State parks are
park
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. ...
s or other
protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational potential. There are state parks under the administration of the government of each
U.S. state, some of the
Mexican states, and in Brazil. The term is also used in the
Australian state
The states and territories are federated administrative divisions in Australia, ruled by regional governments that constitute the second level of governance between the federal government and local governments. States are self-governing ...
s of
Victoria and
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
. The equivalent term used in Canada, Argentina, South Africa, and Belgium, is
provincial park
Ischigualasto Provincial Park
A provincial park (or territorial park) is a park administered by one of the provinces of a country, as opposed to a national park. They are similar to state parks in other countries. They are typically open to t ...
. Similar systems of local government maintained parks exist in other countries, but the terminology varies.
State parks are thus similar to
national park
A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...
s, but under state rather than federal administration. Similarly,
local government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loc ...
entities below state level may maintain parks, e.g.,
regional parks or
county parks. In general, state parks are smaller than national parks, with a few exceptions such as the
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California, and
Wood-Tikchik State Park
Wood-Tikchik State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Alaska north of Dillingham. Over (6,500 km2) in area—about the size of the state of Delaware—, comprising more than half of all state park land in Alaska and 15% of the total ...
in Alaska, the largest state park in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
.
State parks by country
United States
There are 6,792 state park units in the United States, according to the
National Association of State Park Directors (NASPD).
There are some 813 million annual visits to the country's state parks.
The NASPD further counts over of trail, 217,367 campsites, and 8,277 cabins and lodges across U.S. state parks.
The largest state park system in the United States is
Alaska State Parks, with over 100 sites encompassing 3.3 million acres.
Many states include designations beyond "state park" in their state parks systems. Other designations might be state
recreation areas, state beaches, and state
nature reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological o ...
s. Some state park systems include long-distance trails and
historic sites. To encourage
tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
in
rural
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are de ...
areas, several states have simple lodges, inns, hotels, or motels (usually with a restaurant) for lodging at some parks. These typically use "Resort" in the name, such as "_____ Resort State Park" in
West Virginia state parks
There are 37 state parks in the U.S. state of West Virginia . The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (WVDNR) Parks and Recreation Section is the governing body for all 37 state parks and directly operates all but one of them. In a ...
and "_____ State Resort Park" in neighboring
Kentucky state parks
Maintained by the Kentucky Department of Parks, Kentucky's system of 49 state parks has been referred to as "the nation's finest" and experiences more repeat business annually than those of any other U.S. state. The state's diverse geography provi ...
, which has 17 such resort parks, the most of any state. Other states use the Resort name inconsistently (like
DeGray Lake Resort State Park
DeGray Lake Resort State Park is a Arkansas state park in Clark and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas in the United States. Situated in the Ouachita Mountains, the park features the DeGray Lake, the park features a championship rated 18 hole g ...
, the only one out of three resorts in
Arkansas state parks
There are 52 state parks in the U.S. state of Arkansas, as of 2019. ''Note: this list of all 52 parks is the default reference for current individual Arkansas state parks.'' The state parks division of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, ...
), or have only one such park (
South Carolina state parks'
Hickory Knob State Resort Park), or do not use the designation at all (such as the lodges of
Georgia state parks). The term "lodge" may also refer to a
hiking lodge, essentially a large cabin for hikers rather than a large facility with private rooms and a restaurant. Other lodging may include
yurts and
tipis.
Not all parks owned by a state are necessarily part of its state-park system, such as
Stone Mountain Park
Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park, east of Atlanta, Georgia. Outside the park is the small city of Stone Mountain, Georgia. The park is the most visited tourist site in the state of Georgia.
...
near Atlanta. Some
Texas state parks are actually a
land lease from the
U.S. government, while
Mackinac National Park was handed down to become the first one of the
Michigan state parks
This is a list of Michigan state parks and related protected areas under the jurisdiction or owned by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Parks and Recreation Division. A total of 106 state parks, state recreation areas and trai ...
. As with national parks, facilities at state parks are often leased to
concessionaires to operate.
Breaks Interstate Park is operated under an
interstate compact by
Virginia state parks
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...
, although it is also one of the
Kentucky state parks
Maintained by the Kentucky Department of Parks, Kentucky's system of 49 state parks has been referred to as "the nation's finest" and experiences more repeat business annually than those of any other U.S. state. The state's diverse geography provi ...
, straddling both sides of the state line. Other multi-state parks are legally two separate parks with the same name and more informal cooperation between them.
History
The title of oldest state park in the United States is claimed by
Niagara Falls State Park in
New York, established in 1885.
However several public parks previously or currently maintained at the state level pre-date it.
Indian Springs State Park
Indian Springs State Park is a 528-acre (2.14 km²) Georgia state park located near Jackson and Flovilla. The park is named for its several springs, which the Creek Indians used for centuries to heal the sick. The water from these spring ...
has been operated continuously by the state of
Georgia as a public park since 1825, although it did not gain the title "State Park" until 1931. In 1864
Yosemite Valley and
Mariposa Grove
Mariposa Grove is a sequoia grove located near Wawona, California, United States, in the southernmost part of Yosemite National Park. It is the largest grove of giant sequoias in the park, with several hundred mature examples of the tree. Two o ...
were ceded by the federal government to California
[ until ]Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...
was proclaimed in 1890. In 1878 Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
set aside a vast swath of its northern forests as "The State Park" but, needing money, sold most of it to lumber companies within 20 years. The first state park with the designation of "state park" was Mackinac Island State Park
Mackinac Island State Park is a state park located on Mackinac Island in the U.S. state of Michigan. A Lake Huron island, it is near the Straits of Mackinac. The island park encompasses , which is approximately 80% of the island's total area. ...
in 1895, which was first a national park before being transferred to the state of Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...
.
Many state park systems date to the 1930s, when around 800 state parks (and several national ones) across the country were developed with assistance from federal job-creation programs like the Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a ...
and Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
.
Brazil
See also
*Lists of state parks by U.S. state
The list of state parks in the United States are listed by individual state.
List
*Alabama
*Alaska
* Arizona
*Arkansas
* California
*Colorado
* Connecticut
*Delaware
*Florida
*Georgia
*Hawaii
*Idaho
*Illinois
*Indiana
*Iowa
*Kansas
*Kentucky
*Lou ...
* National Wilderness Preservation System (United States)
References
{{reflist, 22em
Further reading
* Ahlgren, Carol. "The Civilian Conservation Corps and Wisconsin State Park Development." ''Wisconsin Magazine of History'' (1988): 184-204
in JSTOR
* Landrum, Ney C. ''The State Park Movement in America: A Critical Review'' (2013
excerpt and text search
* Larson, Zeb. "Silver Falls State Park and the Early Environmental Movement." ''Oregon Historical Quarterly'' (2011) 112#1 pp: 34-5
in JSTOR
* Newton, Norman T. "The State Park Movement: 1864-1933;" and "State Parks and the Civilian Conservation Corps, Parkways and Their Offspring." in ''Design on the Land: the Development of Landscape Architecture'' (Harvard UP 1971)
* Parker, Eugene Phillip. "When Forests Trumped Parks: The Maryland Experience, 1906-1950." ''Maryland Historical Magazine'' (2006) 101#2 pp: 203-224.