For more than two years, Rebekah Blankenship, of Ballwin, and her father Ken Hays, 83, of Manchester, have made the same pilgrimage to the same wild corner of West County.

For Ken, who has Alzheimer's disease, visiting Lone Elk Park at least once a week and sometimes three times a week has proven invaluable, his daughter said.

"Days when dad's agitated, the park gets his mind on something else," Blankenship said. "With his disease, every time visiting is brand new to him. We count the elk each time and talk about the number of acres it is."

Lone Elk is a diversion and "makes my dad happy no matter what else is going on or how bad things are," Blankenship said.

Just how long she and her father will be able to visit the park is questionable. St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley has targeted Lone Elk and 22 other county parks for closing as part of his 2012 budget proposal that looks to trim $10 million.

"I can't imagine taking parks away from people in these bad financial times," Blankenship said.

County residents have responded to the proposal with angry phone calls and emails to Dooley's office and county council members, rallies and petitions.

"It's like clear-cutting a forest"

Workers for the Open Space Council for the St. Louis Region have fielded more than 1,000 telephone calls and have two petitions with more than 8,000 signatures against the proposal, said Ron Coleman, executive director of the Open Space Council.

"This is a totally, outrageous proposal," Coleman said. "This is balancing the budget on the backs of the recreation department. It's like clear-cutting a forest and leaving nothing behind. We're just hoping that the county council will find a way to cut something else."

The county spent decades buying land, encouraging donations and taking advantage of federal programs to create parkland.

"It's taken so long to assemble this system over the decades," Coleman said. "Then, the county decides to wipe the slate clean overnight. This has never happened like this before."

Open spaces and parks touch people in different ways. Urban forests and parks work around-the-clock, cleaning the water, cooling the air and helping preserve wildlife, he said.

Four of the parks — Greensfelder, Lone Elk, Sherman Beach-Belleview Farm and West Tyson parks — are within the Lower Meramec Important Bird Area, a National Audubon Society designation for habitats critical for migrating and nesting at-risk bird species.

"They also break up the monotony of urban areas," he said. "They keep everything from becoming homogenized."

People want parks

The residents' negative reaction to the county's decision to close its parks is not a surprise, said Esley Hamilton, 66, preservation historian with the St. Louis County Parks Department.

"Polls have shown that 86 percent of the public approve of parks," Hamilton said. "They use them a lot and they don't want to see them go."

Giving away county parkland isn't unprecedented. The county has divested itself of 30 parks over the years. Many of them were small, community parks that were in unincorporated areas annexed by a municipality. One property, Pelican Island, was given to the Missouri Department of Conservation.

"In the past, closing the parks was done in an agreeable way with both parties sitting down and working it out," Hamilton said. "It wasn't done without any discussion or talks."

There are complications to giving away or selling some of these parks. Some of them were established with covenants by the donors which specified the land only can be used as a park, Hamilton said.

Others were established through bond issues. Closing those parks may be within the county's authority, but the closings represents a breaking of a trust with voters who approved the bond issues believing the land would remain parkland.

Preserving parkland

Looking at the park dispute from a regional perspective is fraught with irony. While Dooley is bringing an end to a longterm commitment to county parks, Wildwood plans within five or six years to open a 66-acre community park off Highway 109 on the western end of the city's Town Center commercial area.

The new park is being established despite revenue cuts that have eaten away at the city's budgets for the last four or five years. But creating parkland is viewed as a civic responsibility, Mayor Tim Woerther said.

"Preservation of green space is a part of the basis of this city's founding," he said.

Wildwood city officials were shocked when they heard of Dooley's plan, Woerther said. With the city council's backing, Woerther sent a letter to Dooley urging the county to consider other possibilities.

Initially, Dooley warned the county may have to sell parks, but he has since backed away from that proposal. Instead, he has proposed approaching cities for partnerships, possibly to take over some parks, such as Greensfelder County Park in Wildwood.

Woerther sees the importance of preserving Greensfelder,

"We need to explore and take that idea seriously," Woerther said. "Greensfelder is a unique park and acts as a land bridge between the state's Rockwoods Range and Rockwoods Reservation."

Joe Vujnich, the Wildwood director of planning and parks, said preservation is especially needed now, as open land is disappearing.

"The economy may be soft and homes aren't selling well now, but bargain hunting developers are scouring up land inventory to try to pick up plums at current low prices," he said. "So potential public space is being eliminated, and the land is being banked for future development."

Resolving a county problem

However, other cities may not necessarily rush to take over a park.

There are a lot of questions that need to be answered, Fenton Mayor Dennis Hancock said. George Winter Park on the Meramec River in Fenton is a popular site with its twin ramps for boating and fishing.

"Before we take it over, we'll want to know what we're getting," Hancock said. "We'll want to take a look at the maintenance records and the structures. Last year, we had an unfortunate drowning. The city will look at the insurance costs."

The Fenton aldermanic board also would see if the new park would fit the city's park budget of $657,500.

There is one caution flag for Hancock.

"The fact that the county wants to give the parks away to solve its budget problems tells me something," he said.

If the closings happen, what are the choices for park lovers?

One example might be Forest Park, Coleman said.

"Forest Park was falling apart, but St. Louis didn't threaten to close it," he said. "City and civic leaders got together and created Forest Park Forever. Over the years, it has raised $100 million for park repairs."

Something similar can occur with St. Louis County.

"People will help, if they're asked," Coleman said.

Geri Washausen was among the hundreds who showed up Nov. 15 for a rally a the County Government Building held before a county council public hearing on the budget.

Like many others, Washausen was unconvinced that the parks department should bear the brunt of the cuts.

"I think there are so many places in county government where they can cut the fat, and the place to start isn't mass chopping of the park system," Washausen said.