These lands confer important benefits through protecting air and water quality, providing habitat for wildlife, and recreational opportunities for over 70 million residents and tourists a year. This bill would protect the natural areas embraced by California's world-renowned parks by requiring that the Secretary of Resources must be consulted and criteria met if a road is to be constructed through a state park. Construction of roads through our parks is not an appropriate use of these lands California dedicated these lands for recreational and wildlife purposes. Road construction will ultimately be more costly to the state, due to the ongoing mitigation and maintenance that will be required. There are alternatives to placing a new road through a park.
Highway construction can occur outside park boundaries.
Once a park is destroyed, it is destroyed forever. As California's population grows and increases the pressure on our transportation systems, more and more parks will be threatened by new roads. We must draw the line now and choose to preserve our parks. The State of California has an obligation to its citizens to preserve and maintain the quality of California's environment for future generations. This bill is now being considered by the Senate Floor.