Island’s park beaches see record number of visitors

If you have headed to any of the area beaches recently and thought there was more traffic than ever, you were right. More than one million visitors were recorded as coming to the island’s state park beaches in 2007, according to numbers produced at the Monday, March 10 meeting of the Barrier Island Parks Society.

And this year’s numbers are already breaking records as well.

Park Manager Reggie Norman said that numbers were up by 83 percent at Gasparilla Island State Park for last year. More than 621,262 vehicles paid the fee to enter the parks’ lots.

Stump Pass Beach State Park numbers were up as well, from 355,069 in 2006 to 460,789 in 2007.

“At Stump Pass at certain times, we had a park ranger standing there and directing traffic,” Norman said.

Between Stump Pass, Gasparilla Island, Don Pedro and Cayo Costa, nearly 1.2 visitors total were recorded.

“There are upward trends in the first couple of months of 2008 at our parks as well,” said Norman. “Gasparilla Island State Park figures for January and February were 151,030, which is up by 83 percent. Stump Pass is already at 88,576 for those two months, which is up 57 percent. I think people are less afraid of hurricanes after a quiet year, and they’re getting out more. The weather has been really good, and as it gets colder more and more people are heading here.”

BIPS President Bruce Stirling said he is continuing work to have the Rear Range Light and the surrounding property transferred to the state parks system. The structure is showing signs of deterioration and rust, he said, and the Coast Guard says it doesn’t have the money to do the work.

In a letter to the Coast Guard in Miami, Stirling stated, ” … Such an agreement would be a ‘Win Win Win’ for all parties involved and would identify responsibilities for painting and maintaining this aid-to-navigation/structure while negotiations among the state of Florida and multiple federal bureaus, departments and agencies continue regarding transfer of the land underlying the light,” Stirling’s letter read. “Barrier Island Parks Society, a state of Florida chartered Citizen Support Organization for the Florida State parks, volunteers to assist in creation of this document in any way we can.”