California State Parks Joining ARVC This Month

There is concern within the tourism and private park industry that the budget cuts and the possible closure of 70 state parks in California pose a threat to privately owned and operated campgrounds in California and across the country.

According to a press release, the issue is that thousands of campers go to California to see the extraordinary sites located within the state parks, but camp in private parks along the way, and without many state parks open, private campgrounds could be hurt by fewer visitors according to a news release.

However, Ruth Coleman, director of California State Parks, feels strongly that the challenge presented also provides opportunities to counter the situation with increased public-private park collaboration, particularly in the areas of marketing and media outreach, since both industries target the same consumer.

“We have a very strong interest in being together with the private park industry as we face these challenges,” said Coleman, who noted that California State Parks will join the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds (ARVC) this month.

Coleman, who will become president of the National Association of State Park Directors (NASPD) in September, added that while 70 state parks in California are currently scheduled to close on July 1, 2012, opportunities exist for private park operators to take over management of several state park campgrounds.

Coleman said she is also open to discussing ways in which state parks can help refer campers to privately owned parks, perhaps by directing them to websites such as GoCampingAmerica.com or Camp-California.com.

“We bring the destination,” Coleman said. “State parks are the thing that people want to come see. But we don’t offer that many spots for people to stay.”

Indeed, the entire California State Park system only has about 15,000 campsites, while the private park sector has more than 90,000 camping and RV sites. But by working together, Coleman said, both public and private parks could find ways to help each other.

California is among the first of a half of dozen state park systems that have already indicated interest in joining ARVC this year following a recent push by the association to open its doors to all non-member parks throughout the country, including state parks.

Several states already have strong relationships with state parks, including Virginia, Maryland and Maine, but, more can be done, not only at the state level, but at local levels across the country.

Debbie Sipe, executive director of California ARVC, sees these efforts at pubic park-private park sector collaboration as a positive move, and noted that the state association is specifically interested in stepping up its marketing and public relations outreach efforts in collaboration with California State Parks.

Sipe said communicating with Coleman also enables her to better understand challenges facing state parks while also identifying ways in which state parks could help private park operators.

Looking down the road, Sipe said increased public-park park collaboration could also go a long way toward improving best practices in campground management across the country.

Paul Bambei, ARVC president and CEO, said ARVC Director of Membership Jeff Sims plans to attend next month’s annual NASPD Convention, where he plans to reach out to state park directors across the country and highlight the association’s efforts to seek improved collaboration with the public park sector to help both industries in these challenging economic times.

 

Budget Woes Close 4 California Campgrounds

The federal budget, or more precisely the national debt and the attempts to reduce it, are being felt in California with U.S. Forest Service campground closures and reduced hours at some visitors centers.

The Inyo National Forest in eastern California is having to take some drastic measures to balance its budget this fiscal year, and in unprecedented actions is closing some campgrounds and reducing services and interpretive programs at visitor centers in the middle of the summer, Forest Supervisor Ed Armenta said in a press release.

In line with the reduction in staff capabilities and to further reduce costs, the following campgrounds have been closed for the summer: Upper Deadman, Lower Deadman, Hartley Springs and Obsidian Group Camp, The Inyo Register, Bishop, reported.

As of July 31, reductions in hours and services at Visitor Centers, from north to south, will be in effect until further notice.

This year, all of the national forests received their budgets much later than normal, with the Inyo National Forest receiving a final budget on June 15. The final budget was significantly lower than what had been projected, particularly in the areas of recreation and wilderness, Armenta said.

According to Armenta, for the past month, Inyo National Forest leadership has “struggled with how to balance their budget and they have been working with many of their partners in an attempt to maintain as high a level of public service and resource protection as possible.”

Armenta noted many partners, including the Eastern Sierra Interpretive Association, Friends of the Inyo, the Town of Mammoth Lakes, and the National Park Service, have stepped up to help, but even all that assistance can only go so far.

Over the past couple of weeks, in an attempt to reduce costs, the Forest Service has reduced staff by seven temporary employees who had been hired for the summer, has moved a couple of employees to grant-funded programs, and has not filled several vacancies that had been slated to be filled, including the key staff positions of Forest Recreation Officer and Forest Resource Officer.

 

Rally Protests Closings of California Parks

Activists representing more than half of the 70 state parks targeted for closure due to California’s budget crisis braved broiling temperatures Tuesday (June 21) in Sacramento to rally at the Capitol building.

The Chatsworth Patch reported that park supporters have been writing letters to state legislators to ward off the closures.

There’s pending legislation in the state legislature that could help to keep the parks open. AB 64 and AB 42 are on the Assembly and Senate floors and could allow the state to join with nonprofit organizations and local governments in the effort to stave off closures.

“It’s upbeat and fantastic,” said John Luker, representing the Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park about the rally. “Everyone realizes the parks will be closed. But by the same token in looking around and looking at the others in the same boat, it brings a feeling of mutual reinforcement.”

The California State Parks Foundation hosted Tuesday’s rally to highlight the impact of the closures, showcase the natural, cultural and historic resources that will be at risk, and meet legislators to seek ways to protect California’s state parks during this fiscal crisis.

Speakers included Elizabeth Goldstein, president of the California State Parks
Foundation; Sen. Lois Wolk, author of Senate Bill 580; Rep. Jared Huffman, author of Assembly Bill 42; Robert Hanna, founder of Range of Light and great-great grandson of John Muir, and Alden Olmsted, a filmmaker and son of naturalist John Olmsted.

Foundation spokesman, Jerry Emory, said about 200 people met under a large tent where pamphlets, photographs and other literature were handed to the public.

Holding the rally on the lawn of the Capitol gave the cause good exposure, Emory said.

“To see all of these independent representatives under one tent, (it is) impressive to see their dedication to their specific park and their regional parks,” Emory said.

Emory said Gov. Jerry Brown’s veto of the state budget last week was a surprise. He said he doesn’t believe it will change the status of the parks when the budget is finally signed.

As part of the 2011- 2012 state budget, the state park system will begin to implement $11 million in cuts that will grow to a permanent $22 million General Fund cut by 2012-2013.

“Everybody loves state parks. No one wants to see them close,” Luker said. “It’s the worst case scenario for everyone.”

Budget Cuts Decimate California State Parks

State parks here are in a downward spiral amid budget cuts that have left many only partially open and in decrepit condition heading into the busy summer season — amid plans to indefinitely close a quarter of the 278 parks.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the 70 closures, slated for 2012, would be the first in the 84-year history of California’s state park system, the largest in the country. The legislature decided in May to cut an additional $22 million from the state Department of Parks and Recreation to help close a state budget deficit of $9.6 billion.

Overall, funding for California state parks has dropped 43% since fiscal 2006, to $99 million planned for the fiscal year beginning July 1 from $175 million six years earlier.

Sixty state parks are partially closed while 90 more have experienced severe reductions in services, said Elizabeth Goldstein, president of the California State Parks Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy group.

Officials are racing to try to avert some of the closures, including with a bill that would make it easier for nonprofit groups to take over some park operations. But the bill proposed by Democratic Assemblyman Jared Huffman—which has passed the Assembly and is pending in the Senate—wouldn’t save all of the parks, Ms. Goldstein said. “We are not optimistic we will keep 70 parks open or anywhere close,” she said.

Budget cuts have hit state parks elsewhere, too. Arizona has closed seven of its 30 state parks over the past 18 months because of budget troubles, said Renee Bahl, executive director of the Arizona State Parks Board. Officials in Idaho, meanwhile, are considering corporate sponsorships to keep state parks open there.

Some people say the parks cuts are necessary at a time when almost every other part of state government is being reduced in the face of big deficits and suggest the parks’ agency should seek new sources of revenue.

“There are things they could do to become more self-sufficient,” such as charging higher camping and day-use fees and outsourcing campground operations to a private concessionaire, said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, a taxpayers’ advocacy group in Los Angeles and Sacramento.

Advocates argue the timing is bad. “When you have near-record unemployment and home foreclosures and a health and obesity problem with youth and adults, that is a terrible time to be taking away the close-to-home recreation opportunities for these folks,” said Phil McNelly, executive director of the National Association of State Park Directors.

The impact can be seen at the Austin Creek State Recreation Area, a 5,683-acre forested preserve near Guerneville, in the mountains of Sonoma County north of San Francisco. Budget cuts prompted park officials in 2010 to close the 24-site Bullfrog Pond Campground for 10 months out of the year.

On a recent day, a padlocked gate blocked motorized access to the bucolic campground, where rodents had taken up residence in a restroom and its mirrors were missing. The campground is set to reopen July 1 through the end of August.

“People get really mad at us when we tell them it’s closed,” said Jenny Donovan, public safety superintendent for the park agency’s Russian River district, which includes Austin Creek. “But as state park employees, it’s hard on us, too.”

Elsewhere in Ms. Donovan’s district, an admissions gate at the Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve was unmanned even on a busy day recently. Meanwhile, the Fort Ross Historic State Park—site of a 19th century Russian encampment—is now open only five days a week, down from seven.

And with an estimated $1.3 billion in deferred maintenance statewide, parks in the district are in general disrepair. At Sonoma Coast State Park, weeds have grown to nearly obscure a closed restroom. At some other parks, graffiti covers campground signs.

Parks officials say they had no choice but to trim services because of staff reductions caused by the budget cuts. In her Mendocino County district, parks superintendent Liz Burko has funds to fill only four of 11 positions for rangers to patrol 22 parks. “We are forced to focus on areas of peak visitation,” said Ms. Burko, who also oversees the Russian River district.

Nonprofits have stepped in to provide some help. In Santa Barbara, the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation runs El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park under an arrangement Mr. Huffman’s bill would expand to other parks statewide. In Santa Cruz County, Friends of Santa Cruz raised $60,000 last year to keep 30 seasonal lifeguards employed at three state beaches. And in Jenner, Calif., Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods raised about $5,000 last year to keep the Sonoma County State Park Visitors Center open, said Michele Luna, executive director of the group.

But nonprofits can do only so much. A recently discovered leak at the visitors center created worries about the need for an expensive repair, Luna said. “The costs could be prohibitive” for her group, she said.

CleanFlame Donates $300K to California Parks

California State Parks announced Wednesday (June 1) a new partnership with national firelog company CleanFlame, in order to support and promote the state’s 278 parks and campgrounds.

CleanFlame joins the parks’ “Proud Partner” program with a commitment to donate $300,000 of the proceeds from sales of its new Campfire Log during the next three years to help keep California’s state parks open and accessible to the public, according to a news release.

The company’s “S’more Fun in the Forest” campaign launched in May to call attention to this opportunity for consumers to help support critical infrastructure and maintenance projects needed throughout the State Park system.

“We are pleased to partner with CleanFlame to generate revenue for our parks through the sale of their new campfire log. They are a California-based company whose environmentally friendly products will add to the outdoor recreation experience and enjoyment at our 15,000 campsites,” said Brent Reed, deputy director of partnerships and consumer strategies.

“CleanFlame is proud to support California’s majestic state parks and campgrounds during these budget-challenged times,” said Kory Hamman, CEO of CleanFlame. “The new Campfire Log by CleanFlame represents a new era in responsible camping safety and convenience. Unlike other artificial firelog brands, our Campfire Logs are clean enough to cook over, toxin free, safer for our families and better for our environment. And with a portion of proceeds from the sale of each log going to support our state campgrounds, we hope to keep the adventure of camping alive for generations to come.”

Campfire Log by CleanFlame and Rapid Fire Firestarters are available at California state parks, Safeway stores, Vons, Dominick’s, Randall’s Food Marts, Tom Thumbs, Pavillions, Raleys, Savemart and many other retail locations nationwide. Visit http://www.cleanflame.com for a store locator.

About the Proud Partnership Program: California State Parks instituted the Proud Partnership Program, with assistance from the California State Parks Foundation, to help enhance and promote the state parks to the public. Financial support and resources from “Proud Partners,” such as CleanFlame, help fund visitor enhancement projects and promote California state parks programs. For more information about the Proud Partner Program, visit http://www.parks.ca.gov.

California Urging Non-Profits to Run Parks

With budget cuts threatening to force the shutdown of 70 California state parks, the state Assembly on Thursday (May 19) unanimously approved legislation making it easier for nonprofit groups to take over operations at some parks.

According to an Associated Press report, the bill, AB42, passed 67-0 Thursday with little discussion and was sent to the Senate.

The author, Democratic Assemblyman Jared Huffman of San Rafael, said the measure might not be a complete solution to keeping parks open, but it could help. “This is not a silver bullet,” he said.

Huffman, the chairman of the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife, has previously said the planned closings would be “devastating for park visitors throughout the state.”

State parks officials last week announced that $33 million in budget cuts passed by the Legislature in March would force the state to close 70 of California’s 278 parks, beaches and historic areas around the state as of July 2012. They said they would seek partnerships with local governments and nonprofits to keep some open, but they noted that the process to partner with a nonprofit to operate a park was complicated and in the past has required special legislation.

Without operating agreements, the state plans to close park sites across the state, from Pacific Coast beaches and redwood groves to Gold Rush-era mining sites in the Sierra Nevada and mansions in Sacramento.

Officials noted that the $99 million budget from the state’s general fund for parks in 2012-2013 is 40% less than the agency received in 2007-2008, and that about 500 of the 2,300 authorized parks jobs are vacant. About 200 more workers would be affected by the planned closings, but some could be transferred to vacant positions.

While the bill still must clear the Senate, the California State Parks Foundation is hopeful that it offers another avenue to keep parks open, said president Elizabeth Goldstein. The group is a sponsor of Huffman’s bill.

Operating agreements with nonprofits “would be an important short-term step to protect these parks,” she said.

“We’ve been hearing from organizations that are very interested” in partnerships with the state to run various parks, Goldstein said, and the foundation itself also will look at whether it makes sense to pursue an agreement with the state.

California State Parks director Ruth Coleman said last week that the state was eager to explore ways to preserve the parks slated for closure, but there would be a learning curve.

Several other bills that would encourage partnerships to operate state parks are pending in legislative committees or on the Assembly floor.

California Announces Plan to Close 70 Parks

California state parks officials recently announced the closure of 70 parks because of the state budget deficit, according to a report in the Sacramento Bee.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s January budget plan proposed reducing the state parks budget by $22 million. The Legislature in March approved $11 million in cuts to state parks and $10 million in cuts to off highway vehicle parks in the next fiscal year, with $22 million in cuts to state parks in future years.

The California State Parks System was directed to identify which parks would close based on attendance rates and historical significance. The department operates more than 270 state park units covering more than 1.4 million acres.

“We regret closing any park,” Ruth Coleman, director of California State Parks, said in a statement. “But with the proposed budget reductions over the next two years, we can no longer afford to operate all parks within the system.”

The department at first said service reductions will begin over the summer and closures will begin in September, but later announced that the parks will not be fully closed until July 1, 2012. The cuts have not yet been signed by Brown, so a final list could grow or shrink based on the actions the Legislature takes to close the budget deficit.

Parks officials said they tried to protect the most significant cultural and natural resources, while maintaining the parks that provided the most public access and state revenue. In addition, the department intends to seek partnership agreements with local governments and non-profits in attempt to keep some of the parks open. They said 92% of total park attendance will be retained and 94% of existing revenues even with the closures.

RVers Avoid Costly Public RV Campgrounds

Most RVers are unwilling to pay high fees for primitive campsites at public campgrounds, according to more than 2,800 RVers who responded to a survey in last weekend’s RVtravel.com newsletter.

According to the RV News Service, the survey was prompted by RVtravel.com Editor Chuck Woodbury’s recent experience of coming upon two California state parks where the fee for primitive campsites — those with no utility hookups — were $35 a night. “My reaction was that it was too much,” he wrote. “The park system, of course, is trying to raise more money to keep its parks open. But I wonder if they have priced themselves out of the market.”

More than 95% of the recreational vehicle enthusiasts who responded to the survey said they would never pay — or probably never pay — that much to stay in a public campground. “Look at it from this perspective — $35 per night equals $1,050 per month,” one reader commented. “Would you pay that to rent a house with no walls, no water, no electricity, no toilets?”

Another reader commented, “It would make more sense to have a full campground at a lesser fee than a mostly empty one at the higher rates, and this goes not only for California but all states.”

“It’s a real shame that the going rate to camp in a public campground these days is often what you’d pay for a room in an economy motel,” said Woodbury. “There are a lot of people out there, individuals and families, where camping is becoming financially out of reach. I think the big losers are the children, who miss out on the opportunity to be with their families in the outdoors.”

Woodbury said he does not know the solution to the problem of escalating camping fees. “I just know that there comes a point where you charge too much, and in that case you end up with less.”

The real-time results of the survey are available at http://rvtravel.com/rvtravel/results.aspx.

California Voters Reject Parks Salvation Plan

California voters on Tuesday (Nov. 2) overwhelmingly rejected a measure to pay for California’s chronically underfunded state park system by instituting an $18 vehicle license fee, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Proposition 21 would have raised $500 million a year to pay for operating, maintaining and repairing the state’s 278 parks. In exchange, California motorists would have gotten free admission to their favorite state-owned scenic wonders, historic monuments and beaches.

Everyone agrees the state park system, which supporters call the jewel of California, needs gussying up, but the question before voters was whether California motorists should pay the price.

The $18 would have been tacked on to the fee motorists pay to register their vehicles.

But most people didn’t like the idea of removing park funding from the state’s general fund or sloughing the cost off on voters. Critics said the initiative amounted to ballot-box budgeting – a practice that has been blamed for exacerbating the state’s fiscal woes.

The most vocal opponents were anti-tax crusaders who characterized Prop. 21 as a cynical ploy by Sacramento politicians to implement a car tax and enable wasteful government spending.

California has more state parks than any other state. They cover 1.4 million acres, including 280 miles of coastline and 625 miles of lake and riverfront. About 70 million people visit the state parks annually. That compares with about 16 million who visit Disneyland each year.

But there hasn’t been enough money available in the state’s general fund to provide many of the park services that visitors often expect, such as maintained trails, working bathrooms and rangers. Huge budget deficits over the past two years forced partial closures in 60 parks and deep service reductions in 90 others, including Angel Island, Mount Diablo and China Camp state parks.

Of the 278 parks in the state, 150 have been affected in one way or another by budget cuts, including reductions in the number of lifeguards and janitors. Restrooms, campgrounds, picnic areas, parking lots and beaches have been closed.

That’s on top of the $1.3 billion in maintenance projects that were already backlogged before the state budget crisis, park officials said.

The California State Parks Foundation led a coalition of environmental and conservation groups that gathered 760,000 signatures to put Prop. 21 on the ballot. The initiative would have added the cost of a single professional car wash onto the vehicle license fee for motorcycles, cars and recreational vehicles, but not larger commercial vehicles, mobile homes or permanent trailers. In exchange, those vehicles would have gotten free admission to all state parks.

Out-of-state vehicles would still have paid entrance fees, which are as much as $125 for an annual pass or between $10 and $15 a day at most parks.

Eighty-five percent of the money would have been spent on parks. The remaining 15% was going to be used by the state for land management, to operate marine reserves, and to support wildlife conservancies. An annual audit would have been conducted by a citizens’ oversight committee that would release the results to the public.

RV Rental Firm Ensnarled in State Oversight

Summer isn’t proving too sunny for Lompoc, Calif., business owner Brad Pellegrin, whose trailer rental company, Earl’s RV, will lose more than $50,000 this season because it’s no longer allowed to deliver camping equipment to state parks in Santa Barbara County, the Santa Barbara Independent reported.

It’s been a full year since Pellegrin — who started working for his father, the Earl of the company name, at age 15 and took it over in 2006 — found out that California State Parks had given an exclusive regional contract for RV delivery to a new outfit called Vacation Trailers 2 U, but it hasn’t gotten any easier to stomach.

“It’s a really unfair situation, a really messed up deal,” said Pellegrin, who said the move occurred “without any forewarning” and with no option for Earl’s RV to offer the services instead, despite having done so for 23 years at Carpinteria, Refugio, El Capitán and Gaviota state beaches.

“I asked why, and the only answer was, ‘We didn’t know you existed,’” explained Pellegrin. He doesn’t believe the response, pointing to his 15 years of advertising the service in the campgrounds’ main magazine and noting that he knew most of the camp managers by name due to delivering so much. “What really frustrates me is the state’s lack of a reasonable answer,” said Pellegrin. “To allow us to slip through the crack for 23 years? It just seems a little far-fetched. I can’t imagine anyone being allowed to break the law for 23 years.”

But Richard Rozelle — who took over in May 2008 as director of the State Parks’ Channel Coast District, which extends from Ventura County up to Point Sal near Santa Maria — maintains that Earl’s RV was indeed news to him, even if some of his on-the-ground employees were familiar with the service.

“While we do our best to educate employees about the rules and policies, they’re not always cognizant of everything that goes into running the state parks,” said Rozelle of these often seasonal staffers, who were first to mention Earl’s RV when the new contract was announced last summer. “When we started finding out about it, we asked them why they hadn’t come and asked for permission,” he said, noting that Pellegrin’s ignorance of the situation is not an excuse for breaking the law. “They’ve been operating illegally in the state parks for over 20 years.”

So when Rozelle was approached by the owner of Vacation Trailers 2 U (VT2U) nearly two years ago, he thought it was a great idea — given the rise of “glamping,” or luxury camping — and a green one, especially since so many people buy RVs but then only use them once a year. But most importantly, said Rozelle, “It provided an opportunity to generate revenue at a time when state parks are cash poor.”

Specifically, VT2U pays 10% of its first $300,000 in gross revenues to California State Parks, and then 12% when the revenues top $300,000; there is also a $6,000 minimum payment in case of a slow year.

Since it’s officially a new venture for the region, state law allows Rozelle to enter into a two-year agreement with any vendor — rather than host the typical bidding process for government contracts — to determine whether it’s a viable long-term opportunity. “It’s turning out to be,” said Rozelle, who was not obligated to contact other vendors but said that he would have done so if he’d “known there was interest.” The contract expires next May, and will then be put out to bid for all interested companies.

Perhaps the only one angrier than Pellegrin over the current uproar is Jason Kimbrell, the owner of the official concessionaire Vacation Trailers 2 U. “I’m pretty disgusted with it,” said Kimbrell of what he calls a “big misinformation campaign” about his business and a case of “sour grapes syndrome” on Pellegrin’s part. “We’ve done everything by the book and exactly how we were supposed to do it,” explained Kimbrell, who said that the “lengthy” approval process required loads of paperwork, multiple meetings, upgrading trailers, acquiring appropriate insurance, and waiting nine months for a decision.

Like Rozelle, Kimbrell — a San Diego native who fell in love with Santa Barbara while a UCSB student years ago — “had no idea that Earl’s RV company existed” when he approached California State Parks with his proposal. He soon learned about Earl’s RV and a number of other businesses “flying below the radar screen,” including a number of folks who seemed to be subsidizing their RV ownership with occasional weekend rentals. When he heard about Pellegrin’s complaints, Kimbrell said he went to Lompoc to “extend the olive branch” and allowed Earl’s RV to fulfill the rentals that had already been commissioned through last summer. In return, Kimbrell said he got a handshake and a promise to not violate his agreement.

But then, a few weeks ago, Kimbrell’s employee noticed a number of trailers from Earl’s RVs at Refugio State Beach. “We weren’t going to make a big ruckus about them — State Parks has other things to manage,” said Kimbrell of both Earl’s RV and other nonregulated rentals. “But this was so blatant that I called them up.”

Meanwhile, his employee took flyers down to the apparently illicit camp visitors to advertise the now-official concessionaire. That move, according to Kimbrell, led to a verbal assault on his employee by those loyal Earl’s RV renters.

But according to Marell Brooks, a county planning commissioner and annual Earl’s RV customer for 20-plus years who was on the scene that day, they were the ones who felt “really uncomfortable” because the VT2U employee was “hassling everybody.” Said Brooks, “Rather than a nice enjoyable stay, that first day we were all being accused of doing something illegal.”

The incident became a nonissue when a Vandenberg firefighter disappeared nearby while kayaking that same day, so maybe that’s why Pellegrin fessed up to the act weeks later without being prompted, explaining, “We’ve bent the rules a couple times.”

Rozelle didn’t view it as lightly, explaining that he’s been “investigating a recent incident” in which Earl’s RV may have brought trailers into a park. “We’ve been reasonable in seeking compliance,” said Rozelle. “We may turn this over to the district attorney if we find this is an ongoing activity.”

Of all the charges being thrown on the wall, the one that’s stickiest is the price discrepancy between the high-end trailers offered by VT2U and the wider range of options rented by Earl’s RV, particularly the popup tent trailers that go for a fraction of the price of an RV.

“We don’t want those big RVs — we just want a tent trailer,” said Brooks. “By doing this, the state is telling local people, ‘Sorry, you have to spend $200 a night if you want to rent a camper.” Even Kimbrell — who stills refers customers to Earl’s RV but complains that Pellegrin lies about the existence of VT2U and tells customers that no company is allowed to rent in the state parks — sees the rationale in this argument. He agreed to let Earl’s RV deliver those trailers over the course of his contract, but said that California State Parks didn’t want to “reward bad behavior” by granting any such concessions.

Rozelle has also taken note of the valid complaint. “When I go out to bid, we’re going to be looking at providing a range of camping experiences,” he said. “The pop-up trailer could be part of that.”

That request for proposals will be hashed out this fall and put out for bid sometime before the VT2U contract ends in May. The State Parks review panel can certainly expect both Kimbrell and Pellegrin to be at the table next year. Said Kimbrell, “I’ve got a $650,000 bet on this business.” Said Pellegrin, “I do intend on putting my name on the list. I am very much interested. I want it back.”

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