State may close park gates, but it won't keep me out

Logic gives you what you need. Passion gives you what you crave. In the end, it's passion that feeds your dreams or part of you dies.

When it comes to logic, it makes financial sense to keep all state parks open. Last year, state parks had 79.6 user visits that generated $2.6 billion in spending during those trips. For every dollar the state put into parks, it generated $2.35 in tax revenue.

Yet in his last-minute line-item budget cuts, Gov. Schwarzenegger slashed general fund money to state parks. That cut is equal to only one quarter of 1 percent of the state's $24.3 billion budget deficit, yet could close 100 parks starting in September.

When it comes to passion, I'll tell you this: Nobody is going to keep me out of the state parks. A lot of people feel exactly the same. We share one thing in common. We have spots in parks where we know "The Power of Place," where we are free of all cares. These spots make us whole.

One of these places for me is in the interior of Big Basin Redwoods State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains, at the brink of Silver Falls in Berry Creek Canyon. You can touch the water as it flows past and watch it sail over the cliff, then turn to your right and take in the lower cascade of Golden Falls, flowing like a giant golden water slide.

Big Basin Redwoods is one of the parks that probably will be on the list of park closures because loses money on offseason weekdays. But when the waterfalls flow in Berry Creek Canyon, I'm going. They can close Big Basin headquarters, gate the road and parking lots, put up no parking signs and have helicopter surveillance, but I'll go. I know the woods better than they do, and I defy them to catch me.

It's also my belief that the state's residents already own these parks, and we don't need somebody's OK to use what already belongs to us, within rules designed to prevent damage, of course.

Some time after Labor Day, the first closures will start. That is when the flow of user-fee money from day-use and camping always slows, especially on weekdays. The best estimates are 100 parks will get locked up this fall, possibly 25 in the Bay Area, and a lot more next year.

Parks avoiding closure will be those with OHV use and boat ramps, which are self-funding, and parks where local groups, and county or national park units step forward to help fund and run them.

The conflict will spark when the gates are locked and "park closed" signs go up, and people go anyway. You don't suddenly tell millions of people they can't go for a hike at their favorite parks.

Case closed: A boating accident at Clear Lake two years ago that led to the death of a passenger and attracted the attention of boaters across the state was put to a close this past week when a Lake County jury acquitted the driver of a sailboat of two charges and deadlocked on a third.

Bismarck Dinius of Carmichael was at the tiller of a friend's sailboat running at night when a speedboat running at more than 40 mph plowed over the top, killing a woman who was aboard the sailboat. The driver of the speedboat, an off-duty sheriff, claimed Dinius was operating the sailboat without its running lights on as required at night. The defense, however, presented expert witnesses that testified that the sailboats running lights were on.

A Lake County jury found Dinius not guilty of felony boating under the influence causing great bodily injury and a misdemeanor count of boating under the influence. The jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of not guilty on a charge that he was boating with a blood alcohol level more than 0.08.

The operator of the speedboat, Russell Perdock, faced no charges.

Seeing, believing: An 1890 photograph, where a stuffed black mountain lion (or something like it) is sitting on a balcony in the background, was passed along by John Hibble of Aptos. The photo is from a building located in what is now Forest of Nisene Marks State Park. It could be a jaguar, but Hibble believes it is a black mountain lion.

Sightings: Two mountain lions were spotted at 100 yards along with a few deer carcasses at a ranch near Tomales in Marin County, reported Michael Hart in Marshall. ... A large bobcat emerged on the Rim Trail near Stevens Creek Reservoir near Monta Vista, in full view for Thom Riley. ... Nelle Chapman of San Leandro saw a wild turkey on he shoreline trail at Lake Chabot.

Stunning: The sight of 400 big trees, probably about 600 in all, cut down last week near the pet cemetery in the Presidio as part of the Doyle Drive project in San Francisco is a shock for those who didn't know it was coming.