A Cronkite News Service Weekend Special
Camp Verde worries as state park is threatened with closure
NOTE: This story moved Thursday, Feb. 12. We recommend it for weekend use.
With BC-CNS-Fort Verde-Box and BC-CNS-Parks List
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By ANDREA WILSON
Cronkite News Service
CAMP VERDE _ Dressed in a handmade cavalry uniform, Jack Stewart gives a crisp salute to a veteran touring the adobe buildings at Fort Verde State Historical Park.
In the museum, Peggy Morris, outfitted in a prairie dress, explains to a visitor how a painting accurately depicts when Gen. George Crook commanded the fort in the late 1800s.
Other volunteers churn butter, cook hardtack and tend a garden to let visitors feel what life was like when the garrison protected settlers in the Verde Valley.
“The park and its artifacts are priceless,” said Morris, a retired widow who lives in neighboring Camp Verde. “Our hearts are really in this.”
“This place is cherished and loved,” said Stewart, who drives from Flagstaff for his volunteer duty. “I shudder to think what would happen if it was abandoned.”
A roadside display topped by a cannon bills Camp Verde as “Home of Historic Fort Verde.” But Fort Verde could soon close due to state budget cuts, a move that would sever community ties extending far beyond the park’s economic value.
Mary Taylor, chairwoman of the Camp Verde Chamber of Commerce, dropped by the park on a recent weekday to check in with the rangers. She’s among the area residents with a family connection to Fort Verde: her great-grandfather was a doctor here, something that makes the prospect of the park closing especially painful.
“It’s hard because it’s personal,” Taylor said.
Mayor Tony Gioia said losing Fort Verde would take away the main draw for downtown Camp Verde, where many businesses are designed to complement the park’s historic flavor.
“The town functions on sales tax,” Gioia said. “Now, in these economic times, tourism is especially vital.”
Arizona State Parks has recommended closing Fort Verde and seven other parks due to cuts by the Legislature. The Arizona State Parks Board declined to approve the proposal earlier this month, telling the agency to study alternatives such as reduced hours and employee furloughs before it revisits the issue Feb. 20.
Meanwhile, a bill by Rep. Warde Nichols, R-Chandler, would reallocate money to help prevent park closures. HB 2088 has won committee approval, but it would need a three-quarters vote from both chambers to pass.
Jay Zieman, assistant director of Arizona State Parks, said his agency understands how valuable parks are to their communities.
“Unfortunately our budget has been slashed to the point where closing the parks may be our only option,” Zieman said. “We are anxious to talk to anyone with alternative solutions.”
Charles Hammersley, an associate professor in Northern Arizona University’s Parks and Recreation Management Program, said the closures would be especially hard on Camp Verde because Fort Verde is the main reason people visit the town.
“State parks represent an economic engine for local communities, especially rural ones,” Hammersley said.
Founded in 1871 as Camp Verde and later renamed Fort Verde, the U.S. Army base defended settlers against raiding Tonto-Apache and Yavapai Indians and monitored a small reservation near Cottonwood before closing in 1891. It had private owners before becoming a state park in 1970.
The park drew 15,992 visitors in 2008.
Sheila Stubler, who shares the title of head ranger at Fort Verde, said the park and community have worked for each other’s benefit through the years. The park schedules special presentations timed to Camp Verde’s annual events, such as a living history presentation on Buffalo Soldiers offered at the same time as Camp Verde’s annual Wine, Pecan and Antique Festival.
The park worked with the Chamber of Commerce to develop a “Stay and Play” promotion that encouraged Fort Verde visitors to stay overnight.
“It’s a win-win situation for everybody because when the customers come up they have more than one thing they can choose to see,” Stubler said.
Despite the possibility that the park will close, Stubler said Fort Verde’s staff and volunteers continue working hard for visitors and the community.
Jill O’Brien of Phoenix found that out recently when Jack Stewart and fellow volunteer Jesse Rodrigues of Prescott greeted her party in cavalry garb and posed for photos before taking them on a tour.
“It’s a wonderful place,” O’Brien said. “It would be a shame to close it.”
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PHOTOS: Click thumbnails to see full-resolution images and download; caption information is in the file under File>File Info.
CAPTION FOR BC-CNS-FORT VERDE: Jack Stewart (left) of Flagstaff and Jesse Rodrigues of Prescott, volunteers at Fort Verde State Historic Park, dress in uniforms and show visitors how cavalry members lived with the fort was active in the late 1800s. Fort Verde is among the parks that could close due to state budget cuts. (Cronkite News Service Photo/Andrea Wilson)
CAPTION FOR BC-CNS-FORT VERDE: Peggy Morris, a volunteer at Fort Verde State Historic Park in Camp Verde, talks with a visitor about the park’s museum. Fort Verde is among the state parks that could be closed due to state budget cuts. (Cronkite News Service Photo/Andrea Wilson)
CAPTION FOR BC-CNS-FORT VERDE: These three original buildings are the heart of Fort Verde State Historic Park in Camp Verde. The park is among those that could close due to state budget cuts. (Cronkite News Service Photo/Andrea Wilson)
CAPTION FOR BC-CNS-FORT VERDE: This display marks the entrance to Camp Verde, home of Fort Verde State Historic Park. The park is among those that may close due to state budget cuts (Cronkite News Service Photo/Andrea Wilson)