As JFAC prepares to set a sharply reduced state budget for the Department of Parks & Recreation for next year, Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, is calling on parks supporters to buy $35 annual entrance passes to state parks. "I think everybody needs to buy a pass," Jaquet said, during JFAC's 7 a.m. workshop meeting this morning. "There are only 12,000 passes that have been sold, so if all the people that send us emails would buy passes, I think that would really help the bottom line." Lawmakers have been swamped with emails supporting state parks, as the state moves toward a new "business plan" for the parks that involves cutting 25 positions and slashing $5.8 million in state general-fund support. Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Post Falls, said he's received at least 100 emails over the past week.

Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, who's among a group of JFAC members including Jaquet who worked on the budget, said, "I think it's a great idea. If people truly want to keep their parks up and running, if they buy an annual pass it would give them an infusion of cash right away." The budget plan, Broadsword noted, follows "the agreement between the director and the governor" to trim state funding at parks, a move that in part relies on draining some parks fund balances to get the agency through next year, but is aimed at keeping all state parks open. "They are going to be short of staff, they are going to be right at the breaking point, but that's happening across state government as a whole due to this economy," Broadsword said.

The $35 Annual State Park Passport allows a vehicle to enter any of Idaho's state parks, as many times as the driver wishes, during the calendar year without paying the $5 day-use fee. A passport for a second vehicle in the same family is just $5. Passports can be purchased at any Idaho state park, at regional parks offices in Boise, Idaho Falls and Coeur d'Alene, or by calling (208) 334-4199.