Issue 108 Campground

Lakeview RV Park on Boone Lake in Bluff City, TN been named Campground of the Year 2010 - 2011 by the Tennessee Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds.

The award is given in recognition of member accomplishments in

campground operations, marketing, management, and industry unity.

Lakeview is a 151 site year-round, full-service campground. Worley and Beth Fain are owners of Lakeview RV Park. The campground property has been in

Worley's family since 1839.

Lakeview offers fullhookup camping, 20/30/50 amp electric, wide roads for easy site access, clean private bathrooms, fishing, a salt water pool, a grill, a campground store, a Continued Page 2

Continued from Page 1 laundry, free WiFi, cable TV, free coffee, horse shoes, a playground, a pet playground and boat rental.

Amenities like propane, the Lakeview Grill, boat rental and swimming are available for area community members.

Paula Huddleston, Lakeview manager, states

her goal is to have an atmosphere where campers are treated like family.

She is dedicated to having campers feel that Lakeview is their Home Away From Home.

3.5 million Families have lost their homes to foreclosure in 2009 according the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), "Q2 2009 National Delinquency Survey". MBA Chief Economist Jay Brinkmann predicts that mortgage delinquencies to peak in mid-2010 and that foreclosure to peak at the end of 2010.

A new report released by First Focus reveals that an estimated 2 million children will be directly impacted by the subprime mortgage crisis as their families lose their homes due to foreclosures. These numbers do not include the

thousands of families that are evicted from their rental units or living in campgrounds in the summer months and then moving in with relatives Continued

Continued during the school year.

The cost to children is not just expressed in dollars and cents, but in emotional distress that will stay with them for a lifetime. These children demonstrate more behavior issues and lack the means to regular health care.

With the homeless population growing due to the increasing number of foreclosures, schools across the country are experiencing increases in the number of homeless children entering their classrooms. These children often have to move regularly thus disrupting their school experience. This leads to poor reading and math skills and continued academic struggles.

The costs to schools is also increasing, The McKinny-Vento Act is the federal legislation that deals with the education of children who are homeless. It provides for transportation of homeless children to the school where they were regularly attending and makes the public schools responsible for the costs involved. In addition, the students are provided with free and reduced breakfast and lunch through another federal program for the poor.

Public schools will be responsible for picking up the pieces for homeless children. Providing them a safe, clean, environment where they can learn and grow despite the turmoil they experience outside of the school day.

Campgrounds are encouraged to log on to our new facebook page to keep abreast of the happenings of our new consumer magazine- GetawayUSA. The magazine has reached out to 66 million public email addresses.

constant re-investment in improvements, they’ve managed to build a loyal following of campers from Philadelphia to New York City and throughout the Northeast who come back every summer to see what’s new.

“I’ve been going there for over 40 years,” said Bill Mihala of Bethlehem, Penn., adding that he frequently takes his wife, children and grandchildren to the campground.

LITTLE EGG HARBOR, N.J., July 29, 2010 – In the past half century, the Baker family has seen many changes in Ocean County’s business community.

Here and in communities across the country, independently owned and operated restaurants, hardware stores, clothing stores, pharmacies and other businesses have increasingly been either forced out of business, acquired or replaced by corporate chains.

But not Baker’s Acres. The 45-year-old pine- and laurel-covered campground in Little Egg Harbor is still family owned and operated and, thanks to the Baker family’s oldfashioned hospitality and

Bakers Acres is owned and operated by secondand third-generation members of the Baker family, including Jack and Maureen Baker, and their adult children, Monica, Johnny and Jason, who continue to update the campground with modern creature comforts.

In the past two years, in fact, the Baker family has invested roughly $80,000 to add cable TV and Wi-Fi services for their guests, along with upgraded water and electricity connections, including new connections for tent sites where people did without such amenities in years past.

“If families can’t have the amenities they have at home, they often don’t want to come,” said

Anne Baker campground co-owner Maureen Baker, noting that the needs of today’s campers are vastly different than those of campers from 30 or 40 years ago, who thrived on a rustic camping experience.

And while some of Baker’s Acres’ newest amenities may seem out of step with an old-fashioned “camping” experience, the Bakers have found that it is precisely these kinds of improvements that keep people coming back year after year. “We have a lot of business that comes by word of mouth from our campers,” Maureen Baker said, “And a lot of our guests like to see what’s new and different each year.”

“We get more and more trailers every year,” Jason Baker said. “They get bigger and they draw more electric. Fifth wheels are kind of exploding.”

Monica Baker-Frazer said she and other family members constantly communicate with their guests to find out what the campground should do next in terms of improvements. “We have surveys, emails and questionnaires, but most importantly we talk face-toface with them all of the time. We appreciate their feedback, ideas, and criticisms, whatever they have to offer. We also encourage our employees to get to know our campers on a more personal level,” she said.

Baker’s Acres also provides a growing array of activities to keep its guests entertained, including arts and crafts classes, pajama parties, ice cream socials, treasure hunts, hayrides for adults and kids and crab races with live crabs. The campground has also developed a busy calendar Continued

Continued of special events, which take place throughout the summer.

Father’s Day weekend activities included a Father’s Day breakfast, a Father’s Day themed movie, “Daddy-lympic” Games, with prizes for the fastest diaper change and the fastest runner with a beer, as well the campground’s third annual “Chowda Head Cookoff and Clambake.” Recent special event weekends includes a Las Vegas themed weekend that included a magician, a Chinese auction and a casino in which families can use tickets and tokens to compete for various prizes. Dixieland jazz concerts, carnival games, a pig roast, a spaghetti dinner and Karaoke weekend are also planned later this summer.

Bakers Acres also offers three cabins and two park model cottages for families who don’t have their own RV or to accommodate family reunions.

All of this, of course, is a far cry from the rustic campground that John “Reds” and Anne Baker created when they bought 43 acres of undeveloped land in 1965 with the idea of creating a family campground.

In those days, John worked a day job at a Bass River State Forest campground and fire tower, while Anne worked for a clothing retailer. The husband and wife team

lived on site with their children in a house they built themselves. They often worked together with chainsaws, cutting campsites in the dense pine- and laurel-covered land.

“My dad would come home from working all day at Bass River and then start working on the campground,” Jack Baker recalled, adding, “Many times, he would pull his truck around and shine his headlights into the forest so he could work building campsites late into the night.”

John “Reds” Baker also worked as a volunteer fire fighter, and developed close friendships with several of the other volunteers. “They helped him dig his own well. They also built a bathhouse and a septic system. We didn’t have much money. So we’d get our friends and family together and work as a team,” Jack Baker said.

came together and worked together to fill his shoes,” Jack Baker said, adding that the memories of his father and raising his children on the campground make it impossible to even consider selling the business to a corporate chain or anyone else.

“Every piece of this campground has a memory. We’ve had many offers to sell, but I couldn’t possibly part with it because there is so much sentimental value here.”

But in 1977, just 12 years after founding Bakers Acres, John “Reds” Baker and three other volunteer firefighters lost their lives while battling a forest fire.

His death was a tremendous loss for the Baker family, but it had the effect of making the other Baker family members even more committed to the campground and to each other.

That sentimental value is shared by Jack’s children, Monica, Johnny and Jason, who grew up learning that families should work as a team.

“I remember one day when we were fighting my Dad gave us each a stick and asked us to break them, which we did easily,” Monica Baker-Frazer recalled. “Then he bundled three sticks together and asked us to try breaking them again. We couldn’t.

And that was his point. If we stuck together, we would be much stronger. It seems kind of cliché now.

But it’s true.”

“When my Dad died, we

Even to this day, with the

work the family has invested, the campground is a part of them.

Consequently, even younger generation could not imagine selling the business.

“I don’t think (selling) was ever an option in our minds,” Monica BakerFrazer said. “The campground is kind of a living thing. We love it. So, to get rid of its heritage would be painful for us to do. It’s not something we can sell off to the highest bidder. The campground itself is part of our family.

And the majority of people who stay with us are family to us. And we want to give them the best experience we can.”

Jack Baker has a similar perspective. “The most rewarding thing for us,” he said, “is when we see longtime campers coming back with their kids and grandkids.”

His son, Johnny Baker, agrees. “Growing up here, I’ve had more friends in the campground than in any of my years in school,” he said, adding, “It’s a great feeling when you see a 2year-old camper, and see them again at 13.”

In many ways, Randy Packard has an enviable life. He lives in a place other people spend money to just visit for a few days.

country. All of this means numerous separate inspections throughout the year along with reams of paperwork.

Tall pines line a peaceful lake in central Massachusetts and nearby sits an inviting heated pool.

“We’re used to smiling at people and saying, ‘Welcome,’ ” Packard said good-naturedly.

It could hardly get better, that is until the ice cream delivery man calls to say he’s going on vacation for two weeks during the hottest month of the year, a 10th of the staff calls in sick and the paperwork stacks up.

This work is on top of helping hundreds of campers move into their tents, RVs and cabins, while hundreds move out every week.

It’s one thing to visit paradise. It’s another to own it.

Packard’s family has been running Pine Acres Resort in Oakham for half a century. While the product is pure fun, it is still a business. There are payrolls to meet, taxes to be paid and a long list of regulations to follow.

Those regulations are the hardest part, Packard said.

The campground, which includes a small store, is regulated by several state agencies and local boards.

In addition, there are the national groups that Packard has joined to get the campground on lists distributed around the

Also to be managed is a staff of about 40 in the summer, 10 of whom stay year round.

This is a job that Packard didn’t want initially. He grew up in the campground watching his parents build it up from a handful of sites to dozens.

Packard left for the real estate business.

He reconsidered his decision when then the recession of the 1980s hit.

“That’s when I realized that there’s another way of making a living that might be more enjoyable,” Packard said.

He took over the park and almost immediately made improvements. He added more sites, paved the roads and put the utilities underground.

CAMPING OUT: Tessa Wisnewski, daughter of Pine Acres Resort owner Randy Packard, left the corporate world to come back into the family business in Oakham, Mass.

Eventually, he built the swimming pool and then later added a splash pad for the children and installed Wi-Fi. All of this was done slowly despite the temptation to get it all done at once.

Packard said he wanted to maintain his cash flow without having a big commitment to a bank.

“I’ve seen other parks that got themselves into trouble,” he said. “They tried to grow too quickly.”

While other families have left the business, the Packards are planning to be here for a while.

There are more improvements coming and Packard’s daughter, Tessa Wisnewski, recently

left the corporate world to join the family business.

She had always wanted to, but felt it was important to get outside experience first.

“It’s nice to have a different perspective,” Wisnewski said.

Still, she’s happy to be back at camp, even though she spends much of her time working on the books.

“You are always moving throughout the park and I can incorporate my accounting background with getting to do all these other things,” she said.

By Jennifer Heldt Powell / Small Business Matters. www.bostonherald.com

GALVESTON — City tourism officials are planning to develop a 44slip RV park at Seawolf Park, home to naval exhibits and a regular fishing spot for generations of islanders and visiting anglers.

The park board wants to develop the RV park on a little more than 4 unused acres left of the entrance and just west of the parking lot, officials said.

An RV park wouldn’t take away any of the nearly 250 parking spaces at Seawolf Park, nor will it interfere with fishing or the naval exhibitions, Lou Muller, executive director of the park board, said.

But an RV park would generate revenue for the park board, Muller said.

Each year, thousands of people visit Seawolf Park, the site of a quarantine station where decades ago thousands of immigrants first arrived on U.S. soil.

Seawolf Park is on the eastern point of Pelican

Island. Among the tourist attractions at the park are World War II submarine USS Cavalla and destroyer escort USS Stewart. But probably the biggest attraction is the good inshore and bay fishing. An RV park would allow some anglers to stay overnight, Muller said.

The planning commission will consider the park board’s request to rezone the land needed for the RV park from heavy industrial to planned development.

The park board wants to capture tourism dollars from the growing number of retirees who have hit the road in their RVs. RV owners are good for island tourism, Muller said.

“They buy provisions at local stores and visit attractions while they’re here,” Muller said. “RVing is growing, even in a tough economy, it’s still thriving.”

Full Article: www.galvnews.com Photo by Jennifer Reynolds

VENTURA, Calif. -- Affinity Group Inc., (AGI) has released its second-quarter financial report showing the firm posted a loss, according to information filed with the US Securities Exchange Commission.

The company reported revenues of $131.1 million for the second quarter of

MCINTOSH, Ala. -- Eleven gambling machines were confiscated when authorities raided a Washington County RV park, Sheriff Richard Stringer said today.

Authorities also found a gambling table, a case and a half of playing cards, poker chips and $243 in cash, during the 7:30 p.m. search of a recreation building inside the RV park on Patricia Lane, about four miles west of McIntosh, Stringer said.

The machines confiscated were not electronic bingo, according to the sheriff.

"The only thing I know to tell you is it's just an electronic gambling machine that you find in a casino," Stringer said.

2010 increased by $1.2 million, or 0.9 percent, from the comparable period in 2009.

For a full report click herehttp://www.sec.gov/Archives /edgar/data/1322646/00011 0465910044349/a1012958_110q.htm

Roulette and craps could be played at the gambling table, according to the sheriff.

The owner of the RV park, Kirk Clayton Reid, 41, was charged with possession of a gambling device and promoting gambling, Stringer said.

Inside the gambling room, Stringer added, a sign on the wall announced that anyone who hit a jackpot on a machine should call Reid for a payout, and listed his phone number.

Stringer said the raid was independent of recent statewide raids of electronic bingo halls. http://blog.al.com

Kids tossed balloons, families challenged each other to ladder ball games, and friends raced to fill gallon jugs with water…..all games to be played while camping.

In the meantime, fairgoers swarmed through the Slingshot RV donated by CrossRoads RV & Happy Daze RV Sales.

Visitors to the display shared their most memorable camping experiences or talked about their upcoming trips.

Many people asked for resources on camping information. Passersby snapped their heads as they caught a view of the racks of camping guides and turned around to pick one up.

Park owners, Bill & Karann Milligan of Rancho Los Coches RV Park, Dana & Brian Busch of Canyon RV Park, Aaron Funk of Klamath RV Park & and Esther and Janine Osborne of Marble Quarry RV Park

worked tirelessly throughout the day sharing their passion about camping. Others came for a day: James Urquhart, Larayne Jeffries from Angles Camp RV & Camping Resort, Meaghan & Rebecca Bertram of The Vineyard RV Park, Liz Johnson & her managers from Kit Fox RV Park.

Colleagues shared stories about their parks and operations with each other and created lasting friendships.

Camper Rick was in his element running the games, giving away free camping certificates (the most popular prizes) sharing the value of camping and making family memories.

Did we encourage Californians to camp? Did we get kids excited and asking their parents to take them camping? Did we remind families about the benefits of a camping vacation? You bet we did….in spades!

Pictured center are winners Mike & Gary Spiller of Tehachapi holding the keys to their new trailer. To Gary’s left is President of CrossRoads RV, Mark Lucas and General Sales Manager of Happy Daze RV, Ronnie Raddigan.

Kathy Borchard & family of Woodland winning $1000 cash.

Diana Legro and her family were thrilled to win a one week El Monte Rental Vacation.

Occasionally here at Campground & RV Park E News we get feedback on what articles are being distributed via the e news.

Feedback is important as it provides valuable information as to the type of articles you, the reader, would prefer to see.

In the main we focus on the positive aspects of the industry taking a risk of not reporting the real facts. We feel positive news breeds positive pro-active thoughts.

Campground owners are encouraged to provide the happenings at their parks and network the information to other owners so everyone benefits from any new idea, promotions and cost saving concepts.

The bad news reported within these pages are designed to create awareness to the owners and managers of how accidents can happen and

perhaps keep the issue reported "top of mind" at their respective campground.

The intent is to avoid any litigation that may arise from an accident by being aware of potential problems.

State Associations are also encouraged to use these pages to convey information to their members and also create awareness on a national level.

The internet is a very valuable and cost effective tool to communicate your message so please send in any relevant information and we will get the message across.

Articles should be sent to the editor at: admin@industryenews.com

New Berlin, PA – “It might be purely for selfish reasons that we’ve chosen to produce a virtual show.” says Art Lieberman, whose Virtual Outdoor Hospitality Expo will be on the Internet November 1st through 3rd of this year. “We wanted a venue where our primary business, MCPS for Campgrounds, could see thousands of potential customers.

A virtual show was ideal considering the economy, the hassles of travel and shipping and the time spent on preparation” “Having produced LIVE trade shows in the past, there were restrictions placed upon any entity which desired to bring buyer and supplier together.

Cost was the primary factor. Cost for the venue, the show dresser and the speakers at conferences.

A virtual show eliminates many of these for the onetime cost of software rental” More importantly, these costs must be recuperated from exhibitors and attendees alike”, explains Lieberman “who additionally must bear the expenses of travel, hotels, food, shipping, drayage and even car rental.”

“But.” says Lieberman. “with all the virtues of savings that can be experienced at a virtual

convention, they cannot wholly replace the trade shows and conferences conducted by associations and media. They should be used in addition to them.”

MCPS has already registered to attend ARVC’S InSites convention which will be held a month after the virtual Expo. Additionally, the company will be attending the Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Northeast and the Leisure Systems shows held between October and March of 2011.

“We cannot lose direct contact with the Campground Industry and only real trade shows can give us that advantage.”

“Nevertheless we are proud that the following excellent organizations have decided to be part of our Virtual Expo. What follows is a current list of exhibitors who have registered to date.

Midwest Electric Products RV Tripsetter Media Sponsors Campground & RV Park E News Parks & Rec & Ask Turf Woodall’s Campground Management TRADE ASSOCIATIONS Camping In Ontario Carolinas Association of RV Campgrounds (CARVC) Iowa Campground Association Minnesota Resort & Campground Association New Jersey Campground Owners Association

SPONSORS

EXHIBITORS

Gold Sponsors Best Parks In America CheckBoxSystems David Gorin Associates Leisure Interactive Merchants' Choice Payment Solutions Pelland Advertising Evergreen USA

AGS Athens Park Homes Best Holiday Trav-L-Park Association CA World Wi-Fi Inc Campground Automation Campground Manager Campground Manager Today Campground Master Clean Up America, Inc. Commercial Recreation Specialists

Silver Sponsors Leavitt Recreation & Hospitality Insurance

Earth, Sun, Moon Trading Company Epic Outdoor Entertainment GO USA Camping Gerber Manufacturing Guest Reviews//MacKinnon Campground Consultants Hobby Express King Supply Company LCN Outdoors Leisure Systems Lodging Kit Company National School of RV Park and Campground Management Pinnacle Park Homes, Inc. RV Cooking Show/Roadabode Productions TengoInternet Trailer Life & Good Sam Clubs Woodalls Xcell International Corporation Information about the Virtual Outdoor Hospitality Expo can be found at their website at www.outdoorhospitalityexpo.com

or by calling them at 877901-EXPO (3976)

Many Ohio State Park accomodations are offering WiFi services as a convenience to overnight visitors.

More often, many seek to "stay connected" even while on recreational visits with family and friends.

WiFi access is a vital amenity to many travelers today and locations which offer the access are in high demand.

Obviously, many of Ohio’s state parks are in rural areas without access to broadband internet connections, but theOhio Department of Natural Resources and the Divison of Parks are making efforts to offer WiFI service to visitors whenever possible.

Free, high speed, Wifi internet access is currently offered at 6 Ohio State Park campgrounds.

The developer behind a Gull Lake RV project believes the project will overcome criticism that it is too big from some area residents.

those questions because there weren’t a whole lot of them,” he said.

Co-developer Lance Dzaman said since it was first proposed several years ago, the Sandy Point RV Resort has been scaled down from 3,125 lots to 1,125. A third stage of development, which could have seen about 600 lots added in a future phase to bring full build-out to 1,750, has been dropped.

Besides reducing the number of lots, the developers have concentrated the RV lots in two areas of the site, instead of spreading them around the sides of an interior golf course, as was first envisioned.

“It’s almost two-thirds smaller, 60 per cent smaller,” he said.

As the project now stands, only 170 acres of the 568acre site will be used for RVs.

Also, one of two marinas has also been eliminated from plans to address neighbourhood concerns about overcrowding.

When first proposed, many of concerns from area residents centred around protecting the lake environment and disposing of sewage properly.

That did not seem to be a big issue at the recent public hearing, which drew about half the crowd of earlier meetings, he said.

“I think we answered all

“Now they are concerned the population is too big.”

Doing that means more land can be left in its natural state.

The rest will be left for the golf course and green space or will be protected as various reserves.

There will also be a 250- to 300-metre buffer between the lake and the nearest RVs. “That leaves a vast amount of green area and common area,” he said.

Dzaman is confident there is public support for the project.

Continued

“Any kind of public recreation is desperately needed in this area,” he said.

“And more along the lines of affordable recreation.

When you’ve got milliondollar lots on the lake, it’s pretty tough for everybody to afford those.”

The project next goes to Lacombe County for second reading. The

earliest that could happen is Sept. 16.

quality and quantity, were also on the minds of some, he said.

what we’re going to do next week, let alone 20 or 30 years down the road.

County Reeve Terry Engen said the size issue was “certainly the theme of the evening. A lot of people spoke and said they were certainly not against development but the sheer size of the numbers involved there was of great concern to them.”

Engen said he has not come to any conclusion on whether the project is too big.

“You know, personally, I can’t even really comment on that. I always have a little bit of an issue with planning exercises that look out 50 years.

“Size wise, who knows if it’s too big.”

Water issues, both the

“I’m not sure we know

CRYSTAL COVE STATE PARK — From a distance, or at least a bird's-eye view, the construction crews are barely visible as they work under the shroud of a thick marine layer.

between Laguna Beach and Newport Beach.

They're laying the infrastructure, building the restrooms and the lifeguard headquarters, and pouring the concrete to what could very well be one of Southern California's last coastal state park campgrounds.

"This could be the last campgrounds we ever build," said Lewis, referring to the California State Parks system.

It's all happening in Crystal Cove State Park along both sides of Coast Highway. The 2,400-acre gem combining coastal bluffs and wild backcountry is located

Park Supt. Todd Lewis said he hopes to have the 60 campsites up and running by the 2011 Labor Day holiday weekend.

"There's just not that much land available anymore in Southern California. And it's not every day that you're able to get approval from the California Coastal Commission."

Full Article: www.dailypilot.com

Even if the project gets council’s approval to move forward, it may never reach its lot targets, he said.

Article: www.albertalocalnews.com

Interested in enhancing your business management principles and practices, learning a wide range of operational concepts from peers and seasoned instructors, and immersing yourself in curriculum that will impact your business for years to come?

The 2011 National School of RV Park & Campground Management will be held February 22-27, 2011 at the beautiful Oglebay Resort in Wheeling, West

Virginia and is now open for early enrollment.

With only 90 first-year student slots, interested parties are encouraged to register right away.

For details on the 2011 schedule of events, instructors, scholarship opportunities, and a wealth of other information visit http://campgroundschool.org.

September 14-15: NCA Great Escape, Danforth Bay Camping Resort, Freedom, New Hampshire. For more information contact Dianne Battles at 603-539-2069 or info@danforthbay.com

November 4-7: 47th Annual CONY Conference and Trade Show, Syracuse, New York. For more information contact Donald G. Bennett at 585586-4360 or Don@nycampgrounds.com

October 18-20: Virginia Campground Association, American Heritage RV Park, Williamsburg, Virginia.

For more information contact David Gorin at 703-448-6863 or tovca@aol.com October 19-20: Ohio Campground Owners Association (OCOA) Fall Fun Day & POOT, Cherry Valley Lodge, Newark, Ohio. For more information contact Kristy Smith at 614-221-7748

December 1-3: InSites Convention and Outdoor Hospitality Expo, Rio All Suites Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada. For more information visit www.arvc.org December 6-8: PCOA Conference, Wyndam, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. For more information contact Beverly Gruber at 610-767-5026 or info@pacamping.com

SUMMIT COUNTY — Shifting demographics and an uncertain state budget future are two of the key challenges state park planners face as they update their strategic plan, and they want some public input to help shape the final version of a draft that was posted for review.

“It’s important that staff, general public, and our visitors have a common understanding of where Colorado State Parks is headed. This is our roadmap for the future,” said Scott Babcock, planning manager for the parks agency. “Comments from the public are invaluable as we move into the last phase of the strategic planning process.

Additional feedback will help us finalize the plan to ensure that it broadly reflects needs and values of Coloradans.”

Colorado State Parks administers 42 sites across the state, hosting about 12 million visits annually. About half of all Colorado residents visit state parks “regularly,” and 90 percent of park visitors are state resident.

The park system’s looming budget challenges are very real.

State officials will have to consider another round of

budget cuts in the coming fiscal year, and funding for parks could be on the chopping block.

State park officials are developing a separate comprehensive financial plan that will identify both cuts and increased fees to generate the revenue needed to operate and maintain the state’s farflung parks.

The state parks budget comes from several sources, including Great Outdoors Colorado, the Colorado lottery, state and federal grants and from the state’s general fund.

Under direction from the legislature, the park system has already taken steps to reduce its dependence on general fund revenues and to move toward covering costs with fees.

“We may get there sooner than we thought we would,” said Colorado State Parks spokesperson Deb Frazier.

One of the problems is, the money from the different sources can’t be used interchangeably, For example, GOCO money can generally only be used for acquisitions, and not for operational costs.

Thanks to the diversity of

funding sources, Colorado State Parks have so far managed to avoid the crisis shut-down mode of state park systems in Arizona and especially California.

one of things that got the California system in trouble.

But Colorado State Parks is also starting to build a substantial backlog of deferred maintenance —

California voters will be asked in November to approve a ballot measure that would cover the state parks budget with an $18 tag-on auto registration fee; admission to parks would be free.

Pinnacle Park Homes Inc. reports a 74% increase in park model and cabin sales with the introduction of three new floor plans designed for campground owners.

Campground owners are very surprised at the income they are missing out on when we show them just how profitable offering rental cabins can be says sales manager, Andy Davis.

Each of these new floor plans is attractively priced and is geared toward allowing campground owners to increase their current rental income immediately.

In some cases currently unused ground can earn over $11,000 a year in additional revenue.

They also allow those campgrounds that are new to offering cabin rentals an affordable way to enter the growing rental cabin market. These cabins come complete with all the necessities including: bed(s), kitchen, bathroom, porch, heat and A/C, this make entering the rental cabin market simple and affordable.

So if you want to increase your rental income or want to add cabins for the first time, Pinnacle Park Homes has three new floor plans for you to consider.

You can reach them at 866574-5159 or visit them on the web at www.pinnacleparkhomes.com

By Larry ahead of arrival there will be traffic jams on the evacuation routes.

Then there are wildfires.

The end of summer heading towards fall is the sneakiest time of year. We bask in the warm weather, the flowers, and the sunsets. All seems well with the world. With your campers and RVers this is as it should be. But not with whoever is in charge.

This is when there needs to be monitoring and preparedness for environmental hazards in all directions. Beyond monitoring and giving adequate warnings there is little anyone can do to prevent what happens from happening. Vigilance, warnings, first aid and information, therefore, become critical.

For starters there are hurricanes and tropical storms.

If your premises are near the Gulf Coast or the oceans figure the necessary lead time for your people to be alerted.

The lead time is not based on when the storm is predicted to arrive but on how many hours or days

This is near the peak of fire season. Long before there may be danger from actual fires there will be danger from smoke inhalation, something especially dangerous for the elderly and anyone with lung conditions.

Let’s not forget about ticks, spiders, snakes, lightning, wind and flash flooding from thunderstorms that become enormous with the hot air of summer.

Remember also to be alert for ozone, haze, and smog on those calm sultry days.

Unlike the other seasons, this transitional time of year requires monitoring and warning for almost everything: air quality, storm protection, rodent and pest control, pollution, traffic jams, hurricanes, wildfires and ragweed all at the same time.

So: pay attention to the weather reports, the news, health alerts and public safety announcements. Be vigilant for environmental happenings arriving by air, land and sea!