Rally at Oak Mountain State Park on Saturday

The Alabama State Parks Partners coalition is hosting rallies at three parks around the state, including Oak Mountain State Park, on Saturday, Sept. 12.

The rallies are an opportunity for those who love the parks to gather to learn about the dire funding crisis, hear from park and community leaders and understand how citizens can help impact Alabama’s state parks. Rallies are being held at Oak Mountain State Park at 1:30 p.m. and at Monte Sano State Park in Huntsville (10 a.m.) and Chewacla State Park in Auburn (5 p.m.).

State parks across Alabama could be forced to close their gates if the Alabama Legislature fails to pass a budget that provides level funding to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources during this special session.

Alabama State Parks Partners are a coalition of businesses, organizations, non-profits and park user groups that have an interest in seeing the parks system flourish. The coalition came together earlier this year with a goal to support the parks and their communities by bringing park supporters around the state together. As the special session gets underway, the coalition encourages all citizens who appreciate the state parks system to contact their legislators, let them know why the parks are important to them and tell them DCNR and our parks cannot afford another year of transfers – they must be level funded.