State parks exceed goal in securing business sponsors

BOISE – The Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation has received $40,000 in corporate sponsorship since getting legislative approval nearly a year ago to reach out to businesses to help offset the agency’s depleted budget.

The amount is double the estimated $20,000 department officials hoped to secure in the first year.

Sponsors include Cabela’s, North Face and Airstream NW.

The department’s sponsorship proposal sailed through the Idaho Statehouse last year with a handful of lawmakers raising concerns that some sponsorships would result in renaming of the state’s 30 parks.

However, department spokeswoman Jennifer Okerlund said none of the sponsorships required a name change.

State lawmakers chopped the parks department budget during the economic downturn, forcing the agency to look for money elsewhere. This year, the agency received $3.5 million in state funding.