Reopening Clough State Park, which has been closed for three of the last four seasons, was easy yesterday. The brown wooden gate that bars the main entrance was unlocked, so kayaker Mimi Dion opened it.

"When we pulled up, five cars were waiting to get in," said Dion, 62, of Lebanon.

Dozens of cars followed through the newly opened main gate on the sunny Sunday afternoon. The lack of bathrooms, lifeguards or state officials collecting entry fees did not seem to bother the beachgoers, boaters and berry pickers.

But finding someone to regularly maintain the park is harder than

opening a gate. Despite yesterday's turnout, the park remains officially closed this summer, just like it was in 2006 and 2007. It was closed then because of flood damage. It remains closed because of a lack of state funding.

"It had suffered significant damage in the floods in 2006," said Amy Bassett, public information officer for the state Division of Parks and Recreation. "Last year we did open it, we had some port-a-potties there, but the damage has been pretty significant and we haven't had funds to fix those."

The park, located just east of the town of Weare, is a tranquil oasis of beach, shoreline and hiking trails along the shores of Everett Lake. The 150-acre lake is formed by a dam on the Piscataquog River.

Yesterday, the Dions paddled around the lake in their kayaks, a handful of families picnicked on the beach and two young boys tried their hands at fishing.

Because of its makeup, the park is more than a recreation area. It's situated next to the 2,000-foot-long Everett Dam, which was built after a 1938 hurricane devastated parts of Weare.

According to the Parks Division, the hurricane and other floods prompted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build the Everett Dam, which was completed in 1963 at a cost of $21.4 million. The Army Corps then obtained all the land in the flood-control area, and it still owns it.

The state has a 25-year lease on the property, which was renewed several years ago, said park ranger Jennifer Samela, of the Army Corps. It is still used as a floodplain to protect Goffstown and other downstream areas from flooding.

No caretakers

In May 2006, the park was intentionally flooded, Samela said. The damage wasn't fixed by 2007 so the park was closed for a second year. Bassett said that although amenities such as bathrooms were still not fixed in 2008, the state decided to open the park anyway.

But when the state still did not have money to make any fixes this year, it decided to keep the park closed, Bassett said. Samela said the state considered Clough an "under-performing park."

Because the state has not reopened it, the park has no running water, no bathrooms, no staff and is supposed to be closed to cars, Samela said.

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