Legislature Looks at Economic Impact of Public Lands
The focus this fall is on the 2025 legislative Interim Study Committee charged with evaluating the economic Impact of public lands for recreation in Indiana.
The Indiana Conservation Alliance rallied over 20 representatives from a wide range of Indiana organizations to present three hours of testimony. DNR also shared recent revenue numbers from state parks and highlighted the loss of about $1 M in revenue at McCormick’s Creek due to the closed campground destroyed by the 2023 tornado.
Tom Hohman and John Goss recruited local community convention and visitor bureaus and chambers of commerce in towns near Indiana state parks to present data, quotes from local businesses and personal observations on the significance of the state park visitors spending for local economies. Brookville, Angola, Spencer, Versailles, Madison and Discover Southern Indiana all told compelling stories about the dependence of local businesses on park visitor spending in their local towns. The Indiana Parks and Recreation Association presented a 2024 Study documenting visitor numbers at local parks in Indiana and the Indiana Tourism Association submitted detailed visitor spending data for visitors to Turkey Run, Indiana Dunes, Mounds and Starve Hollow.
Tom presented on behalf of IPA and emphasized 2024 State Park visitor and spending numbers from a recent state park user survey. Highlights included over 18 million estimated visits to Indiana State Parks, with approximately 3 million of those visitors from out of state. The combination of visit information and user survey data enabled IPA to estimate that visitors to Indiana state parks contribute between $191 million dollars and $344 million dollars to local economies yearly. (Detailed copies of calculations to determine local spending available on request).
Steve Wolter, recently retired executive director of The Eppley Institute and new IPA board member, submitted a summary of local and national studies examining the value of public lands for recreation. These studies have consistently shown significant economic and public health benefits of those lands.
The Legislative Study Committee has scheduled a second meeting on October 2nd to discuss the public testimony, and begin to formulate a report. Members of the committee can be found at IGA | Interim Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources, Interim Study Committee on. It would be great if members of the committee could hear from their constituents too. If your state legislator is a member of the committee, please contact them by phone or email and tell them about the importance of public lands to you.