Nita Settina was named the first female superintendent for the Maryland Park Service last month.
The 15-year veteran with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources spoke with The Examiner aboutthe challenges facing the state parks.
State funding for parks has dropped 37 percent from 2002 to 2006. What has been the result of that?
We have a staff-to-visitor ratio of one staff person to 55,000 visitors. That?s like one person trying to serve popcorn to everyone in Orioles stadium.
We just got this $4.1 million enhancement during the special session. But unfortunately, we are under the gun, and now the Department of Legislative Services has recommended we cut new positions.
If you don?t have the people on the ground to serve the public, the facilities deteriorate, and then you have breakdowns [and] have to close the park.
People can go a state park and never see a park ranger. That invites criminal activity. When facilities deteriorate, that invites graffiti and vandalism.
Then above and beyond that, there are things we should be doing: interpretation for children, helping people discover their state parks and working with school groups.
Why do you think funding has been cut so much?
I don?t know other than to believe that budgets are tight. There are enormous worthy demands to care for society: health, education, transportation, juvenile delinquency. State government has a huge amount of its budget already mandated.
Where do you see the state of the parks in the several years?
If we get this $4.1 million special fund appropriation, I think it will stabilize us at least for the next few years. We do need to continue to look for additional funding sources. … I would love to have a trust fund, and that might be a long-term goal.
