Blog Stage Three

This commentary is about the budget cuts that have occurred on our state parks. The editor is stating just how much the state parks are a part of our natural heritage, as well as our daily lives. Only a few years ago the Texas Legislature cut the Texas Parks and Wildlife budget by $113 million. Over 100 rangers and wildlife staff were laid off and each park was neglected in one way or another, some parks even stopped building due to lack of funds. Oddly enough, our sports sales tax is supposed to be allocated to keep the parks well maintained, but of course, the Legislature has used those funds for other resources. The end result, if things don't change soon, parks will begin to close for good. The intended audience is most likely anyone that enjoys the great outdoors, and can't imagine our state without them. This message is straight forward, you understand that this is a bad thing, if you care about parks at least. This is not a subject that many people take the time to listen about, and it is easy to see how you can feel useless to the cause. We are in such a large state that if we tried to gauge just how much help our state parks need, we would definitely be overwhelmed. I think that the author needed to be a little more pushy in the text, asking others to wake up and take control of the possibilities that could save our parks of Texas. This article had statistics and evidence that support their claim that this never had to happen. There are a few state officials that are fighting to correct this money train arriving at the wrong station, but apparently nothing has made a difference. I am an Environmental major and I see the benefits of our state parks. Some days I wonder why money drives us more than our own well being.


http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/commentary/article/Budget-cuts-bad-for-state-parks-4279870.php