Sometimes choosing a topic for the day is difficult. On other occasions, a flurry of kindred headlines leads to an obvious destination.

Speaking of destinations, have you been to a state park recently? My personal answer is no – although my 17-year-old just headed off for a day at Illinois Beach – but as Shaw Local’s Tom Collins reported Wednesday, there are several indicators of increased interest in road trips to jewels like Matthiessen and Starved Rock.

The Department of Natural Resources recently updated its list of most-visited state parks, including the three already mentioned, along with Moraine Hills, Rock Cut, Kankakee River and Hennepin Canal state parks. Collins reported Memorial and Independence Day road trips set volume records and talked to business owners who have seen a concurring spike in customer traffic and spending. One area trending lower is lodging revenue, which points to more day trips than long vacations.

Also on Wednesday, Gov. JB Pritzker announced the creation of the Illinois State Parks Endowment, an effort to establish a protected, dedicated funding stream for infrastructure, conservation, accessibility projects and park programming through private donations.

“We want to protect our parks with action and investment,” said Jenny Vaughn, the Illinois Conservation Foundation executive director. “We believe parks are for the people, not for profit,” she added, pointing to the way private donations have historically bolstered institutions like hospitals and libraries.

A successful endowment effort might make me shut up about how Illinois is overdue in charging admission or at least parking fees for state parks (especially compared to going rates at many Midwestern neighbors) and could go much further than legislative appropriations in providing stability for 309 state parks and recreational areas and 56 historic sites spread across more than 475,000 acres.

Twelve such facilities were highlighted in another Wednesday story: the Conservation Foundation releasing posters and sticker packs featuring iconic destinations such as those referenced earlier and some personal favorites: the Blackhawk statue at Lowden, Giant City, Apple River Canyon and the Volo Bog. The artwork intentionally echoes the aesthetic of the Works Progress Administration. The stickers ($12 for six) and posters ($25 each) and other items are available at ilconservation.givecloud.co/shop.

It almost goes without saying that Illinois is also blessed with many outstanding municipal and county park and conservation systems, many of which have their own fundraising operations in attempts to alleviate taxpayer investment. I’m not here to tell readers how to spend their money, but please do at least take time to consider the substantial effort in keeping or creating and maintaining truly public spaces.

A few hours in nature isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time, but we’d all be worse off if such treasures deteriorated or disappeared.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.