ALBANY – The closure of 55 state parks and historical sites, and the potential closure of dozens more, has become a hot button topic in Albany.

According to Assemblyman Pete Lopez, who represents New York’s 127th district, he and his colleagues have been flooded by e-mails, faxes and phone calls from constituents who want their state parks to stay open.

“It’s really captured the attention of the committee ... and the rank and file members,” Lopez reported in a phone interview last week.

Now that the people have spoken, he said, the challenge will be “converting that energy into funds for the parks.”

The assemblyman, whose district includes the towns of Afton and Bainbridge in Chenango County, said the feedback has prompted many of his fellow legislators to call for state park funding to be restored. But doing so won’t be that simple, he explained, as it will require sacrifices in other areas.