NMSU Study: State Parks Bring in the Bucks
Date: Sept. 11, 1997
Editor: D'Lyn Ford (505) 646-6528, dlford@nmsu.edu
LAS CRUCES -- Visitors to New Mexico's state parks bring fishing tackle, boats, campers and hiking boots. They also bring cash, boosting the economy and creating jobs, said a New Mexico State University natural resource economist.
"State parks, particularly ones located near cities, attract visitors who come in and spend money," said Frank Ward with NMSU's Agricultural Experiment Station. "People buy groceries, gas, bait and fishing licenses and stay at hotels and motels."
In a study of 13 of New Mexico's 35 state parks, all that spending added up to approximately $32 million in annual income and 1,700 full-time equivalent jobs.
"That income gets recirculated in the local economies and, in some cases, lots of jobs are created," Ward said. "So some parts of the state are better off as a consequence of the parks."
Information about the economic impact of outdoor recreation in New Mexico is important for making decisions about the best use of the state's natural resources, which also produce considerable economic impact from timber production, mining, ranching, power production and irrigated agriculture.
Ward's economic data comes from a survey of 5,000 state park visitors during summer 1995. "We asked people whose main destination was a particular park where they made their expenditures during the previous 24 hours," he explained.
Park visitors from out of state spent an average of $120 a day, while those traveling from a different county to visit a park spent a little less -- about $90 to $100. "The largest part is spent on gas, food and lodging, with a little on fishing licenses and car rentals," Ward added.
The state's biggest lake park, Elephant Butte State Park, had the largest economic impact with more than $20 million generated in income and 1,070 jobs in Sierra County.
Other state parks with large impacts: Sugarite Canyon with $2.6 million and 152 jobs in Colfax County, Caballo Lake with $2.6 million and 148 jobs in Sierra County, Ute Lake with $1 million and 57 jobs in Quay County, and Navajo Lake with $1 million and 48 jobs in San Juan County.
Sumner Lake had the least economic impact with $130,000 in income and nine jobs in De Baca County.
"The parks that generate more spending per day do so in part because they are attractive and located near cities where the money is recirculated in the local area," Ward said.
Some qualities that make parks attractive include water levels in the lakes and modern facilities like restrooms and showers. Ward said money the state legislature spends to improve facilities at the parks has a major effect on attracting visitors.
"Another factor is weather," he said. "In the summer, people like to visit high mountain areas. In the winter, they spend more time in the desert areas."
Ward said he is planning to continue this research, since policy makers in the state are interested in more than the extent of economic activity that state park visitors generate.
"Policy makers would like to know how visitor expenditures could be altered in the face of policy changes, such as raising and lowering water levels in the lakes or building more park facilities," Ward said.