All We Want for Christmas is our New State Parks

Public Comment Meetings Next Week on Missouri’s Three Newest Parks

Missouri is home to one of finest state park systems in America. And just last year, the citizens of our state overwhelmingly declared support for our state parks with 80 percent of voters casting their ballot in favor of renewing the Parks, Soil and Water Sales Tax. Every county in Missouri voted in favor of renewing the tax. Yet, the unthinkable is “on the table,” with the potential sale of three new state parks.

Missouri State Parks is hosting public meetings to provide information and seek comment on the future of three of our newly acquired parks—Ozark Mountain, Bryant Creek, and Jay Nixon State Parks—during the first week of December. Eleven Point State Park is tied up in a lawsuit filed by people trying to block the park from happening, so there is no meeting scheduled as of yet.

These meetings are your opportunity to have your voice heard. While it may be mindboggling to all of us who treasure our natural resources, there are people who would like the state to sell the new parks. We must have a strong show of force from parks supporters to prove anti-park and anti-public lands people are an extreme minority.

Public Meeting Schedule:

Ozark Mountain State Park
Monday, Dec. 4, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Dewey Short Visitor Center
4500 State Highway 165, Branson, MO  65616

Bryant Creek State Park
Tuesday, Dec. 5, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Ava Community Center
108 Northeast 2nd Ave., Ava, MO 65608

Jay Nixon State Park
Thursday, Dec. 7, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park
148 Taum Sauk Trail, Middlebrook, MO 63656

The public will also have an opportunity to submit comments about the three properties on the Missouri State Parks website from Dec. 4 – Jan. 5, 2018 at mostateparks.com.