State Parks the Humble Champions of Conservation and Local Economic Vitality

State Parks the Humble Champions of Conservation and Local Economic Vitality

March 2012

It’s spring. As the weather warms and days lengthen, thoughts will turn increasingly to getting outdoors, enjoying some sunshine, breathing fresh air, and experiencing what nature has to offer out on the trail.

National parks are considered the crown jewels of our systems of protected public lands, and rightfully so, but when it comes to entertaining visitors, state parks hold a significant edge. In 2010, America’s 397 national parks recorded 281 million recreation visits, but in the same year, visits to more than 6,600 state parks totaled 740 million.

Of late, however, state parks have experienced a rough patch. When recession ground down the revenue base of state governments, park budgets often were the first to take the hit when legislatures parceled out the pain.

California laid plans to close up to 70 of its 279 parks, from Castle Crags on the southern slopes of the Cascades to Picacho State Recreation Area along the lower reaches of the Colorado River. In many other states, budgets have been chopped, hours cut back, staffing reduced, and entrance fees increased. Parks have been transferred to local agencies, or turned over to non-profit organizations to operate.

About that last point: asking local communities and volunteer organizations to help with maintaining and even operating state parks is a good thing. Governments at all levels must look at new ways of doing business, in order to get the most value out of taxpayers’ dollars at a time when the economy’s outlook remains shaky.

What’s not desirable, however, is for state cutbacks to send a message that parks are expendable frills. For many families, state parks are the closest they will get to having a natural experience that clears minds, soaks up stress, gets the kids away from addictive video screens, puts sedentary bodies into motion, and serves as a vital reminder that people are part of a much larger world. As conservative Congressman John Saylor said more than half a century ago, “In the wilderness, we can get our bearings.”

For those who want benefits quantified numerically, state parks offer tangible boosts to local and state economies. People who visit state parks to hike, camp, swim, fish, bicycle, canoe, cross-country ski, watch birds, or learn about local history inject some $20 billion into the economy each year, more than eight times the $2.3 billion annual state park expenditures by all 50 states. That’s according to the National Association of State Park Directors.

Some would say that organization has a vested interest in promoting the economic benefits of state parks. Fair enough. Arms-length research, however, demonstrates that state parks are economic producers. In Texas, for example, a 2008 study conducted by the state comptroller’s office and Texas A&M University concluded that Texans visiting state parks from counties outside where parks are located spend an average $2.1 million in the host counties. That spending, in turn, generates $3 million in retail sales and $1.5 million in additional income for each of the host counties. The study found that in Texas rural counties that host state parks, retail sales are 15 percent higher per capita than in rural counties lacking state parks.

To highlight one example, Pedernales Falls State Park is an economic magnet for Blanco County, in the state’s famed Hill Country. Research by Texas A&M estimated that in 2006, the park accounted for $1.6 million in sales and nearly $626,000 in personal income for Blanco County. For perspective, the park’s operating expenses, including salaries, totaled $558,362 that year.

One could argue that Texans spending dollars in counties with state parks are taking dollars out of counties without state parks. To determine the value of parks as an attraction for out-of-state visitors, the Texas A&M-state comptroller study estimated that 3.1 percent of overnight visitors to state parks came from outside Texas. Their spending contributes an estimated $15.7 million to gross state product each year. There’s more. Urban state parks are oases of green space that scrub the air and control stormwater pollution. Those services contribute an estimated $233 million to Texas' gross state product each year.

Recently, Resources for the Future (RFF), an independent research institute, provided another perspective on what state parks do for the commonweal. Bottom line: RFF researcher Juha Siikamaki concluded that state parks account for one-third of outdoor recreation in the United States. Using conventional economic analysis methods, Siikamaki estimated that the time value of state parks recreation—hours spent in state parks multiplied by an estimate of what people’s time is worth—totals $14 billion per year.

Those benefits are all to the good. But never forget the intangibles of what parks, state and national, bring to the nation. Stephen Mather was the businessman, conservationist, and first National Park Service director. He envisioned state and national parks as complements of a greater whole that would inspire and give Americans a greater pride of place.

Mather once said: “Who will gainsay that the parks contain the highest potentialities of national pride, national contentment, and national health? A visit inspires love of country, begets contentment, engenders pride of possession, contains the antidote for national restlessness … He is a better citizen with a keener appreciation of the privilege of living here who has toured the nation’s parks.”

Words for the road on your next trip to your favorite state parks.