To keep parks open, states seek corporate sponsors

Amid increasing budget pressures from the recession, Georgia is among a handful of states looking to corporate sponsorship to help fund state parks. "According to preliminary survey results from the National Association of State Park Directors, a growing number of states are trying out or considering corporate sponsorship or exclusive distribution deals as a way to help close budget gaps," Melissa Maynard of Stateline.org reports. "State parks have traditionally resisted any type of commercialization, says Phillip McKnelly, the association’s executive director, and the interest in pursuing corporate partnerships is a relatively new phenomenon driven by the severity of funding crises in state park systems."

In Georgia Verizon Wireless will sponsor the annual Boy Scouts volunteering in state parks by providing "funding for tools and supplies as the scouts perform service projects around the state," Maynard writes. In exchange, the park service will recognize Verizon in publicity materials and on the Georgia Department of Natural Resources website. "Every interstate has these huge brown signs that tell you ‘Red Top Mountain State Park,’" department Commissioner Chris Clark told Maynard. "And at the bottom, we'd love to have 'Chick Fil-A,' or whatever else, as a simple way of marketing."

Clark told Maynard he hopes the sponsorships may eventually allow the department to improve services like wireless Internet service and expand its programming. Many park advocates say the turn to corporate sponsorship is welcomed if it keeps parks opens and as long as it's done tastefully. "There is general agreement that people don't want to see a NASCAR approach to branding the parks," Andy Fleming, executive director of Friends of Georgia State Parks, told Maynard. "Everybody understands that there's a line that we don't want to cross, in terms of compromising the naturalness of the experience. But the reality is that there's a big gap between the amount of funding and the needs of the system." (Read more)