HARRISBURG -- The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is still pondering how it will handle an $11.3 million budget cut in its park budget and hasn't ruled out shutting down state services in some parks.

When Senate Republicans approved their version of a state budget in early May, they made severe reductions in funding for state parks. The bottom line for parks in fiscal 2009-10 dropped to $50.7 million, down from $61.6 million last year.

Because the cut was so sharp, Rendell administration officials said 35 to 50 of the 117 state parks might have to be closed in July, putting a crimp in many people's summer camping and hiking plans.

At the time, Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, claimed the department was making a political bluff and scolded the department for threatening to close so many state parks. He called it "raw, political scare tactics" and said it was "unproductive and plain wrong."

Now DCNR really does face a serious need to reduce spending, because the line item for state parks in the just-enacted state budget is even less than it was in the Senate Republicans' budget bill, Senate Bill 850.

The actual 2009-10 budget, passed by both chambers and signed by Gov. Ed Rendell, provides $50.3 million for state parks, $400,000 less than the earlier version. The allocation for parks is part of this year's total department budget of $131.6 million, which is down from $158.2 million last year.

So does this mean that a lot of parks are actually going to shut down? Department spokeswoman Christina Novak said that big question hasn't been answered yet, and she isn't sure when it will be.

"I don't have a specific date when we will make a decision, but because we are already three months into the [2009-10] fiscal year, the sooner the better, as far as realizing cost savings," she said Friday.

When a park is "closed," it means that park buildings, bathrooms and offices are shut down and no maintenance is done. Visitors could still walk on park trails but there wouldn't be any rangers or other law enforcement people on patrol.

"Three-fourths of our budget is for staff, and the way we save money is by not having staff there," she said.

Even if parks aren't completely shut down, "At the very least we will have to make some service reductions, such as cleaning the bathrooms less, cutting the grass less, maintaining the trails less and have less programming," she said.

In anticipation of getting less money this year, she said the parks already had decided to offer fewer programs this fall than a year ago.

Patrick Henderson, director of the Senate's Environmental Resources & Energy Committee, said the department has access to sources of funding over and above its annual state budget allocation and shouldn't need to close any parks. He contended the threat to close parks was just "political posturing" to forestall budget cuts.

He said the department has access to $25 million from the Oil and Gas Fund, which gets payments from leasing state land for natural gas exploration. The department also will get nearly $10 million from the Environmental Stewardship Fund, which gets money from landfill tipping fees, he said; and $40 million is available to the department from bonds sold for Growing Greener, a state environmental and conservation program.

"This significantly mitigates the impact of the funding cuts contained in the budget," Mr. Henderson said.

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