"State Parks, like all state agencies, is responding to the current economic realities. We have been charged with making many difficult decisions, and the changes we announce today are among them," Commissioner Carol Ash said in a prepared statement.

More than 100 parks and historic sites are impacted by the cuts, but none is being closed, state officials said. Perhaps the most noticeable impact locally will take place at the Lake Taghkanic State Park, where the original swimming area at the park—the East Beach—will not open at all this year. The West Beach—the new beach—will open on May 23 on weekends and won’t be open for daily use until June 27—well past the traditional Memorial Day opening for daily swimming.

Meanwhile, the Clermont State Historic Site’s historic house and visitor center will shuttered for three months in 2010, from January through March. Only prescheduled group tours will be permitted during that time, the state announced. At Taconic State Park in Copake Falls, the campground and cabins will open on May 22, several weeks later than normal, and some of the facilities will close, earlier than usual, on October 25. In addition, OPRHP announced that the Rudd Pond swimming area will be closed on weekdays, except for holidays.

On a foreboding note, the state also announced that a shortened season or reduced hours of operation may be in store for the Olana State Historic Site.

The Olana Partnership President Sara Griffen said her organization has been in regular contact with state officials to determine if the hours and days of operation at Olana would be left unchanged. She said it was her understanding that no cuts would be made at the Greenport site.

“We bring such significant dollars into the region and into the park that we make money for State Parks. It seems to us to make sense that, if there are any parks that are going to keep their hours, it would be places such as Olana,” said Griffen.