About Cooperating Associations

Ocean View. Photo by Bill Dillinger.

The first Cooperating Associations were established in the State Park System in 1971. They are patterned after the associations that have long served the National Parks and have a similar purpose - to support and assist the interpretive and educational programs of the parks.

The associations were established because interpretive programs are seldom adequately funded under the usual budgeting process, no matter how important they may be from an educational standpoint.

To assure a self-supporting source of funding for park educational and interpretive programs, all revenues earned by the non-profit associations are required by their Articles of Incorporation to be used solely for these specific purposes, and only in the parks the association serves.

Perhaps most important of all, the associations and their 15,000+ individual members are an invaluable source of grass-root support not only for the parks they serve, but for the system as a whole.