HARTWELL, Ga. -- At Hart State Park on Friday, Justin Pittard was in his element.

Dressed for summer and standing under an evergreen canopy, the Hartwell resident poked at a half-dozen hot dogs on the grill while his two young daughters splashed through shallow water at the lakeside park's small beach.

A few hundred yards away stood the pavilion where Pittard watched his dad get married two years ago. Somewhere else in the park that day, his cousins were celebrating the anniversary of their own wedding, he said.

"It's like the center of Hart County entertainment, 'cause Hart County doesn't offer much," Pittard, who works at an auto parts store, said of the park. "If you live in Hart County, and you're an average Joe like me, you want to come here."

Friday afternoon was sunny, but news of imminent cutbacks and closures at the 147-acre park had cast a bit of a shadow over the picnic Pittard and his wife, Amber, were preparing.

"It sucks," said Amber Pittard, a stay-at-home mom who's studying to be a nurse. "It costs us way too much to drive to another beach, and we live right here in town."

If they hadn't already heard about the cutbacks, locals and other visitors found out Friday afternoon from a gate attendant who told them as they rolled through on their way to camp, fish and swim along popular Lake Hartwell.

The park isn't closing in the strictest sense, but it won't be staffed, and many of its amenities will become history beginning July 1. That's when the state Department of Natural Resources will implement a restructuring plan announced Wednesday for the state's parks and historic sites.

It was the latest budget reduction for the park system, which will get 39 percent less money from the state this year and is anticipating 24 percent less revenue overall.

In addition to eliminating 12 percent of its workforce, increasing fees and cutting hours at most of its historic sites, DNR plans to close offices and reduce services at Hart and three other parks around the state, including nearby Bobby Brown State Park near Elberton.

Neither of those Northeast Georgia parks will have on-site managers or emergency services anymore.

Hart's beach and five cottages - where visitors who don't want to rough it can stay overnight - also will be closed, while the yurts at Bobby Brown will be moved to another park.

With cuts and mandates from the state, the park system is on a track to become self-sufficient, relying on user fees and other fundraising, officials said. Last week, DNR Commissioner Chris Clark urged state residents to continue to visit the parks, buy the system's relatively affordable annual parking passes and join local "friends" groups that volunteer for clean-ups and fundraisers.

Hart State Park doesn't have a dedicated friends group. However, county commission Chairman Dan Reyen said he and other residents are planning to mount a community support drive soon to show DNR how important the park is to them.

With so many local textile mills shuttered recently because of the economy, the county has grown dependent on sales tax dollars park-goers bring when they shop during a visit, Reyen said.

"We're hurting economically, and this is another slap in the face," he said.

Meanwhile, even though rangers from nearby Richard B. Russell State Park will help patrol the Hart grounds after July 1, local law enforcement officials are bracing for a possible increase in vandalism, squatting and other crime there.

"With nobody on site, absolutely there's going to be more crime," said Hart County Sheriff Mike Cleveland. "We're going to have to go down there more."

On Friday afternoon, many visitors, like the Pittards, were locals who came for an affordable, day-long or weekend getaway that didn't take them too far from home.

They spoke fondly of the park - home to a myriad of family gatherings, FFA banquets and lakeside romps - which they see as a unique asset for Hart County.

"We grew up on Hartwell Lake when we were kids," said Lisa Moss, a Royston photographer and stay-at-home mom who was floating leisurely on an inflatable raft, next to her sister, Kathy. "We've enjoyed it all our lives, and we want our kids to enjoy it just as much."

The Mosses had to arrive early for the weekend to stake their claim on a lake-front campsite.

"If they're going to close the beach area, they should add more campsites," Moss said.

Clark last week called the state parks cuts "heart-wrenching" and said decisions were made "using a business case analysis."

The department targeted Hart, Bobby Brown and the other hard-hit parks because they were near other, better-visited parks, said DNR spokeswoman Kim Hatcher.

From July 2007 to July 2008, less than 86,000 people visited Bobby Brown State Park, and 143,000 passed through Hart's gates, Hatcher said. Compare that to Richard B. Russell's 544,000 visitors in the same year.

"People may have to drive a little farther, but they still will have access to these lakes," Hatcher said.

Park-goers on Friday were skeptical that the numbers for Hart, where all of the 78 campsites are filled on many weekends, would merit its closure.

Lake Hartwell was drained so bad during the last two years' epic drought that it's no wonder people stayed away, they said.

And it's also no surprise that Lake Russell , which is regulated to be within 5 feet of its full mark, would have seen more trips from fishermen and other visitors.

A replenished Hartwell only was a little more than 3 feet below full pool Friday, as visitors began soaking up what could be one of the first rain-free weekends in a while.

"It's a shame," said Alicia Adams of Danielsville, who brought her two nephews on a day trip to the park.

Adams and friend Angel Fisher, who brought her two sons, sunbathed on a small patch of sand while their gang of boys swam a few yards away.

While drying off from the lake, Adams' 10-year-old nephew, Dakota Thornton, had a suggestion for DNR officials struggling with their budget.

"I'll clean it up for you, if it's that big a deal," he said.