Just in time for the Independence Day holiday weekend, North Coast state parks are reopening for guests.
Sonoma County area parks were shut down eight months ago because of budget problems. Visitor centers, parking lots, campgrounds, beaches and restrooms that have been closed since Nov. 1 will be back in business.
Linda Rath, superintendent of the Russian River sector, told the Press Democrat, that she had never experienced such a closure in her 25-year career.
State workers have been getting ready for visitors by cleaning, mowing and weeding. Fort Ross State Historical Park, one of the most popular Sonoma County state parks, will be open seven days a week. Since the cost-cutting measure, the park had been only open three days a week.
All campgrounds in Mendocino County are back open.
Rath said everything will be back to how it was a year ago.
Park officials are hoping Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger keeps his promise to restore the park budget to the the levels they were in 2008-2009.
