Photo Credit: East Bay Regional Park District
Anyone who has spent time in parks knows there’s a lot happening. There are creeks that provide drinking water, trails to walk and ride that help people live healthy lives, and picnic areas that host countless birthday parties. People like to live near well-maintained parks, and businesses locate near them.
The East Bay Regional Park District, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, wanted to find out the economic value of the parks. If a dollar amount could be assigned, what would it be? And what is the most scientific way of identifying that number? This is the story of how we did that and what we did with our findings.
But first, a little background. The East Bay Regional Park District is the oldest special district dedicated to parks and open spaces in the country. Since 1934—in the midst of the Great Depression—the park district has grown to 120,000 acres and 65 parks. It employs around 1,000 people, including a fire department, police department, and hundreds of jobs for young adults from cities like Oakland. And it has deep relationships with the 33 cities within the two counties. Its parks range from a few acres to thousands of acres, from urban parks to wide-open spaces outside the suburban limits.