As National Great Outdoors Month is observed this June, is releasing information they compiled for the from survey responses from over 3,400 recent visitors to state parks.
The survey responses revealed valuable insights into visitors’ experiences, such as who is visiting the parks, what they thought about their experiences, and what they hope to see in the future. The study also provided information on the economic impact the visits have on communities.
“Through this survey, we’re gaining a better understanding of who our visitors are, why they come and what we need to keep them coming back,” Robert Mergell, ÁùºÏ±¦µä State Parks administrator, said.
Over the past two years, State Parks worked with Extension’s ÁùºÏ±¦µä Economic Assessment Program to learn about the experiences of visitors at ÁùºÏ±¦µä’s participating state parks. Staff at 26 of ÁùºÏ±¦µä’s open state parks approached more than 9,100 individuals to participate in the survey. Of those, nearly 7,700 agreed to participate, with more than 3,400 completing the full survey. Extension recently completed the first report of this multiyear survey.
“Our past visitor surveys were not actually bringing in useful information,” Mergell said. “I asked the Extension team if there were any questions they would like to see us add to our new surveys that might help them get information. They reached out to me a short time later and suggested maybe they could take a bigger role in our surveys, which resulted in much more discussion, and we ended up entering into a great partnership. It has been a great experience.”
As a result of the partnership, the survey became more robust. In addition to getting to know the visitors through the collection of demographic information, such as age, gender, race, income and education, the survey sought other more detailed information, including why visitors took their trip, where they traveled from and their method of travel. By gaining a better understanding of who is visiting and why, Extension was able to estimate the economic impact that visits to a park have on a community.
“For an out-of-town visitor, they’re bringing in new money to a community,” Joe Lednicky, Extension economist and the survey project manager, said. “We want to know if the park was the reason for that visit and how long they stayed. With the data we collected, we’re able to demonstrate that parks have more than the benefit of being nice outdoor spaces. They are also bringing in money and jobs into communities.”
This quantitative data is the type of information Mergell says is important to them as they budget and prioritize their projects.
“We will use the information to build future budget requests, and to justify why those budgets should be approved by the Governor’s Office and the Legislature,” Mergell said.
By learning more about who is currently visiting the State Parks, Mergell also sees an opportunity to grow that audience.
“The results of the survey help us to identify which groups of people we might not be fully serving,” Mergell said. “With that we can identify areas we may need to do more outreach.”
Survey highlights, park experiences and feedback
The survey reflects responses to more than 60 questions per park, including where visitors came from and how large their groups were. This varied depending on the park, but 55% of park visitors were ÁùºÏ±¦µä residents. Most participants came as a pair (45%), while 24% of respondents were in a group of three or four, and just 11% visited the park alone.
The park that had the most nonlocal visitors (defined as people who live at least 50 miles away from the park) was Berlin-Ichthyosaur, 20 miles east of Gabbs, with 98% of respondents journeying from out of town to visit. Several other parks had more than 90% of respondents travel more than 50 miles, including Cathedral Gorge, near Panaca; Cave Lake, near Ely; and Echo Canyon and Spring Valley, both near Pioche. Washoe Lake and Lahontan, near Reno, were extremely popular for local residents, with more than 90% of respondents living nearby.
Hiking or walking trails were identified as the most popular recreational activities at the majority of parks.
A portion of the survey focused on what visitors’ experiences were, such as their assessment of the condition of park amenities, which, depending on the park, included restrooms, walkways, water fill stations, exhibits, visitors’ centers, picnic areas, campsites showers, boat launches and beaches.
ÁùºÏ±¦µä’s state parks received high marks as a whole. Collectively, the responses about the parks were positive, with at least 80% of visitors rating their experience as good or excellent and 93% stating that there were no issues with overall park amenities. Additionally, most visitors are likely to return to the park they visited, with 88% expressing they were extremely likely or somewhat likely to visit again.
Although the state parks generally received positive responses, room for improvement was identified at each. For example, visitors at Cave Rock at Lake Tahoe and Valley of Fire in Moapa Valley thought that parking was difficult to find, and visitors to Van Sickle suggested that signage was not always clear.
Visitors also rated their interactions with park staff, with 69% strongly agreeing and 23% agreeing that they had positive interactions with staff.
In addition to reflecting on their current park experience, visitors were asked to assess proposed projects, including whether they would use them or if the project would serve as an incentive to return. For example, visitors at Valley of Fire were asked about the addition of a grab-and-go restaurant, with 51% of respondents indicating they are extremely likely or somewhat likely to use such a service. At Mormon Station State Historic Park in Genoa, 89% of respondents shared they want to see additional educational content at the blacksmith area and 1940s house. At Walker River near Yerington, 65% of respondents said that paved access would make them more likely to visit, highlighting the importance of road quality on park accessibility.
The feedback received from this portion of the survey will be used to help to identify areas that require immediate attention, improvements or upgrades.
“We will use the information to design future facilities, and/or upgrade or redesign current ones to better meet the needs of the public,” Mergell said.
The reflects the proposed amenities for each park and visitor responses.
Extension’s role and methodology
As part of the project, Extension spent months working with the team at State Parks to develop the survey. The administration provided direction on what they wanted to learn from their visitors, and Extension shared how it could help calculate the economic and fiscal impacts. Together, they developed questions that would be applied to all parks and then those that were specific to each park, as each park has its unique offerings or potential needs.
“Many people understand the general appeal of outdoor space and parks, and the importance of preserving the history of ÁùºÏ±¦µä, but we wanted this survey to do more,” Lednicky said. “We wanted to help demonstrate how much value a state park is to a community and its local economy.”
Extension used its expertise on how to deploy the survey to ensure its success. Extension trained parks staff on how to recruit survey participants to ensure diverse and randomized responses, how to conduct the surveys, and how to respond to questions. Extension also developed a script for staff to follow as they handed out survey postcards to individuals. The postcards contained a QR code for participants to take the survey online when they return home.
Extension monitored the survey responses and flagged if there were any parks where the response rate was abnormally low. By communicating these trends with the State Parks, the two entities worked together to troubleshoot any issues that might be interfering with the success of the survey.
Overcoming challenges
Besides some technical challenges, the creation of the survey itself was also very challenging. Creating the online survey was a very lengthy process because of how complex the survey had to be.
“It’s the longest survey and most intricate survey that I’ve seen,” Lednicky said. “There’s so many variables that impact the length of the survey.”
Despite the length of the survey, which could take participants between 15 and 20 minutes, it has seen a very high completion rate.
“90% of the people who started the survey completed it,” Lednicky said. “That’s extremely high, especially considering how long it takes. We’re pleased to have so much valuable feedback.”
The future
The Division of State Parks is pleased with what the information the partnership yielded, and has extended the partnership through the end of 2025. A new report will be completed annually.
“I see the survey continuing to show us areas that we need to improve and helping us to identify if current strategies are having the desired effect for our visitors,” Mergell said. “I see it continuing to show us changing trends in visitor use, wants and needs, and helping us make more informed management decisions.”
