SALT LAKE CITY — The head of the state department that has oversight of Utah's natural resources — from deer herds to state parks to wildland fire suppression — says a double digit budget cut inflicted by lawmakers has left him baffled.

"We've tried to become more efficient and improve how we do things. We've been prudent," said Mike Styler, executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources.

"We're in charge of managing the state's many natural resources," Styler said, "and I don't know what we have done wrong. I admit I am at a loss."

Related

Audit questions state park efficiency

A legislative audit said only nine of Utah's 43 state parks and just one of its four state golf courses make enough money to operate without support from the General Fund, which should lead lawmakers to question the policy of subsidizing the operations at such a high level.

Styler's agency falls within the purview of the Legislature's Natural Resources, Environment and Agriculture appropriations subcommittee, as does the Department of Agriculture and Department of Environmental Quality.

Of those three agencies, however, Styler said it was his that bore the brunt of the cuts, taking an 18 percent reduction in funding the coming fiscal year.

Funding for the state Parks and Recreation Division suffered a crippling blow, stripped 59 percent of its ongoing funds to 2011-12 fiscal year.

"We asked for that audit because we wanted to operate more efficiently, but it is as if they are using it as a witch hunt," Styler said.

A performance audit of the state parks was released in January by the Office of Legislative Auditor General, identifying multiple areas where the division could decrease its operational expenses, such as cutting back hours at parks in the off-season, pursuing the privatization of some parks and potentially closing others.

Utah, like many states around the country, has struggled with the operation of its state parks because of often high subsidies at a time when revenues are falling.

Some states have already shut down some parks or looked to other government partners, such as cities and counties, to help shoulder costs.

Utah's division has oversight of 43 state parks and four golf courses within some of those parks.

The audit found that many parks continually lose money and have to be propped up by general fund allocations. Five parks, in particular, historically have had revenues dwarfed by expenditures and "poor" visitation, according to the audit.

Subsidized costs per taxpayer at the Green River Golf Course, Edge of the Cedars, the Territorial Statehouse, Frontier Homestead and Utah Field House Museum range from $8 to $43 per visitor, leading the auditors to suggest they should be considered as candidates for closure.

But Styler says he is further stymied in his efforts to address cutting costs in some ways because of confusing intent language passed by lawmakers that delivered conflicting messages.

On the one hand, the language says the cuts come with the directive that "no parks be closed," in the coming year. On the other, lawmakers told Styler to provide a list of parks that can be closed.

"It is a little disconcerting that they tell us what they want us to do, then limit our tools to accomplish the task that we have been given."

Lawmakers took the division's $9.8 million general fund allocation and reduced it to $4 million for the coming fiscal year. They threw in another $2.8 million in "one-time" money that will give the agency some reprieve as it identifies way to reduce its operating costs.

Styler said he suspects he will back during next year's session to show how those efficiencies have been made and to argue that some the ongoing money that was slashed should be restored.

"We believe we can convince them that we deserve ongoing funding so that the future of the parks is secure," Styler said, stressing that this season, no parks will close.

Many of the state's so-called "heritage" parks, he added, may never make money, but that does not detract from their overall value.

"There is a social value to having the Territorial Statehouse," Styler said. "That is part of our history, these places are part of our social fabric. We do not ask our schools to turn a profit, why would we ask our museums and state parks to turn a profit?"

Charles DeLorme, San Juan County's director of economic development, said Edge of the Cedars is an "incredibly important attraction to us," that does deliver dollars to county, luring visitors to stay another day.

The state park also serves as the nation's largest federal repository of ancestral Puebloan artifacts, which he argues should merit its expansion, not its closure.

"Frankly, I was blindsided at the concept of closing Edge of the Cedars," he said. "It is easy for a CPA to look at the bottom line, but that ignores the cultural significance, that it is part of society, part of our cosmology, part of civilization that we hope endures as a legacy for generations to come. You can't always place dollar figure on that."

With spring less than two weeks away, Styler said state park employees are readying for a robust summer to accommodate visitors intent on hiking, biking, fishing and taking part in a multitude of other activities offered by the parks.

"We are expecting our best year ever," he said. "People will come and find the reservoirs completely full because of our great water situation and with gas prices going up, we're going to tell people to forget that trip to Yellowstone, forget that trip to Disneyland and instead stay home and use the state parks. Love them, get acquainted with them and save the gas money."

E-mail:aodonoghue@ksl.com

Related topics