has been built for this season, through the use of maintenance reserve funds.
Smith Mountain Lake State Park will feature a new bath house-concession built with lottery funds, a source of funds no longer available to the park, Waugh said.
The campground and cabin cutbacks come at a time when park officials are anticipating an increase in visitors looking for close-to-home, economical outings.
Spring campers last year numbered about 49,000.
"That obviously is going to be cut drastically this year," Waugh said. But the greatest number of campers - nearly 260,000 - came between Memorial Day and Labor Day last year.
"That is the period we really have to keep facilities open," he said. "Obviously, if you are one of those 49,000 who like to camp in the spring, it is not any more painless knowing that there are a lot more people who came in the summer."
by CNB