Parks in Ogle officially closed

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OREGON - All the barricades aren't up, but two of Ogle County's scenic state parks are closed. "The parks were officially closed at the close of business Sunday," said Chris McCloud, communications manager for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. McCloud had no idea how long Lowden and Castle Rock state parks near Oregon, along with five others in the state, will remain shuttered. "That's out of the DNR's hands," he said Monday. "Until new revenue is identified, I suppose the sites will remain closed. It's not the DNR's responsibility to come up with new revenue - that's up to legislators." At Lowden Monday morning, an orange-and-white barricade blocked the road to the Black Hawk Statue, the park's main attraction. Lowden's main road remained open to allow access to Northern Illinois University's Lorado Taft Field Campus, which is within the park. At Castle Rock, no barricades were up at the entrance, but the road into the park was plowed only as far as the office. A parking lot to the boat docks along the Rock River was blocked by newly fallen snow. It remained unplowed. McCloud said getting the barricades up will take some time. "It's not going to be instantaneous. It's going to take a couple of days," he said. He said the closing plans will vary from park to park. At Castle Rock, six access parking areas off state Route 2 will remain open. That includes the parking lot at the boat dock and at the Castle Rock overlook area. At Lowden, the road to the Taft field Campus will stay open with other portions of the park blocked off. Otherwise, all activities and programs at the parks are canceled indefinitely. Restrooms, shower facilities and concession stands are to be closed, winterized and secured. Hunting at both parks has been eliminated as of Dec. 1. Deer hunters who purchased site specific permits were notified of their options 3 weeks to a month ago, McCloud said. "They have been offered a refund or they can apply to hunt at an alternate site," he said. At least one staff member will remain at each park for "basic security and maintenance," according to information released by McCloud. Illinois Conservation officers routinely will patrol each site as well. Security protocols will be established with the IDNR's Office of Law Enforcement, Illinois State Police and local law enforcement agencies, an information sheet said. McCloud said revenue and expense information for each park is not readily available. "Each park doesn't have it's own budget," he said. "No state park makes money." He said some vendors at parks do make a profit. A portion of what they make goes to the IDNR. Camping fees are not high enough, even with a recent increase, to pay for the camping program at the state parks, he said. "The cost of electricity and water keeps going up," he said. "Until we raised camping fees, we were losing $900,000 a year on camping." Closed parks A dozen Illinois state historic sites and seven state parks closed Sunday as part of budget cuts made by Gov. Rod Blagojevich to help close a $2 billion budget deficit. Among those closing: • Castle Rock State Park, Oregon • Lowden State Park, Oregon • Illini State Park, Marseilles • Dana-Thomas House, Springfield • State center at Bishop Hill, Henry County • Carl Sandburg birthplace, Galesburg • Jubilee College, near Peoria • Apple River Fort, Elizabeth Source: Blagojevich administration