A new strategic plan for the state parks is beginning to take shape as advisers to the Parks and Recreation staff weigh in on what the guiding principles should be, who will do the work of evaluating the parks and what new legislation could come of it. There may still be more questions than answers, but one thing is certain: The plan won't decide the fate of individual parks.

An earlier draft that called for finding new management for 29 properties was withdrawn in June after it drew heavy criticism from people worried about the fate of their favorite parks.

The report grew out of 2005 legislation calling for a study of the state parks system, the only one in the country that is self-funded, meaning it does not receive money for operations from the general fund.

At a parks advisory council meeting yesterday, Parks Director Ted Austin said he wants the plan to put the state parks into three new categories: recreational areas with good revenue potential, natural areas with little revenue opportunity and those that fall in between. The groupings won't be hierarchical.

Austin said he thinks there are many areas where revenue could be increased with small capital improvements. He said he toured Odiorne State Park recently and saw that the World War II bunkers there were inaccessible because of overgrowth.

"This is criminal," he said.

The plan could lay out principles upon which to evaluate each park for management and revenue options. Council member Jeff Gilbert said it needs to explain that the plan itself is simply a starting point.

"This is a 10-year-plan," said Gilbert. "This is not a plan that is going to be announced and then implemented over a three-month period and suddenly everything will be fixed."

Council member Paul Doscher of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, said the plan must account for the increase in staff time and resources it will take to implement it.

"If we don't, we're dreaming, because I just don't see how you do it now with the staff you have and all they already have to do," he said.

Austin said he has heard good feedback from municipalities and friends groups who are interested in taking over some or all of the management of their local parks.

Chairman Dick Ober said he would invite members of friends groups to the next council meeting, tentatively set for Oct. 16.

The council has drafted a set of principles to guide the plan. Among them is a firm statement that the self-funding system has failed, stating that it is "fundamentally incompatible" with the states' stewardship duties. The principles also recognize that the Division of Parks and Recreation can do more to generate revenue from the parks.

"The system needs more money and a new approach to management," the draft says.

The group hopes to have a draft plan to the public by Nov. 10, and they want to make it simple - an eight-page document with appendixes for people who want to dig into the details. After public hearings, they hope to be ready for implementation by Jan. 4.