Today's update to our 53 Parks in 53 Days campaign comes from author and Audubon supporter Lucy Tobias:

On Tuesday, Feb. 8 members of Alachua Audubon, Visit Gainesville, Friends of MKR and myself visited Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park in Cross Creek.

The temperature dipped to low 40s, glove and scarf weather. But that didn't deter a busload of enthusiastic middle school students from Mayport. They skipped along the dirt paths, clucked at the chickens and ducks and lined up outside the front door for a house tour.

We watched the future stepping into the past.

And what a past it is. Her husband left her. To be a single woman in the 1930s was to be singled out as strange. She could have cut and run, going back Up North.

But Marjorie stayed in Cross Creek until her death in 1953, fascinated by wading birds, wary neighbors and breathtaking sunsets. Natural beauty enchanted her and this resonates today.

"Florida Audubon is about more than birds, it is about getting outdoors, appreciating natural beauty like our lakes, and Rawlings did," said Helen Warren, president of Alachua Audubon.

Rawlings wrote the Pulitzer prize-winning novel "The Yearling" along with other books on her front porch. I visit often for inspiration. And I am not alone. Every year some 20,000 people from all over the world find Marjorie's home.

"This is a special place, it evokes home and family. People come and are touched by memories from their own lives," said Sheila Barnes, park ranger.

Now the parks sits on a hit list of 53 parks, a budget reduction proposal by the Department of Environmental Protection.

"This is scary," said Roland Loog, director of Visit Gainesville. "When you close places with old structures, they need constant care. You can't close them for six months then reopen, they could be in worse shape."

Let's talk money. "Visitors come to this place where they can connect with Marjorie and they stimulate the economy," said Florence Turcotte, literary manuscript archivist in charge of the Rawlings collection at University of Florida.

Future tours include a motorcycle group, Bike Florida, Homeless Vets, church groups, school groups, Hospice groups and Audubon groups.

Niche markets like Rawlings State Park add up. DEP's Office of Park Planning's economic impact assessment states that for every 1,000 persons going to a state park the total direct impact on the local community is over $34,800. Hello.

The children went inside. We turned to leave, thinking ways to keep the doors open tomorrow.