From WIVB Channel 4 in Buffalo:
No nuptials at Niagara Falls? Jones Beach off limits on a 90-degree day? The “Grand Canyon of the East” devoid of campers?
New York’s state parks system, the nation’s oldest, is facing another round of funding cuts that is likely to result in the first budget-related closures in the system’s 125-year history.
State officials say even popular parks at Niagara Falls and Jones Beach, with attendance figures in the millions, could be closed, along with such destinations as Letchworth, a popular hiking and camping spot ringing the rugged Genesee Gorge south of Rochester.
“It’s going to be pretty bad. As bad as I’ve ever seen it,” said Robin Dropkin, executive director of Parks & Trails New York, a 25-year-old nonprofit advocacy group.