State Parks Benefit the Economy

In our project kickoff with the ODNR, we were told that State Park visitation is good for the economy. In the results of our survey of Ohio state park managers, several park managers expressed concerns and frustrations with lack of funding and issues due to limited budget. Marty Schladen (2025) of the Ohio Capital Journal addresses both the benefit of state parks to the economy and lack of funding in the article quoted below.

Excerpts from Schladen, M.

In order to pay for tax breaks favoring the wealthy, the budget that Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed on June 30 denied resources to improve state parks. A panel of Ohio economists unanimously said those parks are themselves an economic resource that should be protected.

After the state controversially undertook the unpopular measure of allowing fracking in the state parks, the parks themselves were supposed to get some of the money. Specifically, they were to get $30 million for facilities improvement. 

But under the new state budget, Ohio now has to pay for a $1.1 billion-a-year flat tax. The wealthiest 20% of households — those making more than $138,000 a year — will reap 96% of the benefit, according to Policy Matters Ohio. 

As a partial “pay-for,” the $30 million in fracking money that was to improve parks will now go to operate them and free up as much in general-fund spending. 

Kevin Egan of the University of Toledo said Ohio is relatively poor in parklands, and if fracking is to be allowed, it needs to be taxed. “Ohio only has 0.77% of its land as state park and ranks 34th in the nation for federal or state lands,” he wrote. “The worst part is possibly reducing funding due to taxing fracking less. It is efficient to tax activities that cause pollution more, and then using those tax dollars for public parks is a ‘double dividend.'”

I think it's important to know why there has been a reduction in funding to state parks, and it's a shame both that it's happening and that it's happening in such an environmentally and economically damaging way. Although I probably can't address this issue directly in my capstone work, hopefully I can help indirectly push towards more appreciation of the value of state parks.

Resources.

Schladen, M. (2025, July 11). As Ohio budget denies state park resources, experts say parks benefit the economy. Ohio Capital Journal. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/07/11/as-ohio-budget-denies-state-park-resources-experts-say-parks-benefit-the-economy/

No generative AI was used in the creation of this post.