L.A.-area state parks could be shut down under new budget

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At least five state parks in the Los Angeles area, including Pio Pico State Historic Park in Whittier and Los Encinos State Historic Park in Encino, are under consideration for closure as part of an effort to offset budget reductions, officials say.

Located about 45 miles apart, Pio Pico and Los Encinos are regarded as “sister parks” because each features 19th century adobe structures surrounded by more than five acres of manicured lawns, vineyards and shady sycamore, oak and ash trees.

They also provide thousands of visitors each year — many of them schoolchildren — with an opportunity to learn about the history and culture of California during the times of such historic figures as Pio de Jesus Pico IV, the last governor of “Mexican” California.

“I don’t think the gravity of this situation has sunken in yet with a lot of people,” Sean Woods, superintendent of the Los Angeles sector of the state parks system, said Wednesday. “But the day of reckoning has arrived.”

Read the full story by Louis Sahagun here.