Visitors, volunteers, staff bid adieu to Tonto Natural Bridge park
Photos Available (thumbnails, captions below)
By ALYSON ZEPEDA
Cronkite News Service
PAYSON (Thursday, Feb. 26) _ Leo Budd has been coming to Tonto Natural Bridge since 1971, long before this site became a state park. When he learned it was closing, he rushed here from his Payson home.
“It’s definitely a sad event,” Budd said. “I bring all of my out-of-town visitors here to see this.”
As of Thursday, Arizona State Parks closed Tonto Natural Bridge State Park and Jerome State Historic Park. The agency, grappling with budget cuts, said the parks, as well McFarland State Historic Park in Florence, which already was shut down for repairs, are in dire need of repairs.
A steady trickle of visitors took their last chance _ at least for now _ to view Tonto Natural Bridge on Thursday, some seeing it for the first time and others bidding farewell after years of dropping by.
“It’s sad that they have to close it,” said Tina Beebe of Pontiac, Ill., visiting for the first time with her husband, Pete.
At 183 feet high and more than 400 feet long, Tonto Natural Bridge, located about 10 miles north of Payson, is believed to be the largest natural travertine bridge in the world. Once owned by a family that ran a guest ranch on the site, it opened as a state park in 1991.
Around 45 volunteers, some of whom have made caring for the park the focus of their retirement, have been told that their services are no longer needed because it’s a liability to have them on the grounds unsupervised.
Peter Brotz, along with his wife Deborah, a longtime park patron, arrived Thursday to return his uniform and name tag and say goodbye to the park that he has been tending once a week for the last three and a half years.
“I’m concerned with how bad the grounds will get,” he said.
Deborah Brotz said she will miss the camaraderie as well as the potlucks and barbecues that came with helping out around the park.
“I am very teary-eyed right now,” she said.
The park’s facilities, especially the historic lodge, needed repairs for years. Ellen Bilbrey, public information officer with Arizona State Parks, said the park will receive about $600,000 in work during the closure thanks to money from the Heritage Fund.
When the three parks will reopen _ and whether Arizona State Parks might have to close more parks due to budget cuts _ depends on funding, which remained uncertain.
On Thursday, the House gave preliminary approval to a bill sponsored by Rep. Warde Nichols, R-Chandler, that would reallocate state money to keep parks open. Because it would draw money from the Growing Smarter Fund voters created in 1998 to conserve land, the bill would require a three-quarters vote from each chamber to pass.
In the meantime, Payson Mayor Kenny Evans said he will make his voice heard by state lawmakers. In a telephone interview, Evans said Payson, Strawberry and Pine stand to lose a combined $3.5 million a year generated by the park, which attracted about 88,000 visitors last year.
“I’m worried that the impact of closing it even for a relatively short time will have a long economic tail,” he said, noting that it could take some time for visitors to return in numbers after the park reopens.
Debbie Kroll, owner of the Pine Deli in nearby Pine, said that closing the park means losing a place that she was proud to show visitors.
“We loved having it,” she said. “We used to get a slew of people on weekend and we used to send people there who were looking for something to do.”
Rangers who manage the park are being assigned to other facilities, as is Assistant Park Manager Steve Soroka, who began working and living here only months after Tonto Natural Bridge opened as a state park.
“I not quite sure where I’m going to be,” Soroka said. “I feel more at home here than anywhere else in the state.”
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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-STATE PARKS: Leo Budd of Payson, who has been visiting Tonto Natural Bridge for more than 30 years, pays a visit on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009, the day the state park was set to close due to state budget cuts. Arizona State Parks said Tonto Natural Bridge State Park and two other parks that are closing are sorely in need of repairs anyway, but more cuts are possible as the agency grapples with cuts in funding. (Cronkite News Service Photo/Alyson Zepeda)
CAPTION FOR BC-CNS-STATE PARKS: Vistors take in the view at Tonto Natural Bridge State Park on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009, the day the park was set to close due to state budget cuts. Arizona State Parks said Tonto Natural Bridge State Park and two other parks that are closing are sorely in need of repairs anyway, but more cuts are possible as the agency grapples with cuts in funding. (Cronkite News Service Photo/Alyson Zepeda)
CAPTION FOR BC-CNS-STATE PARKS: Tonto Natural Bridge is shown on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009, the day the park was set to close due to state budget cuts. Arizona State Parks said Tonto Natural Bridge State Park and two other parks that are closing are sorely in need of repairs anyway, but more cuts are possible as the agency grapples with cuts in funding. (Cronkite News Service Photo/Alyson Zepeda)