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Environment BLOG |
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May 2008
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The Inland region's top state parks official is being recognized with a special award this afternoon in Sacramento by Ruth Coleman, the state parks director. Gary Watts has been superintendent of the Inland Empire District for as long as I can remember, but that actually turns out to be for the past 10.5 years. His district includes the wildly popular Lake Perris State Recreation Area, Chino Hills State Park, and one of my personal favorites, Mount San Jacinto State Park.  The Press-Enterprise/Siliva Flores Gary Watts, state park's superintendent for the Inland Empire District, walks past a water irrigation system used to spur the growth of willow trees that have been left high and dry due to the lowered water level in Lake Perris. File photo from Dec. 12, 2006. Coleman said in a statement that the annual awards being given today are to recognize a few folks in her department "who day in and day out go well beyond their job requirements." Watts is specifically the recipient of The Hill Award for Inspiration, named for Andrew P. Hill, who inspired and led a long campaign to create California's first redwood park at Big Basin in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Down here, in the I.E., Watt's tenure included the creation of two fledgling state parks, Wildwood Canyon and San Timoteo Canyon, with the help of local environmental groups that included the Riverside Land Conservancy. I reached Watts on his cell phone, and he told me he was very surprised by the announcement, though very honored. Coleman came down to the I.E. recently to spend time with Watts and his staff and attended their chili cook-off at California Citrus State Historic Park. The park in Riverside was among the 48 tagged for closure under the governor's original budget proposal, but that changed last week under a revised budget. Watts said he often reminds his staff that "people actually come to us because they want to, they're happy. It's not like the DMV or the dentist. Whether it's camping, fishing or hiking, they're coming for a good time and they generally go away with good feelings." "I tell them to relish that opportunity when you interact with the public. The way you deal with them can make or break their experience." While speaking with Gary via cell phone, I was reminded of an eerie moment we shared in 2003 after the Old Fire. While accompanying him and Coleman on a tour of the fire damage at Silverwood Lake State Recreation Area in the San Bernardino Mountains when he excused himself. He returned about 20 minutes later to say they had found the body of the man who apparenlty tried to walk home along the smoke-filled mountain highway to get back to his home in Crestline. As for Watts, he said, he's been committed to the I.E. parks, whether it's fighting against development that would impact them, or get funding for them. They are often over looked, he says, because "we're not the redwoods, or Anza-Borrego desert or a coastal beach." "But," he said, "they still mean a lot to a lot of people." Cheers to that. |
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