Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette Bill Seitz of Penn Hills twirls granddaughter Jordis Krause in the air while bathing at Keystone State Park in Westmoreland County yesterday. The park will be among the state facilities to close because state lawmakers and the governor have failed to agree on a spending plan by today.

By Mike Bucsko
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette More than a year ago, the Seybert family started planning a reunion at Keystone State Park that kicked off Saturday.

Though most family members still live in the East Brady area in Clarion County, some traveled from Texas, North Carolina, New York and Eastern Pennsylvania. The family rented all of Keystone's 11 cabins, plus a cottage, five campsites and a yurt, a rounded tent on a wooden platform.

But Pennsylvania's budget crisis will close Keystone and all but four of the state's 116 other parks for at least today, as well as 2 million acres of state forest land. The parks remaining open are not in Western Pennsylvania. Nearly all of the 15 full-time and seasonal employees at Keystone will be among the 2,300 femployees of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources furloughed because state lawmakers and the governor have failed to agree on a spending plan by today.

The public restrooms and showers will be locked in the camping and cabin areas, as will the facilities on the beaches.

Park officials went by the cabins yesterday and told renters about the budget problem and the possible park closing.

At Keystone, it was apparently done with a nod and a wink -- a park ranger told members of the Seybert family he would come and knock on the door and, if no one answered, he would leave, said Katherine Miller, of Cowansville, Armstrong County, one of 15 Seybert siblings at Keystone for the reunion.

As a result, most of the family plans to remain in the park's modern cabins, despite the closure, Ms. Miller said. The cabins are equipped with conveniences, including a bathroom with shower, electricity, a refrigerator and a stove.

"If [park officials] see us, we'll see what we'll do then," Ms. Miller said.

Gil Gilson, Keystone's park manager, remained optimistic yesterday that Gov. Ed Rendell and the state Legislature would come to terms on a new budget and avoid the problems that come with closing. But since that didn't happen, park officials will try to work with the visitors who may remain in Keystone, including about a dozen at campsites, he said.

"We're going to be flexible, and we're going to accommodate people," Mr. Gilson said.

But keeping additional visitors out of the park may not be as easy.

There are 11 entrances to Keystone, including Keystone Park Road, the main road through the park that runs past the park office between Routes 981 and 982. There are no gates on the entrances, so motorists will undoubtedly drive through.

The only location where the park will actually place barricades will be at the entrance to the camping and cabin area off of Slag Road, which has a gatehouse.

Only a few employees whose jobs are deemed critical to the operation, including Mr. Gilson, will remain on duty when the park closes. Another will be a ranger, who will patrol the 1,200-acre park to make sure motorists don't stop and decide to hang out at the beach of the Westmoreland County recreation facility as temperatures reach the 90s today. About 2,000 people visited the beach over the weekend.

"We want to make sure people get the message and understand that we can't operate without our staff," Mr. Gilson said.

Meanwhile, the 60-plus members of the Seybert family will try and make do the best they can at the reunion that one of the 15 siblings, Jane DiGiammarino of East Brady, spent countless hours organizing over the past year, Ms. Miller said.

"We thought we all would get together and have a family reunion," she said. "That's what we still plan to do."