When Joe watched the Ken Burns' series on our National Parks, he started thinking about the fact that State and National Parks were designed to meet the outdoor recreational needs of Americans. While a family may make a visit to a National Park once in ten years and they represent the iconic scenic, historic and landmark places in this country like the Statue of Liberty, Washington Monument, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, …. The parks that families visit and recreate in every year are America's State Parks. Our State Parks have more visitors and more economic impact than all the National Parks combined. So both have a tandem role in serving Americans and visitors to this country.
Facts About America's State Parks:
| Total Park Visits: | More than 740 million per year |
| Number of state park units: | 7,810 |
| Total economic impact on communities: | More than $20 billion |
| Percent of visitors with children: | 64% |
| Miles of trails: | 44,219 |
| Number of campsites: | 220,329 |
| Number of cabins and lodges: | 7,954 |
What America's State Parks did not have was the unity and political clout that all of the National Parks have and that is where the new America's State Park movement is important. In light of park closures across the country due to state budget cuts, it's now or never to get the word out and the movement rolling.
This video shows the many accomplishments of the America's State Parks movement in the last year: