Joan Hamilton is a Bay Area environmental writer and editor who enjoys hiking, camping, and kayaking in California state parks. She was formerly chief editor at High Country News, Climbing, and Sierra magazines. She produces mobile audio tours for people who want to learn more about Bay Area nature.
Website: http://audioguidestotheoutdoors.com
December 21, 2012 by Joan Hamilton
Major General Anthony Jackson came out of retirement for one more mission: to turn around California’s state parks department. In a Bay Nature interview, Jackson explains why, “My goal, honest and truly, is not closing any parks.”
October 30, 2012 by Joan Hamilton
The California parks department is figuring out how to disperse $10 million to groups that kept their local state parks from closing this year. But some parks fans wonder how they’ll get out from the shadow of a parks department in scandal.
August 09, 2012 by Joan Hamilton
While park advocates around the state expressed shock and anger over the discovery of a secret stash of $54 million …
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June 04, 2012 by Joan Hamilton
With state park closures only a month away, California lawmakers are scrambling to send long-lasting aid to the state park system and keep the gates open.
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May 02, 2012 by Joan Hamilton
For the past 35 years, Valley of the Moon Natural History Association has been helping greet and educate visitors at the Jack London State Historic Park in Sonoma County.As of May 1, however, it’s taken charge of the whole park: 1,400 acres, 10,000 artifacts, and more than a dozen historic buildings.It’s an unusual situation, born of California’s budget woes. The state says it no longer has the money to keep Jack London open, but the surrounding community sees the park as a vital public asset. So locals are investing their own time and money to create something new — what Valley of the Moon board president Greg Hayes calls “a community-operated state park.”
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April 19, 2012 by Joan Hamilton
For residents and businesses in the Anderson Valley, 845-acre Hendy Woods State Park has an importance far beyond its size. It’s one of few public open spaces in this mostly rural region, and now residents are doing their best to make a plan to keep the park open.
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April 17, 2012 by Joan Hamilton
McGrath State Beach has plenty of visitors and plenty of revenue. So how did it end up on the closure list? The park’s sewer line was broken, and the state couldn’t afford to fix it. But the local community rallied around the park, raised the money to fix the sewer, and now the park will stay open.
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April 16, 2012 by Joan Hamilton
If any landscape can be called iconic, Mono Lake surely makes the cut. But with no revenue, the state park here faced closure–until John Muir’s great-great-grandson joined with local park supporters to rescue the park. With a new parking fee in place, the park is safe, for now.
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April 10, 2012 by Joan Hamilton
Samuel P. Taylor State Park in Marin is a popular destination for many of the millions of people who live within a short drive of this secluded redwood forest. With the park facing closure, the National Park Service stepped in to pay park operating costs.
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April 01, 2012 by Joan Hamilton
Some 70 state parks were scheduled to be closed on July 1, 2012. But determined action by park-loving citizens around the state has succeeded in getting some parks removed from that list and has opened a discussion of the relationship between public parks and the people they serve. We visit four parks around the state to see what the future might hold for our beloved, but beleaguered, state parks.
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