Repositioning State Parks as Economic Engines

	Speakers:
	Stacy R. Tomas Tourism Extension Specialist NC State University		John L. Crompton Distinguished Professor Texas A&M University
	Description: The original rationale justifying the establishment of many state park systems was their contributions to economic development. However, now most state parks are viewed as discretionary services and thus subjected to disproportionately large funding cuts in times of economic downturns. This presentation will discuss the approach used by state parks advocates in Texas to re-establish the position that parks are potential economic engines, especially in rural areas. Three strategies were used. First, the economic impact was calculated in 37 state parks to determine the impact of the parks on the host counties in which they were located in terms of impact on sales, impact on residents' income and number of jobs created in the host counties. These results were compared to the State's budgetary investments to those parks and then positioned as see money which was highly leveraged to generate substantial gains in income for residents in those counties. The second strategy was to evaluate the contribution of state parks to the Texas tourism industry. The third strategy was to estimate the contribution to the state's treasury that accrued from the sales tax levied on recreation and sporting equipment. As a result of this approach, the Texas state parks 2004 budget was cut less than 2%, and several legislators used the report to indicate that they were not going to support budget cuts that would cause economic hardships in their districts. This presentation will demonstrate how to generate data at a relatively low cost to support the economic case for repositioning parks as economic engines in host communities, in state tourism, and in contributions to the state treasury through their role in stimulating sales of equipment. In doing so, a report can be created to use as a "selling" document with evidence that advocates could use to lobby legislators and make presentations to groups in their local communities.