How to resolve AdBlock issue? California State Parks and the California State Library have announced a three-year pilot program that introduces the California State Library Parks Pass.
As part of the effort, which kicked off earlier this month during National Library Week, California State Parks is distributing the California State Library Parks Pass to public libraries across the state for checkout by library patrons.
“Spending time in nature is crucial to our mental health and well-being,” said First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom. “With the California State Library Parks Pass, anyone with a library card will be able to unlock the benefits and beauty of our majestic state parks.”
The new pass will allow free vehicle day use entry at more than 200 participating state park units.
That includes Clear Lake State Park in Kelseyville and Anderson Marsh State Historic Park in Lower Lake, and Robert Louis Stevenson State Park, which straddles the Lake and Napa County border, south of Middletown.
“Libraries are trusted community hubs where Californians know they can find what they need to work, play, and thrive,” said California State Librarian Greg Lucas. “This partnership with State Parks now allows Californians to ‘check out’ California’s great outdoors at their community library.”
State officials said the goal of the program is to bring together the largest state park system in the nation with California’s public libraries to reduce barriers to park access and help more Californians explore the outdoors and generate positive impacts in the area of health, natural resource stewardship, and historical and cultural connections.
“Parks and libraries have the potential to be powerful symbols and agents for California’s open spaces,” said California State Parks Director Armando Quintero.
Starting this month, each library jurisdiction will receive at least three California State Library Parks Pass hangtags per branch for checkout by library patrons, including mobile libraries.
Park passes will enter circulation on a rolling basis throughout April and May for checkout by library patrons; library users can contact their local library for more information. Library-card holders will be able to check out the pass for the allotted number of days allowed by the local library, then return the pass to the library for others to use.
The pass is valid for entry of one passenger vehicle with capacity of nine people or less or one highway licensed motorcycle at participating state park units.
Lake County Librarian Christopher Veach said it’s an exciting new program for the state.
“We have received three passes from the state so far and are working to make them available to Lake County Library card holders only since there are so few,” Veach said.
He said the passes will be assigned one each to Lakeport, Middletown and Redbud Library.
“According to an email from the state, we expect to receive at least 11 more by the end of the month which will be distributed between all four branches. The state library decided how many to send to each Library system by population,” Veach added.
State officials said libraries are already an important part of Californians’ lives.
There are 1,184 public library buildings in California, and more than 23 million Californians have library cards.
In 2019-2020, California’s libraries circulated over 97 million items free of charge, such as books, technology, Wi-Fi hotspots, videos, music, instruments, tools, telescopes and more.
Additionally, California’s libraries hosted over 300,000 programs in 2019-2020, with almost 7.5 million people attending.
The Lake County Library’s facilities include those in Lakeport, Middletown and Redbud Library, and in Upper Lake.
Veach has worked hard to expand the offerings of the Lake County Library system, providing resources, programs and online training, and staying connected with the community despite the pandemic.
Veach said there are 26,640 active Lake County library cards registered. The county’s overall population is around 65,000.
Lake County Library card holders can view and request the California State Library Parks Pass on the library catalog here.
The California State Library will be providing grant funding to libraries for outdoor-related items for checkout, programs that teach natural resource stewardship and outdoor skills, or to encourage their library patrons to enjoy the outdoors and make historical and cultural connections to parks.
The 2021-22 State Budget included initiatives to advance equitable access to state parks and open spaces for all Californians.
A $9.1 million one-time General Fund investment was included in the budget to launch a state parks pilot to expand parks pass distribution, especially for youth in disadvantaged communities.
The pilot includes the California State Park Adventure Pass program that provides free day-use passes for fourth graders and their families, the revamped Golden Bear Pass Program and the California State Library Parks Pass.
Detailed information on the new California State Library Parks Program, including full terms and conditions, is available online at www.CheckOutCAStateParks.com. For more information on all the new parks pass programs, visit www.parks.ca.gov/CaliforniaOutdoorsForAll.
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