The last late-season snow storm has come and gone (maybe!) and it’s time to think summer. For Badgers, that often means heading to a state park or trail. Whether that’s camping at Peninsula, biking the Elroy-Sparta trail, marveling at the deep canyons at Copper Falls or hiking the bluffs at Devil's Lake, our state parks and trails are one of the things that make Wisconsin so special.

Unfortunately, we can’t take the future of our great state park and trail system for granted anymore.

Wisconsin’s parks have long been considered among the best in the nation. Part of that success has been due to a mix of funding — visitors pay part of the cost of operation and maintenance through fees for entry, camping and trail passes. Those user fees have long been substantially supplemented by state budget support.

Unfortunately, that mix of user and public support was abruptly discontinued four years ago by former Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled Legislature, which cut all state funding for our beloved parks. The Republicans compelled the park system to be totally self-supporting, an approach that virtually no other state follows.