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Budget Cuts Target Connecticut State Parks

Doug Kerr
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Creative Commons
Lovers Leap State Park in New Milford, Connecticut.
Credit Pattie Belle Hastings / Creative Commons
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Creative Commons
Hammonasset Beach State Park

Connecticut's energy and environmental commissioner says budget cuts proposed by Governor Dannel Malloy could lead to reduced hiring, closing bathrooms at some state parks, and restricting trash collection.

Rob Klee, commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, told The New Haven Register that visitors to state parks this summer will see a difference in service.

Malloy has ordered $2 million in cuts to the state parks system.

Klee said the agency's goal is that if amenities or hours are cut at one park, another nearby park will have a full range of services.

Eric Hammerling, executive director of the Connecticut Forest and Park Association, said the environmental agency could use twice as many staffers to accommodate 8 million visitors a year, more than twice Connecticut's population.

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