Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes to close about 200 state parks because they don't pay for themselves. Among them are the Sonoma Coast state beaches, Angel Island, Annadel and Armstrong Grove. Others include Hearst Castle, Point Sur and the California State Capitol Museum.

Just how the state plans to keep people off the beach or out of Annadel has yet to be explained. There's also are the obvious questions of liability if anyone is hurt and whether damage from vandalism will cost more than keeping the parks open.

Legislative Democrats offered a potential solution: levying a $15 surcharge on auto license plats and dedicating the revenue to parks. I'm ready to pay that, or to simply pay a few dollars more to use the parks.

It sure makes more sense than closing them (and, yes, I use them regularly so I would be shelling out any fee increase).

The federal government has warned Schwarzenegger that six parks could be seized if the state closes them. They are: Angel Island and Mount Diablo in the Bay Area, Point Sur and Fort Ord Dunes on the Central Coast and Border Field and Point Mugu in Southern California All six were acquired with federal grants that were contingent on perpetual public access to the land.

A letter from the National Park Service also notes that 67 other state parks have received federal funding for various improvements, also contingent on public access. That money could be cut off, though those parks apparently aren't subject to seizure. That list includes several in the North Bay: Sonoma Coast, Salt Point, Annadel, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mount Tamalpais, Olompali, Manchester, Navarro River Redwoods and Russian Gulch.

Further up the coast are Jedediah Smith Redwoods, Humboldt Redwoods, Benbow Lake and Richardson Grove.

Here's betting the final budget deal includes some sort of new fee - with cover for the governor to deny it's a tax - to keep the parks open.

-- Jim Sweeney