1 | The Economic Impact of Local Parks INTRODUCTION The following reports the findings of the analysis of the economic impacts of spending by local park systems in the United States. This research adds to the growing body of evidence that the impacts of parks extend well beyond their role as a public amenity and enhancement to quality of life in communities across the United States. The academic and professional literature has established well-recognized contributions of parks to quality of life. This is evidenced by multiple studies that indicate residents prefer to live in proximity to a quality park system. The National Association of Home Builders reports that the presence of parks seriously influences 65 percent of home buyers. A 2001 study by the National Association of Realtors found that 50 percent of survey respondents would be more likely to choose a neighborhood near parks or open spaces and are willing to pay more to be located close to a park or open space. This has led much of the research to focus on the impacts of parks on nearby property values. Another common approach to assessing the impacts of park systems is to examine the local and/or regional economic consequences of spending by non-local park visitors. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of these types of analyses conducted for individual park venues, such as for entertainment, golf courses and aquatic parks, and broader studies of state parks and park systems. There are recurring studies assessing the economic contributions of national parks on local, state and the national economies. In 2011, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation sponsored a study that estimated the economic value of all outdoor recreation, nature conservation, and historic preservation activities and venues, not including motorized sports, boosted national economic activity by more than $1 trillion and supported 9.4 million jobs. Emerging areas of research include assessing the economic impacts of parks in terms of carbon mitigation (usually based on vegetation coverage) and the health effects park visitors enjoy from exercise and stress relief associated with park and park facility visits. Increasingly, these studies include estimating the economic value of these impacts. For example, regular visitors to recreation facilities have lower incidences of obesity, which lowers healthcare spending for hypertension, cardiac disease and diabetes. The remaining type of impact research addresses the economic consequences of operations and capital spending by park systems. This is a common component of private-sector entertainment, amusement and other park facilities impact studies. For example, the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions estimated that in 2011 the nearly 30,000 attractions in the United States generated $211 billion in economic activity. These types of economic benefits also come from public park-related expenditures. While there are national-level studies for amusement and similar parks (IAAPA) and state- and national-level studies of federal- and state-funded parks, we are not aware of a systematic assessment of the national economic impacts of local and regional public park systems. This study fills that gap in the understanding of the impacts of local and regional park and recreation agency spending in the United States. This study looks at three levels of analysis. The first level is a study of the economic benefits of operations and capital spending by local and regional parks summarized at the national level. The second level provides state-by-state estimates for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. And, the third level offers analyses of the economic impacts of park-related spending for a selection of individual parks.
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