La Purisima Mission State Historic Park is likely to be closed, perhaps for two years, said Rich Rozzelle, supervisor of the state parks Channel Coast district.
Rozzelle said Friday there is "a high likelihood" that the mission, as well as Painted Cave State Historic Park and Point Sal State Beach, will be on a statewide closure list of 50 to 100 parks because of the state budget crisis.
He doesn't know when that might happen, but he expects to hear confirmation and details by Tuesday from the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
"We won't close the mission until my staff is laid off or relocated," he said. That process could delay the closing of the busy historical park for six months or even a year, he said.
Two weeks ago, Rozzelle said he hoped to be able to create community partners to keep the mission open. But that hasn't happened because city and county governments are in the same budgetary hole that state parks are.
"It's strictly a business decision. I have to protect the revenue. We can't close parks that generate revenue. La Purisima generates the least among the parks in my district," he said.
Some docents said they had hoped to keep the mission open a few days a week, but cuts for parks - estimated at $553,000 districtwide - are likely to be too substantial to do that, Rozzelle said.
"The bite is pretty deep into the apple," he said.
Theresa Armas, supervising ranger at the mission, said many questions about the closure remain unanswered, such as whether to fence the mission. There would likely be a "hard closure" and a "soft closure" employed - a hard closure to protect the mission and other historic buildings and a soft closure for the outlying grounds and trails, she said.
A full-time caretaker would protect the buildings, but less attention would be paid to the outer grounds, she said. The grounds would be posted, but the state would still be liable for hikers and others who trespass on the property, she said.
Members of the mission's docent organization, Prelado de los Tesoros, and his own staff have struggled with the news, Rozzelle said.
"It's kind of like dealing with death," he said. "Some people are in denial, some are in acceptance."
"I guess we all were hoping it (closure) wouldn't happen. We've been threatened with it several times and it never came to pass," said Ginny McKee, chairwoman of Prelado de los Tesoros. "It certainly looks very grim."
She noted that there is a push underway to add a surcharge to vehicle registration fees to raise an estimated $270 million earmarked for California parks.
Jack Forrest, 92, of Santa Maria, who has been a La Purisima Mission docent for 24 years, said the park has never closed during his time there.
"We had a few times when we had some rough times, but I don't remember ever closing it. We never had this big problem with the budget," he said.
"It's just a sad deal that we have such a treasure in our back yard and we can't find a way to keep it open," he said.
Dee Lonnon, a docent since 1991, said docents, past and present, as well as others who have supported the mission, are stunned.
"We're devastated. We are just so devastated. It's not just the docents that are there, it's the people who were there before us. It's the hours that have been put in by so many people. It's the work on the visitors center. It's all the money that has been given to us to be able to do this. It's sad."
The community at large will lose access to the hiking and horseback trails, she said.
"It's something we've always had in our back yards, so to speak," Lonnon said. "It's just wonderful to go up on the trails in the morning or late in the day, whenever you want to go. We're going to lose all that."
McKee said the docents, who have a contract with state parks, are unsure of their legal status and uncertain whether they could risk their nonprofit status if they continue to raise money for the mission after it closes.
"We're very concerned about protecting the adobe buildings, the artifacts, our new $400,000 exhibit hall - it's only been open since April, which is kind of disheartening," McKee said. "We don't want to give up. We just need an angel to come with $700,000, and in this economy it doesn't look hopeful."
Area ranchers have agreed to take the mission animals, including nine sheep, three horses, three burros, a steer, two pigs, an ox and chicken and turkeys.
McKee said the docents, who own the animals, have set aside money to help with feed, at least initially. She said it would be unsafe to leave them on the grounds.
Marie Schlueter, a mission docent for 22 years who travels from San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara to teach third-graders about the Chumash Indians and fourth-graders about California missions, said that education now will be lost.
"Young children think of the average Indian as war whooping, tomahawking Indians. This was not that Indian at all," she said. "The Chumash were very intelligent. They were the only ones in the Northern Hemisphere who built a plank canoe and went all the way to the (Channel) islands."
Schlueter said she will miss the mission animals, too.
"I'm the burro lady, and my three burros are going to have to go down to Santa Barbara. The lady who gave me the last two ... said she will take all three of them."
She also described how the mission ox loves for her to comb his coat.
"He'll come up to me and turn his side to me. I curry one side and if I'm not fast enough, he'll turn around and give me his other side. They're just big ol' babies," she said.
Schlueter said she fears that if the mission is closed, its glory days will be lost forever.
"The thing that breaks my heart is they could close a park at the beach, they could close a park in the mountains. They could come back in a few years and it would be there," Schlueter said. "If they close this thing, they are never going to get it back. It is never going to be what it is now.
"It's just heartbreaking."
August 29, 2009
