/ Modified nov 29, 2011 1:46 p.m.

Oracle State Park Reopening After Two-Year Closure

Park near Tucson gets funding help from non-profit group

Oracle State Park in the northern foothills of the Catalina Mountains was closed two years ago because of deep budget cuts to the park system. But a group called Friends of Oracle State Park is providing enough money to re-open the park part-time next year.


Renee Bahl, the departing director of Arizona State Parks, says the partnership between the group and the state agency is part of a larger effort to make the park system more self-sustaining.

Oracle State Park will re-open for three months in spring of 2012, and again for three months in the fall. Weekdays will be reserved for field trips for schoolchildren.

The park encompasses 4,000 acres of oak woodland and desert grassland.

It and several other state parks closed in October of 2009 after state lawmakers slashed the park system’s operating budget. The other parks have since re-opened on abbreviated schedules.



By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona