Opinion: Californians love the state’s parks. We just don’t know they’re state parks

Other states have mountains, deserts and scenic shorelines, but California excels at preserving these natural features in its park system, seen above at Crystal Cove State Park in Newport Beach. Opinion Editorial: How to get Californians to visit their state parks It’s a poorly run and out-of-touch parks system, indeed, that needs a commission to tell it to accept credit cards. If Californians can’t name a handful of state parks, they won’t recognize the threat when Sacramento defers investment in the system or — as is inevitably happening again — attempts to cut funding. Gavin Newsom’s proposed $291.5 billion budget for the upcoming year would eliminate a $3 million line item for a well-used program that lets library card holders check out free passes to state parks. Wildfires are reported as “burning the hills near Malibu” not “raging through Malibu Creek, Leo Carrillo and Point Mugu state parks” and as “burning in the mountains near Santa Cruz” not as “devastating iconic Big Basin Redwoods State Park, California’s first state park.” State parks need many things — more campsites, better outreach, funding commensurate with the size and scope of the system — but what they need first and most of all is to be noticed: by the governor, legislators and the public.