Egmont Key, 18 Other State Parks Get Reprieve

Egmont Key and 18 other parks the state threatened to close in a cost-cutting move will remain open, a member of Gov. Charlie Crist's policy team said Thursday.

Crist has decided to use money in state environmental trust funds to keep the parks open until the current economic crisis is over, said John Mitchell, environmental coordinator for the governor's Office of Policy and Budget.

The governor also wants to raise entrance fees to state parks. The two actions are not related, Mitchell said, although the fee increase is slated to help reduce the state budget deficit - the same reason the state Department of Environmental Protection proposed closing the parks.

"He's decided independently, as a matter of policy, he didn't want to close the parks," Mitchell told lawmakers in the state House Natural Resources Appropriations Committee.

The environmental agency proposed closing the parks last year in response to Crist's request for all departments to cut spending 10 percent. The closures would have saved about $1.9 million annually.

It costs the department about $140,000 a year to provide full-time ranger protection at Egmont Key State Park, located on an island southwest of Fort DeSoto State Park. Supporters say if the rangers were removed, the park would once again become a party island.

"If he closed them, the money to rehab them after they had been left unattended would have been astronomical," said Jan Platt, a board member of the Egmont Key Alliance and a former Hillsborough County commissioner. "So he was basically saving money in the long run by keeping them open and protecting precious gems like Egmont Key."

The island has one of the most important bird colonies in the United States and is home to threatened gopher tortoises. Visitors can also enjoy historical artifacts, including a lighthouse built in 1858.