When Bob McDonnell wanted to tout his commitment to land conservation last year, the Republican gubernatorial candidate singled out Mason Neck as part of “the Virginia I will preserve and protect as governor.”
Less than a year after his Earth Day statement, the new governor is proposing to close the southeastern Fairfax County park as a cost-cutting measure to close a $4 billion shortfall.
Mason Neck, a wooded peninsula known for its bald eagle sightings, is one of five state parks that would be shuttered under McDonnell’s budget plan, which must be approved by the legislature. The plan has angered parks advocates who say the comparatively meager savings — $500,000 a year altogether — aren’t worth closing valuable community attractions.
“It’s a travesty to be considering doing this for any of those five parks,” said Johnny Finch, president of the Virginia Association for Parks, who said the facilities generate more than $5 million a year for state and local economies.
Virginia runs 35 state parks. When identifying which ones to close, the Department of Conservation and Recreation looked at attendance and revenue, as well as geography, spokesman Gary Waugh said. The potential closures are spread across the state, and each is close to another park, he said.
Leesylvania State Park sits across the Occoquan Bay from Mason Neck.
Mason Neck is “an area of the county that people love and enjoy,” said Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Sharon Bulova. “For it to be closed off would be a real tragedy.”
The parks could be closed as early as July 1 if the plan survives the budget process.
