Smoking ban expands to areas of state parks

The New York parks system on Monday implemented a ban on smoking at its playgrounds and pools and created no-smoking zones at its 213 parks and historical sites.

The State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation announced that smoke-free areas will begin to be enforced this month. The ban will include no smoking at many beaches, pavilions and outdoor seating areas.

"State parks and historic sites should be healthy and clean places for our visitors, especially our youngest guests," state Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey said in a statement. "It makes sense to ensure all visitors have a place to go in our parks to enjoy fresh air."

In February, New York City banned smoking at its 1,700 public parks and beaches. The state-owned parks in New York City will become smoke free, state officials said, making the regulations consistent with the city's policy.

New York's 127-year-old park system is the oldest in the nation. The parks and historic sites had 57 million visitors in 2011, and attendance has risen in recent years as the poor economy has led people to vacation closer to home. It dipped slightly in 2011 due to tropical storms that devastated some sites.

The state parks system will install signs at each outdoor location where smoking is prohibited. Smoking will continue to be allowed outdoors elsewhere within the 330,000-acre state park system, such as at state campsites. Smoking will be banned at many areas at Jones Beach on Long Island, but not on the beach itself.

The ban extends to most swimming areas in other parts of the state, such as at the Robert H. Treman and Buttermilk Falls state parks in the Finger Lakes. Smoking will be banned at the swimming areas in Hamlin Beach State Park in Monroe County, but allowed at other Hamlin park beaches were there is no swimming, according to the parks department.

Smoking will be prohibited on the pool decks at Bear Mountain, High Tor and Rockland Lake state parks in the Hudson Valley. It will also be banned at the playgrounds in Beaver Pond and Tallman Mountain state parks. The pool area at the FDR state park in Yorktown Heights will be smoke-free.