SPRING GREEN — Ramming about Tower Hill State Park near here on his Kawasaki Mule utility vehicle, Greg Pardee is a working dervish. With shovels and rakes and his lunch box bouncing around in the back, he’s all over the park, as busy as the forces of nature that keep trying to trash and erode a landscape he loves.

Pardee is the entire staff at the small but popular state park. And his world is full of impermanence right now, one of many state park employees who eventually may feel the impact of budget cuts.

Officials with the state Department of Natural Resources say that in the face of budget cuts that could be as much as 6 percent of the agency’s budget, state parks are being closely scrutinized for areas where savings might be achieved — campgrounds that can be shut down or services that can be discontinued. Most likely to survive cuts are those larger parks with high use while some of those that face the most scrutiny are the smallest, such as Tower Hill and New Glarus Woods, or Rocky Arbor near Wisconsin Dells.

While officials with the agency have indicated that no state parks will be completely closed, Adam Collins, a spokesman for the DNR in Madison, said park officials are finalizing a priorities plan based on “highest use parks” and “highest use times.”

Beyond that, DNR officials have been close-mouthed about specifically how those priorities will be set or what park offerings may be affected. Repeated calls over several days to the agency’s parks division went unreturned. Steve Johnston, the supervisor at New Glarus Woods State Park in Green County, said employees have been told to refer all phone calls about the issue to spokespeople in Madison, such as Collins.

“We’ve been told to say that no decisions have been made and that there are many things on the table,” Johnston said. “I know we are all very concerned.”

Johnston is not only responsible for New Glarus Woods with its 38 campsites but also three other properties in Green County, including two popular bike trails. He said state parks, especially small ones, have faced continuous cutbacks over the last decade. This year, he added, a friends group will take over the job of mowing New Glarus Woods.

“It’s a shame when they have to be involved in basic operations,” Johnston said.

Pardee said the tight budget has already made for a tenuous season at Tower Hill with its modest complement of 11 campsites. He wasn’t sure until two weeks before the park opened whether the campground would be used this year. And he’s been warned by agency officials that the park may close early this season, perhaps in September instead of October.

But, for now, Pardee reports to his job for 10-hour workdays on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Despite its small size, Tower Hill is an important fixture along the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway, according to Mark Cupp, director of the riverway board. Cupp said the park is one of only two state parks along the length of the 92.3-mile riverway. The other is larger Wyalusing State Park downriver at the confluence with the Mississippi River.

Cupp said the campground, though small, is important to people who want to camp near the river but not necessarily canoe out to a sandbar. And the park is in the center of a historic area with Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous home, not far away. In the park itself is a reconstructed shot tower with its 180-foot shaft that was used in the manufacture of lead shot from 1836 to 1861. The park is also the former site of one of the state’s oldest and most historic villages, Helena, which grew up around the shot tower.

Small state parks such as Tower Hill may not attract the high number of visitors as other, larger parks such as Governor Dodge and Devil’s Lake State Parks. But they do have their charms and their devotees.

The small state parks, Johnston said, all offer something unique, not the least of which is a special kind of peace and quiet.

“We’ve found there are people who have come back repeatedly over the last 10 years,” said Johnston. “They wouldn’t dream of going to Devil’s Lake.”