Hello, lovers of the great outdoors! We have just the commemoration for you.
National Park Week started April 19 and runs to April 27. This year, as often happens, Earth Day — that’s today, April 22 — falls during this annual week celebrating the more than 400 national parks across the United States.
Sixty-three National Park Service (NPS) sites include the words “National Park” in their official names, but our national park system also encompasses monuments, memorials, battlefields, recreation areas, preserves, and historical sites.
Each is a testament to our country’s natural and manmade diversity, beauty, and shared history.
Preservation vs. pay: The current administration doesn’t think we are utilizing our outdoor assets properly, and has issued several executive orders to change things.
One, for example, aims to increase timber production on national land. Donald J. Trump also views federal properties as natural resources to reconfigure U.S. energy policy, specifically boosting the oil and gas and coal sectors.
The current White House occupant’s thinking is that everything needs to make more money. But our national parks already contribute to the United States bottom line, and in ways that do not threaten their existence, as a key part of the recreation economy.
“Outdoor recreation is among our nation's largest economic sectors, representing the lifeblood of thousands of American communities and providing livelihoods for millions of American workers,” notes the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA).
In fact, notes the trade association, “more Americans are directly employed by hunting and fishing (483,000) than oil and gas extraction (180,000).”
And, of course, note the tax revenue cited in the OIA graphic above. The outdoor recreation economy generates more than $65 billion a year in taxes for Uncle Sam, and more than $59 billion for state and local tax collectors.
National Park economic input: The U.S. lands’ direct contribution to the country’s economy came, in large part, from the 331.9 million recreation visits that the National Park Service (NPS) recorded last year.
After a dip in 2020 (thank COVID-19 pandemic), most National Parks have seen a steady increase in visits. Twenty-four NPS sites set new visitation records last year.
And the coronavirus pandemic actually helped make some outdoor activities more popular. The OIA’s 2023 outdoor participation trends report estimated that nearly 60 million people took up hiking in 2022, making it the most popular outdoor activity.
Outdoor enthusiasts also tend to be young and diverse, which bodes well for the sector’s growth.
It’s also good news for Uncle Sam.
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) estimated that in 2023 the outdoor recreation economy added 2.3 percent, or $639.5 billion, to the United States’ gross domestic product (GDP). More importantly, that amount is expected to keep growing.
From an employment standpoint, 7.6 million Americans get their paychecks from recreation economy sources. This includes park rangers, guides, sales associates, manufacturers, engineers, and members of the scientific community working to maintain outdoor resources.
State economic driver, too: The recreation economy is even more economically important in some states, where it accounts for even larger portions of those jurisdiction’s revenues. That’s particularly true in the Western United States, as the BEA map below shows.
In Montana, for example, 5.8 percent of the state’s residents rely on recreation economy employment, which generates $3.4 billion a year and accounts for 4.6 percent of the Treasure State’s economy. In Hawai'i, our furthermost western state, the outdoor recreation revenue accounts for 6.9 percent of the Aloha State’s economy and employs over 49,000 people.
So, rather than impede visitors’ (and their dollars) access to national park facilities, the Trump administration might want to maximize what already is working, while also protecting these natural treasures
“The United States is globally recognized as the leader in outdoor recreation,” notes the OIA report on the recreation economy. “As a multi-dimensional economic sector, outdoor recreation fuels employment in other sectors, such as manufacturing, finance, retail, transportation, food service, tourism, travel and more.”
If you want to visit federal lands and monuments and contribute to the U.S. economy this special week or any time, the National Park Service’s Find A Park page can help with your travel plans.
You also might find these items of interest:
- Home landscaping and tax tips for Earth Day 2021
- Use federal home energy tax credits to fight the heat
- Taking environmental care of our personal homes and home planet on Earth Day 2024
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