Your donations aid local State Parks

Among the most cherished things about living in our area is the wealth of California state parks on the San Mateo County Coastside. Whether at the beach or mountains, each park offers something uniquely beautiful. However, it’s no secret that our Coastside state parks are continuously battling slim budgets. They do an amazing job with the resources they have, but when needs arise beyond the scope of their limited budget, getting funding can be glacially slow, if it comes at all.

That’s where the Coastside State Parks Association comes in (coastsidestateparks.org).

Have you seen the staircase at the north access of Montara State Beach? It has been a hazard for years. Our local rangers asked for help and we recently committed more than $50,000 to fund the engineering and design work for a new staircase.

The truck that the rangers use for the beloved Junior Guard program is on its last legs. Waiting for the state to provide a new one would take an extraordinarily long time. They came to CSPA for help, and, just last month, we committed $75,000 for a fully equipped service truck to be used for both Junior Guards and Ranger patrol.

Do you love the Pigeon Point Lighthouse? We do too! That’s why we have partnered with the Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park for years to help move the more than $18 million restoration project forward and are excited to say that shovels will break ground in 2023! Yes, the first-order Fresnel lens will one day return to its proper place at the top of the tower.

If you’ve ever donated to the Coastside State Parks Association, you are part of the reason these and many more local park projects get done. If you haven’t, there is a perfect opportunity coming on Thursday, May 4, when the entire Coastside will rally around our nonprofits, and those with the means can give to the causes they care most about. We invite you to visit the Coastside Gives website and learn how you can help CSPA.

Bill Murray

Montara

Editor’s note: In addition to being a past publisher of this newspaper, Murray is president of the Coastside State Parks Association.