Economic Impacts of Parks, Rivers, Trails and Greenways

contracts that gross over $800 million annually. These concessioners employ over25,000 hospitality industry employees during peak seasons and they offer services thatare not provided by National Park Service personnel ranging from food, lodging, andgas stations to white water rafting adventures. By welcoming the private sector as apartner in park operations, the National Park Service broadens the economic base of theregion in general and the communities surrounding the parks in particular (NationalPark Service, 2004).Alcatraz evening tours for the general public are not held on Tuesdays and Wednesdays,because these are low-demand days. On these "dark nights," the island is available forprivate tours and special events, such as the Wells Fargo Private Tour and Receptionheld in July 2004. The company brought 125 guests from around the country and paidfor National Park Service rangers overtime corporate salaries to provide programs andtours for the group. It also set up a catered reception on the island, complying withstrict guidelines governing food preparation and site use. Total costs of producing theevent, including catering, production, and water transportation, amounted to $50,000,including $10,600 paid to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area for permit costrecovery. The entire group stayed at the Argonaut Hotel, which is a concessioner ofSan Francisco Maritime National Historic Park (Evenson, 2004).Revenues and benefits may also be generated through agricultural leases within a park orgreenway, or via the gross value of pasture and range production value. For example, theEast Bay Regional Park District in California permits grazing on 57,400 acres of its land,which represents about 14% of the total grazing land available in the San Francisco EastBay. The County Agricultural Commissioner’s reports for the East Bay imply an annualvalue of $12.90 per acre of grazing land. As a result, application of this average value peracre yields an estimate of gross District pasture and range production value of $740,000each year (East Bay Regional Park District, 2000).The Shasta Valley Wildlife Area in northern California, managed by the Departmentof Fish and Game, receives between $15,000 and $18,000 annually in exchange forgrazing leases. The funds are used to help cover the costs of operations andimprovements on the wildlife areas where the money was collected. Wildlife habitatis maintained for greater sandhill cranes, in particular, a long-legged bird thatoccupies shallow wetlands and open wet meadows and fields, and is listed as athreatened species in California. Cattle grazing is scheduled and located in areas thatdo not impact nesting and rearing of young birds, but the cranes prefer grazed areasover those that have not been grazed. Proceeds from leases are used to stabilizewetland areas for the birds to nest in and to improve public-use facilities. TheDepartment of Fish and Game maintains nearly 10 miles of gravel dirt road open tothe public and often used by hikers and birders, parking areas, fish passage facilitiesand fish screens along a tributary to the Shasta River, as well as an outdoorclassroom with a teaching area and hiking trail used by schoolchildren. (Smith,2004)Another type of revenue is generated between telecommunications and utility companiesand the entities managing parks and trails. Telecommunications and utilities companies, for21