The Economic Benefits of State Parks

Last year the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Bureau of Parks and Recreation teamed up with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension to produce a report titled Economic Impacts of the Wisconsin State Park System: Connections to Gateway Communities. “Our state parks, forests, trails and recreation areas are truly the jewels of our state’s natural resources, and this report shows they are also jewels for our economy. This study shows how important our state park properties are to the local economies of communities across the state that are gateways to these properties,” said Department of Natural Resources Secretary Cathy Stepp in announcing the report in February 2014. The Pulse wrote about the report last year, but with recent developments in Gov. Walker’s budget and comments from Stepp about selling naming rights to state parks, it seemed a good time to revisit some numbers from the report.

41

Average amount of dollars spent per day by state forest visitors.

50-plus

Average amount of dollars spent per day by state parks visitors.

90-plus

Average amount of dollars spent per day by state trails visitors.

8,200

Number of jobs associated with the 69 state properties in the system (including forests, parks and trails).

14 million

The average level of visitor days per year.

25 million

Total operational funding for the state park system, “so Wisconsin is getting a significant return on its investment from the state parks system,” Secretary Stepp noted in announcing the report last year.

350 million

Amount of income for state residents earned through the state park system.

580 million

Estimated amount of non-local visitor spending.

1 billion

Annual estimated total spending by Wisconsin state park properties visitors.

Source: Economic Impacts of the Wisconsin State Park System: Connections to Gateway Communities