That’s the good news.
The bad news is the county has spent the $2 million it received from LADWP for park and campground projects, and thus doesn’t have a ready supply of cash on hand to make more park improvements or use to match state and federal grants.
The county’s tenuous financial position also puts into question its ability to simply maintain and care for the county’s 15 parks and campgrounds (four other county campgrounds are run by concessionaires).
The Board of Supervisors recently reviewed the string of park and campground improvements completed over the past decade. At a future workshop, the board will explore what will likely have to be innovative funding options for maintenance and improvements for the parks system in the future.
In 1997, the finalization of the Inyo-L.A. Long Term Water Agreement provided Inyo County with $2 million from LADWP for parks and campgrounds. A final project at Mendenhall Park should use up all that $2 million in funding, said Chuck Hamilton, deputy county administrator.
The county has made good use of the LADWP money, he noted, and completed about 25 separate improvement projects at county facilities from Millpond north of Bishop to Tecopa, in far southeast Inyo County.

Lone Pine Park, which recently underwent a massive overhaul, has long been a community gathering place and home to a wide variety of events and activities. Photo by Jon Klusmire

“We tried to balance the projects throughout the county,” Hamilton said, “and I think we did a pretty good job.”
Two types of improvement projects took priority. First was installing modern, vault toilets in all the county’s campgrounds. That has been accomplished, at a cost of about $800,000, which represents the largest, single outlay of LADWP funds for any park or campground project.
Second was installing upgraded playground equipment in parks. The playground effort got a boost when the county was able to tap into more than $55,000 in state grants from a special program that rewarded purchasing playground equipment made with recycled material, Hamilton noted.
Another critical operation was installing fee stations in the county’s campgrounds to make it easier for campers to help pay for their outdoor experience.
The county was also successful in tapping other sources of funding to supplement and extend the reach of the $2 million from LADWP. A combination of specific grants (such as the recycle playground grant) and use of $150,000 of Prop 12 money allowed the county to land another $2 million in funding to go with the $2 million from LADWP.
In addition, the county Public Works Department chipped in with staff time and expertise that saved money and helped move projects along, said Hamilton.
The improvements, especially the large-scale upgrades to parks in Lone Pine and Independence, have been appreciated by county residents, said Fifth District Supervisor Richard Cervantes. Parks and campgrounds are “of vital importance to our communities,” he said, as both are gathering places and community assets, and  also as “a place where the the public and government interface in a positive manner.” 
Looking to the future with an eye on a slim checking account for the Parks Department, Fourth District Supervisor Jim Bilyeu said the county needs to, at the very least, “concentrate on maintenance,” which he said was not only essential to keeping parks and campgrounds usable, “but is not entirely being done now.”
“The Long-Term Water Agreement money has been spent, and spent wisely,” said First District Supervisor Linda Arcularius, adding that because of grants and Prop 12 money, the county had doubled the amount it was able to spend on park projects.
The largest grants were a federal transportation grant for $526,00 and a Sierra Nevada Cascade Grant $416,584 for Dehy Park; a Robert-Berg-Harris Grant for $271,600 and a state grant for $339,000 for Lone Pine Park and ballfield improvements; the aforementioned $55,000 state grants for playground equipment; and a $30,000 state boating grant.
However, “we need to look to the future” and try to find other sources of funding for parks and campgrounds, Arcularius noted.
One idea is to revive the county Parks Commission, with an eye to turning the commission into a nonprofit foundation that could apply for grants and other sources of funds separately from the county, she said.
And while it was gratifying to see a long list of completed projects, several supervisors pointed out that there is another list out there containing projects that haven’t been completed, or should be undertaken.
The supervisors laid out a tentative agenda for an upcoming workshop on the entire parks and campground program. That agenda will include a review of what projects have been completed and what ones need to be finished or started; a review of the maintenance needs for all county parks and campgrounds, and ideas for obtaining grants and other funding (instead of using General Fund tax dollars) for the parks and campground programs.
The following is an abbreviated list of the park projects completed in the past 10 years using a combination of LADWP money and grants.
• Millpond Park: tennis courts, playground equipment, drinking fountains, new sign.
• Dehy Park: playground equipment, tennis courts, new grounds, new buildings, expansion (first phase complete, second phase planned).
• Lone Pine Park: playground equipment, expansion of parking lot, new toilets. Improvements to Little League field in progress.
• Starlite Park: playground equipment, drinking fountains.
• Diaz Lake: boat ramp, play equipment, shop building, water well, power line improvements.
• Tecopa Hot Springs: playground equipment.
• Izaak Walton Park: play equipment, paving.
• Mendenhall Park: new restrooms (in progress), playground equipment, drinking fountains.