On sunny weekends Moran State Park is a flutter of activity with colorful tents filling campsites, families hiking and cyclists huffing and puffing their way up to Mt. Constituation.

While on the surface the park looks picture perfect, underneath it continues to suffer financially.

And last weekend, instead of playing in the sun, islanders turned out in force at the Eastsound Fire Hall on June 9 to talk about the situation.

“The meeting was awesome and amazing because so many people showed their concern for the parks on a pretty day to talk about strategies and the park system in general,” said presenter Daniel Farber of Washington State Parks.

The core of the meeting, hosted by Friends of Moran, was to discuss whether state park systems should operate more like an enterprise-based hospitality industry, a public conservation asset  or a nonprofit. These types of meetings are important, said Farber, because of the significant changes in the way parks are financed.  In years past the parks had substantial help from the state’s general tax fund, but the latest budget crunches have left parks with potentially zero financial help from that resource.

Michel Vekved of Friends of Moran State Park said islanders are concerned that taking this funding away entirely is like taking the state park, which is an asset, away from the people.

Some islanders thought that a nonprofit alternative was not sustainable, Vekved added, while others pointed out that some nonprofits are successful.

“We heard that the public does not want privatization and is very concerned about big business taking over parks. The majority of feedback was to keep parks funded with general funds,” Vekved said. “We also heard that the public needs to be vocal to the Legislature to keep state parks funded.”

Vekved said the solution will probably be a combination of operating the park as an enterprise, conservation asset and nonprofit.

When some audience members began pointing fingers at the park’s commissioners for not standing up for state parks, Vekved  recalled Rodger Schmidt, WSPRC commissioner saying the governor and Legislature have been asked for continued general fund support, and will likely be asked again.

At the end of the meeting, Vekved said some people walked away frustrated because the presentation didn’t provide solutions to the funding gaps.

Farber walked away with hope – he was  inspired by the Friends of Moran and the Friends of Lime Kiln on San Juan Island.

“They are taking an enormous load off of the parks’ depleted staff,” he said.

Statewide volunteers and organizations are helping many parks function, but he said some are doing more than others. Moran is one of the best, Farber said. But he is aware that state parks certainly have a tough road ahead.

“We have lost some parks already, some parks have been taken back by Corps of Engineers, there will probably be more of that and we’ll have a smaller park system but the parks aren’t going to go away – they are too great and too important,” he said. “And if you love the parks advocate for them.”

For more info, visit http://friendsofmoran.com/ or http://www.parks.wa.gov/.