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Many Texans have idyllic memories of time spent with family and friends in natural settings. As the number of urban Texans increases and cities expand ever outward, our state parks — and the experiences they offer — have become increasingly important.

While Texans enjoy the green colors of nature, others are enjoying green of another sort – the cash earned by local businesses catering to park visitors and the economic growth it generates.

State Parks

Texas has 93 state parks, historical sites and natural areas that contain a total of 586,501 acres in 98 counties (Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2).¹ Texas has a total land area of 167.5 million acres; state parks occupy one-third of 1 percent of that total.² State parks hosted 2.3 million overnight visitors and 6.7 million day visitors in 2007.³

Of the 2.3 million overnight visitors, almost 72,500 or 3.1 percent were from outside of Texas. Exhibit 3 highlights the top 15 residences of out-of-state U.S. visitors, foreign visitors and those who are unknown to Texas state parks in fiscal 2007.

Of the foreign visitors to Texas parks in 2007, 45.8 percent came from Canada, 30.4 percent from Germany, 11.8 percent from the United Kingdom and 5.5 percent from Mexico.⁴

State parks provide inexpensive and easily accessible recreational opportunities that are increasingly valuable in an era of record-high gasoline prices. While fees vary, most park entrance fees are only a few dollars per person. Primitive campsites (those with no water or electricity) rent for about $12 per night. Campsites with water rent for about $15 per night, while high-end, large cabins for eight or more people cost $200 or more per night.⁵

The travel organization AAA found recently that more than half of its members in Texas are cutting back on driving and eating out; 9 percent were canceling planned vacations. Members with annual household incomes of less than $50,000 were most likely to take such actions to reduce gasoline consumption.⁶ The number of Texas park visitors will likely increase as more Texans decide to vacation closer to home.

Parks Funding

Texas funds its parks system through a dedicated portion of the 6.25 percent state sales tax attributable to sales of sporting goods equipment. Until recently, the portion the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) received for the park system was capped in state law at $32 million biennially, with the remainder going to the General Revenue Fund.

The 2007 Legislature, however, repealed that cap with House Bill 12, which allows TPWD to receive appropriations each biennium in an amount to be determined by the Legislature. The same legislation transferred 18 historical sites from TPWD to the Texas Historical Commission as of January 1, 2008. The Legislature then increased funding for state park operations in the 2008-09 biennium by $96.4 million, a 79.7 percent increase over the previous biennium. This funding increase includes:

• $43.7 million for park operating costs and 229.3 new full-time equivalent employees (FTEs);
• $9.4 million for new vehicles, equipment and technology for the park system;
• $7.0 million for state park minor repairs (projects with an average cost of $25,000 or less); and
• $36.3 million for additional local park grants.⁷

This increase in funding followed multiple news reports and public testimony concerning equipment failures, staff shortages, overcrowding and other problems at state parks across Texas.

In 2007, Texas voters approved a constitutional amendment, Proposition Four, approving the sale of state general obligation bonds in coming years to fund major infrastructure projects throughout the state. The Legislature authorized TPWD to receive a small portion – $52.1 million – of this bond revenue. Almost half of this amount, or $25 million, is dedicated to repairs for the battleship Texas, harbored at the San Jacinto State Historical Site near Houston. The remainder is dedicated to park repairs.⁸

TPWD provides local governments with grants, depending upon legislative appropriations, for the acquisition and development of local parklands. Since fiscal 2000, these grants have ranged from $2.7 million to $15.3 million annually. Additional funding increased the estimated fiscal 2008 funding to $32.2 million.

In fiscal 2007, park fee revenues were $34.6 million, according to TPWD’s fiscal 2010-2011 Request for Legislative Appropriations.⁹

In addition to increasing TPWD’s funding, the Legislature included a Rider 30 in the department’s 2008-09 budget that directed the agency to commission a business plan analyzing the necessity and impact of proposed repairs and new construction. Rider 30 required TPWD to determine whether repairs would generate increased park attendance and the additional revenues needed to cover their costs.

In March 2008, TPWD released this business plan, which was prepared for the department by the team of Fisher-Heck Architects and Pros Consulting LLC. The results of the report were clear: The return on capital investment in state parks is expected to reap gains well in excess of costs.

The report found that 77 percent of the proposed capital projects would either lead to an increase in attendance at state parks or would prevent a decline in attendance. Similarly, 82 percent of the projects would increase revenues or prevent erosion in existing revenues. These findings indicate that Texas’ upkeep of its parks is an important priority and that the state enjoys a significant return when it invests in its parks.

The business plan recommended that all of TPWD’s recommended capital projects be authorized to address immediately deteriorated facilities and infrastructure at parks throughout the state. Failure to perform the recommended actions would lead to “deterioration of state assets, negative impacts on park usage, decreased financial performance of state parks, and increased costs to the State of Texas for the eventual need to perform these repairs.”¹⁰

According to Kevin Good, special assistant to the director of the State Parks Division at TPWD, the investment in additional staff and repairs will improve the experience of visitors to each state park. Increased funds will allow the agency to address facilities that have needed repair for many years. In many cases, these deteriorating facilities had been the source of visitor complaints. For example, several park superintendents interviewed for this report emphasized that park visitors would comment upon the run-down state of restroom facilities at many state parks. Superintendent Todd McClanahan at Bastrop State Park suggested that a clean, functional restroom was one of the primary factors determining whether a park visitor had a positive or negative experience at his state park. Recognizing this fact, TPWD prioritized 18 separate repair projects for restrooms at state parks in fiscal 2008 and 2009.

Repair projects such as these likely will have a positive impact on visitors’ experiences and may contribute to increased visitation. Because many of these repair projects have only recently been completed or are currently pending, the impact of the increased funding for state parks in the current budget has not yet been assessed. Further complicating the picture, increased funding is only one of many factors that will influence state park attendance. Other factors include gas prices, economic trends, weather and publicity, some of which resulted from increased public attention to the condition of the state parks system before the 2007 legislative session.

Clearly, state parks are important public assets that provide benefits for Texas citizens, just as do schools, universities and highways. Without maintenance and investment, these assets are diminished. Investment in state parks ensures that these resources remain available for enjoyment by future generations of Texans.

Endnotes