Some of Colorado's 41 state parks may have to close unless money is found to start making an estimated $150 million in backlogged repairs, officials say.

The parks, crown jewels in Colorado's tourism landscape, need money to fix rotting boat docks, crumbling asphalt trails, and restrooms and water systems that no longer work.

"What bothers me the most is that these parks have always been ranked really high by the public," said Larry Kramer, deputy director of the parks system.

"Restrooms are clean. Buildings are in good shape. Rangers are always there. But these resources get loved to death. They're overused and beat down.

"If we can't maintain them, we will have to close facilities," Kramer said. "We are not going to let the whole system get run down."

Some of the most tattered parks - and most popular - are in the metro area.

Cherry Creek and Chatfield, which combined lure more than 3 million visitors annually, need some $13 million in health and safety-related maintenance alone.

The two parks, known for their reservoirs, are a haven for metro residents who don't have time to flee to the high country for relief from the summer heat.

"I'd like to see things a little nicer," said Sarah Fisher, 21, as she stood on a boat dock at Chatfield this week. "Colorado is unique for its outdoors. They should do what they can to make sure it stays so beautiful."

Age taking toll

Restoring the parks' sheen isn't going to be easy, in part because they're so popular. Entry gates at Cherry Creek and Chatfield are routinely slammed shut on some summer weekends, overrun with boaters and campers.

Age is another issue. Many of the parks, their campgrounds, roads and restrooms, are more than 30 years old, well past the age when they need to be replaced. Cherry Creek, the oldest park in the system, opened in 1959.

And money, of course, is the key culprit. The parks pay for themselves, but it takes about $38 million simply to operate the sprawling park system, which covers nearly 220,000 acres.

Most of that comes from visitor fees. Since 2000, as lawmakers have wrestled with one budget crisis after another, parks' share of the overall purse has shrunk. Now just 17.5 percent of its operating budget comes from state tax revenues, down from 25.7 percent in 2000, according to the department.

In recent years, the parks department has been able to spend only $3 million to $5 million annually to reduce the maintenance backlog, and it's falling behind, Kramer said.

This month, the parks board will begin to examine how to prioritize the cash it has. Options include closing some parks on a full-time or part-time basis, and raising fees again.

The most recent fee increase came this past year, a move that will generate about $750,000 in revenue by next year - the same amount lawmakers cut from its budget earlier this year.

A low priority

Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, is vice chairman of the Joint Budget Committee. Buescher said the parks department has to take lower priority when it comes to maintaining its systems.

"We have deferred maintenance needs in nearly every agency that we've reviewed. We do the very best job we can. With all of that said, I am concerned. We're really proud of these parks. But I must admit I'm more concerned about those things where a higher level of human safety comes into play - human services and bridges."

While all state agencies face critical maintenance backlogs, state parks' is more extensive than most because its system is so large, according to the legislature's Joint Budget Committee.

Though raising fees is an option, hoisting them too much flies in the face of the park system's mission, Kramer said.

"We try to keep fees low enough so everyone can get into the park. If we raise them too much, we're going to price people out," he said. "We're trying to avoid being Disneyland."

Tom Ready is chairman of the State Parks Board. A Pueblo native, Ready is grimly realistic about the parks' finances. He says new fee increases are almost inevitable, as are closures. He said the board may also consider taking on corporate sponsors, as other states have done, for park buildings or special facilities, such as campgrounds or model airplane fields.

"We understand money is tight," Ready said. "But we are such a tiny part of the state's overall budget. If we had two miles of road funding, we'd be in fat city."

Looking for funds

Department officials are combing through the list of maintenance projects, looking for anything that might qualify for federal money or for money from Great Outdoors Colorado, which already helps pay for new parks.

But maintenance costs can't be funded through GOCO because the Colorado Constitution prohibits that practice.

John Swartout, GOCO's executive director, said his organization is well aware of the park systems' maintenance issues and might be able to help if its own board is willing and if it can be done legally.

"There is a substitution clause in the constitution that says we can't use our money for something the legislature used to pay for," Swartout said. "We would have to look at maintenance in the context of, did the legislature use to pay for this?"

Kramer said the parks department must decide by early next year what to do about some of its most pressing needs and whether parks will need to be closed.

"A lot depends on revenues. If they don't stay up, if we have a poor September, if the weather is bad for a couple of weekends and people don't come out, we could lose $800,000 in a month. It's happened before."

State parks by the numbers

41 parks in the Colorado system

218,635 acres of land

11.1 million annual visitors

$150.6 million needed to bring parks up to par, according to state officials, including,

$106.8 million for non-safety related repairs and maintenance, and

$43.8 million for high-priority health and safety projects, including new sewer and water systems, dredging some reservoirs, replacing some buildings and repaving trails and roads.Source: Colorado Dept. Of Natural Resources

smithj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5474. Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer Justin Coons contributed to this report.

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