Post by L Roebuck on Nov 7, 2005 11:43:43 GMT -5
Arizona's ace in the hole
Popular Kartchner caves pay bills for other parks
LARRY COPENHAVER
Tucson Citizen
Cattle ranching is big business around the town of Benson, a short drive southeast of Tucson, but the largest cash cow may belong to the state.
It's called Kartchner Caverns State Park. The park was opened in 1999 after a decade of meticulous development.
From the get-go, the underground wonder of passages and rooms was popular. Visitors waited for weeks for reservations and gladly laid down their cash for a chance to tour the cave, ranked among the top 10 in the world.
That's lucky for all state park visitors.
Just last year, the park's 200,000 visitors pumped nearly $750,000 into the Arizona State Parks system.
It was one of only three of Arizona's 27 state parks to generate enough revenue to pay for its own operation and have money left over, said Ken Travous, the park's executive director.
Lake Havasu and Slide Rock state parks added about $114,500 and $249,000, respectively, to the park budget.
"We are not in the business to make money," said Ellen Bilbrey, spokeswoman for the department. Arizona State Parks' mission is to provide preservation for historical places and recreation to Arizonans.
The department has a role in bringing tourists to the state, a revenue boon for many.
"But historic parks generally don't get the number of people coming in to break even," Travous explained.
For example, Yuma Territorial Prison State Park hosted 57,000 visitors last year but came up $82,000 short of enough money to pay all its bills. Tucson's Catalina State Park had 125,000 visitors but was $1,900 short of breaking even.
"Kartchner is funding many of the other parks. It has been a tremendous financial and experiential conservation success," Travous said.
Without making money on attractions such as Kartchner, the system would have much less to offer visitors, especially in the past three years following deep cuts by the Legislature in park funding.
The state contribution to operating state parks went from $8.6 million to $2.3 million, he said.
"Our budget just got the heart cut out of it," he said. In the process, the entire capital budget was eliminated. And that's causing a big hurt on many parks.
"The argument we are making right now is that the only reason that we have been able to increase our revenues over the years was because we were making capital investments," Travous said. "A good example is Kartchner. Had we not be able to put the money into Kartchner, we wouldn't be seeing the returns on that.
"There are other places that need those kinds of capital investments, such things as increasing the electrical service into campgrounds, building boat ramps, increasing the number of campgrounds," he said. "We need to make those kinds of investments to keep the revenue growing."
There are other places that just need repair, he said. "We don't have the capital money to put in there, like some of the historical buildings that are just starting to fall apart.
"All we want to do is get that money restored back to the budget to where we were three years ago," he said. "We have just submitted our budget to the Governor's Office."
Meanwhile, the only funds available are Heritage Funds generated from the lottery. They go for major repairs.
"But there is no money for repairing the McFarland Court House (at McFarland State Historic Park in Florence) that has a big crack running down one side or the porch down at San Rafael (State Park south of Patagonia)."
Another example is the house at Natural Bridge State Park near Payson, Travous said. "We could rent it to raise revenue, but it's on a septic tank, and a very limited number of people a month are allowed into the house unless state parks puts in a small sewage-treatment plant.
"If we could get the capital money to put in the sewage-treatment plant, then we could open up the house full time, and it would pay for itself."
It was always expected that Kartchner would more than pay for itself eventually. During the decade of development at Kartchner, $34 million was spent, and that was available because other parks' budgets were cut to fund the development.
"We built a $34 million park without using any tax money from the general fund," Travous said. "We used revenues from other parks ... and the idea was that when Kartchner opened, we could use the money from Kartchner to help those other parks."
If you go:
Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week. Closed on Christmas. Half days on Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.
Admission: Big Room tours are $22.95 for ages 14 and older, $12.95 for ages 7 to 13. Children 6 and younger are not permitted because of safety concerns. Rotunda and Throne Room tours cost $18.95 for 14 and older, $9.95 for 7 to 13, and are free for children 6 and younger.
Parking: $5 entrance fee to the park, which is waived if visitors have paid reservations.
Reservations: Suggested, though some walk-up tickets are available for the Rotunda and Throne Room. Walk-up tickets are not available for Big Room Tours.
Time and distance: Big Room Tour is one-half mile and takes about one hour and 45 minutes. The Rotunda and Throne Room Tour is one-half mile and takes 90 minutes.
Size: Less than half the known passages and rooms are available to visitors.
More information or reservations: (520) 586-2283 and www.azstateparks.com
What’s inside:
One of the world's longest soda straw stalactites – 21 feet 2 inches long (Throne Room)
The tallest and most massive column in Arizona, Kubla Khan, 58 feet tall (Throne Room)
World’s most extensive formation of brushite moonmilk (Big Room)
The first reported occurrence of “turnip” shields (Big Room)
The first cave occurrence of “birdsnest” needle quartz formations
Many other unusual formations such as shields, totems, helictites and rimstone dams
Visitorship:
Year* Visitors
2000 120,337
2001 119,115
2002 193,180
2003 186,816
2004** 203,378
2005 198,374
*Fiscal year, begins July 1 and ends June 30
**The Big Room opened in November 2003
Tucson Citizen
www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/local/110705ace
Popular Kartchner caves pay bills for other parks
LARRY COPENHAVER
Tucson Citizen
Cattle ranching is big business around the town of Benson, a short drive southeast of Tucson, but the largest cash cow may belong to the state.
It's called Kartchner Caverns State Park. The park was opened in 1999 after a decade of meticulous development.
From the get-go, the underground wonder of passages and rooms was popular. Visitors waited for weeks for reservations and gladly laid down their cash for a chance to tour the cave, ranked among the top 10 in the world.
That's lucky for all state park visitors.
Just last year, the park's 200,000 visitors pumped nearly $750,000 into the Arizona State Parks system.
It was one of only three of Arizona's 27 state parks to generate enough revenue to pay for its own operation and have money left over, said Ken Travous, the park's executive director.
Lake Havasu and Slide Rock state parks added about $114,500 and $249,000, respectively, to the park budget.
"We are not in the business to make money," said Ellen Bilbrey, spokeswoman for the department. Arizona State Parks' mission is to provide preservation for historical places and recreation to Arizonans.
The department has a role in bringing tourists to the state, a revenue boon for many.
"But historic parks generally don't get the number of people coming in to break even," Travous explained.
For example, Yuma Territorial Prison State Park hosted 57,000 visitors last year but came up $82,000 short of enough money to pay all its bills. Tucson's Catalina State Park had 125,000 visitors but was $1,900 short of breaking even.
"Kartchner is funding many of the other parks. It has been a tremendous financial and experiential conservation success," Travous said.
Without making money on attractions such as Kartchner, the system would have much less to offer visitors, especially in the past three years following deep cuts by the Legislature in park funding.
The state contribution to operating state parks went from $8.6 million to $2.3 million, he said.
"Our budget just got the heart cut out of it," he said. In the process, the entire capital budget was eliminated. And that's causing a big hurt on many parks.
"The argument we are making right now is that the only reason that we have been able to increase our revenues over the years was because we were making capital investments," Travous said. "A good example is Kartchner. Had we not be able to put the money into Kartchner, we wouldn't be seeing the returns on that.
"There are other places that need those kinds of capital investments, such things as increasing the electrical service into campgrounds, building boat ramps, increasing the number of campgrounds," he said. "We need to make those kinds of investments to keep the revenue growing."
There are other places that just need repair, he said. "We don't have the capital money to put in there, like some of the historical buildings that are just starting to fall apart.
"All we want to do is get that money restored back to the budget to where we were three years ago," he said. "We have just submitted our budget to the Governor's Office."
Meanwhile, the only funds available are Heritage Funds generated from the lottery. They go for major repairs.
"But there is no money for repairing the McFarland Court House (at McFarland State Historic Park in Florence) that has a big crack running down one side or the porch down at San Rafael (State Park south of Patagonia)."
Another example is the house at Natural Bridge State Park near Payson, Travous said. "We could rent it to raise revenue, but it's on a septic tank, and a very limited number of people a month are allowed into the house unless state parks puts in a small sewage-treatment plant.
"If we could get the capital money to put in the sewage-treatment plant, then we could open up the house full time, and it would pay for itself."
It was always expected that Kartchner would more than pay for itself eventually. During the decade of development at Kartchner, $34 million was spent, and that was available because other parks' budgets were cut to fund the development.
"We built a $34 million park without using any tax money from the general fund," Travous said. "We used revenues from other parks ... and the idea was that when Kartchner opened, we could use the money from Kartchner to help those other parks."
If you go:
Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week. Closed on Christmas. Half days on Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.
Admission: Big Room tours are $22.95 for ages 14 and older, $12.95 for ages 7 to 13. Children 6 and younger are not permitted because of safety concerns. Rotunda and Throne Room tours cost $18.95 for 14 and older, $9.95 for 7 to 13, and are free for children 6 and younger.
Parking: $5 entrance fee to the park, which is waived if visitors have paid reservations.
Reservations: Suggested, though some walk-up tickets are available for the Rotunda and Throne Room. Walk-up tickets are not available for Big Room Tours.
Time and distance: Big Room Tour is one-half mile and takes about one hour and 45 minutes. The Rotunda and Throne Room Tour is one-half mile and takes 90 minutes.
Size: Less than half the known passages and rooms are available to visitors.
More information or reservations: (520) 586-2283 and www.azstateparks.com
What’s inside:
One of the world's longest soda straw stalactites – 21 feet 2 inches long (Throne Room)
The tallest and most massive column in Arizona, Kubla Khan, 58 feet tall (Throne Room)
World’s most extensive formation of brushite moonmilk (Big Room)
The first reported occurrence of “turnip” shields (Big Room)
The first cave occurrence of “birdsnest” needle quartz formations
Many other unusual formations such as shields, totems, helictites and rimstone dams
Visitorship:
Year* Visitors
2000 120,337
2001 119,115
2002 193,180
2003 186,816
2004** 203,378
2005 198,374
*Fiscal year, begins July 1 and ends June 30
**The Big Room opened in November 2003
Tucson Citizen
www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/local/110705ace