National parks are not a waste of tax-payer money. In this Fresh Take Georgia investigation, data shows that national parks directly influence local economies. The entirety of the National Park System consists of 429 locations which cover more than 85 million acres of U.S. land and territories.
U.S. National Parks stimulate local economies by boosting these sectors of industry: lodging, restaurants, retail, transportation, gas, recreation and groceries. Altogether, hundreds of thousands of jobs are created both locally and nationally.
“For every dollar that the federal government spends on a national park, it generates through tourism and services, $15 for the local economy.” said Patrick Gamman, the superintendent of Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.
In 2023, visitors spent more than $26 billion visiting national parks, 415,000 jobs were created directly or indirectly from this spending and national parks supported $55.6 billion in economic output, according to the National Park Service.
Visiting a national park typically requires transportation by car, airplane, or public buses or trains. Traveling supports both the fuel industry and transportation industries. National parks visitors spent $4.7 billion on gas and transportation in 2023.
In Kennesaw, Georgia, Congress designated what is now known as Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park as protected land from a Civil War battle during the Atlanta Campaign in 1864.
“This park was created to honor the Americans that died to keep our union one and we still get to do that, we protect a lot of archaeological resources,” Gamman said. “Since I’ve been here we’ve found two intact bombs from the Civil war that we had to get the bomb squad to come and take them away.”
Kennesaw Mountain’s battlefield park is unique because it is located in a busy suburb of metropolitan Atlanta, unlike many parks around the country that are typically located in rural areas. The majority of visitors are Atlanta locals and depend on cars for transportation. In 2023, visitors to the park generated $18.6 million from gas and transportation alone.
It has an operating budget of about $2.1 million. This money doesn’t go into the pockets of any rangers or superintendents but into the park to preserve trails, clear fallen trees, renovate bathrooms for public use and a variety of other park specific expenses.
“There will always be room for you in a national park but there might not be room for your car because so many people are coming and we can’t handle the cars,” Gamman said.
There are many industries created alongside national parks. Some cities that surround national parks around the country would not exist if it were not for the park.
“I’m not going to [Springdale] to stay in that town. I’m going to that town because I want to go to Zion national park,” world traveler Ryan Litow said. “If you start tearing that down or destroying that park nobody’s going to go to that town anymore, which means immediately every single one of those jobs is gone.”
Visitor spending on recreation industries accounted for 34,400 jobs nationally. At Kennesaw Mountain, recreation supports 1,450 jobs. Gamman spoke about dog walkers who are paid to walk people’s dogs up the mountain.
“One of the funny businesses we have here are professional dog walkers that come to this park and it’s a special use permit they get,” Gamman said. “There are people paying other people to have their dogs walked here.”
“If you’re in the Grand Canyon, there’s all these private backpacking companies and they bring people in and they guide them, so they get camping permits and they bring all the visitors in and they get a permit for all that,” Gamman said.
Many national parks offer camping within the park. This is a smaller sector of economic stimulation; however, any money spent within a national park, whether parking fees or camping fees, are required by law to stay within the park. Camping contributed $558 million to the parks across the country.
This means that every dollar spent at a national park is a dollar spent on a national park.
Kennesaw Mountain does not offer camping due to its proximity to a large city so any non-local visitors must stay in a hotel.
Lodging is the largest sector of visitor spending when visiting national parks. Tourists spent $9.9 billion nationally on lodging in 2023 and created 89,200 jobs. In Kennesaw, they spent $30.8 million and created 273 jobs, according to the National Park Service.
Lodging directly supports restaurants and retail industries. Those staying in hotels buy groceries or eat at local restaurants. Hostels are another form of lodging near many parks. They tend to be budget friendly.
“If staying in a really comfortable hotel is important to you, that’s going to eat a lot into your finances,” Litow said. “I’m a minimalist in every aspect of my life, and that’s important because when I go to travel, I’ll stay in hostels, I’ll stay in Airbnbs.”
“I’ve stayed in multiple hostels in the United States and they’re still significantly cheaper than hotels, but you can still expect to pay $40 to $100 for your bed for the night.”
Across the country, visitors spent $7.3 billion on restaurants and retail businesses in 2023.
By spending money at a restaurant and other locally owned businesses, consumers support the owner and the employees.
When people camp, they typically bring their own supplies. Even though camping contributes significantly less to the national economy than the other sectors of industry, camping is not without cost.
“It depends on your experience and what you’re doing here but you’re going to spend money to prepare for that and you’re going to spend money on services and then we’re going to spend money on taking care of this place,” Gamman said.
“This is generating income for the local area in so many different ways,” Gamman said. “They hire 27 rangers, and we live in the area then we spend our money here and we buy houses here.”
Campers are charged a fee to camp within the park. Yet, they also need supplies, transportation, food, fuel, etc. Even those who travel lightly still contribute to both the national and local economy.
“You have these towns called gateway towns at most national parks and what they are, are towns that have effectively sprouted up outside of these [parks] weather naturally or specifically for this reason, for visitors of the park,” Litow said.
“Whether it’s international or domestic, it doesn’t really matter, you have an attraction that people are trying to come see and so everything is going to be built off that,” Litow said. “You have the basic necessities or desires that humans have, all built up around the park.”
Visitors purchasing groceries accounted for $1.7 billion added to the national economy and visitor spending at Kennesaw Mountain accounted for $5.5 million.
“I’d have to say it’s a good investment of U.S. tax dollars, because people come from all over the world to see these parks and that always generates a lot of money in the local economy,” Gamman said.
“We’ve got to be a good use of the taxpayer dollar,” Gamman added. “We are always conscientious that we don’t waste money.”
According to The Associated Press, the recent firing and removal of thousands of federal National Park Service employees will devastate local communities that depend on the national park to survive. Without the traffic of visitors, or even with reduced visitor hours, businesses like restaurants and retailers may not survive.
It wasn’t long before President Donald Trump restored at least 50 jobs to the NPS and pledged to hire nearly 7,700 seasonal employees. Seasonal employees are vital to the survival of national parks because they collect fees, maintain the parks and provide first responder services during high traffic months in the summer.
With the entire NPS in disarray, a glimmer of hope for restored jobs is crucial. Yet, the whiplash the department faced led to confusion.
“Whenever there’s a new administration of a different political party, it doesn’t really matter because they usually all support national parks but in different ways; some support infrastructure, some support more staff,” Gamman said. “What’s going on right now is just a reorganization of different parts, but we still want to make sure that we have lots of staff out there to help keep people safe.”
Although there’s a clear economic correlation, national parks were created partly to be a haven of sorts. They are places for people to be with the most beautiful aspects of nature that this country has to offer.
“I used to work at Mount Rainier in the State of Washington. I worked there in 2001 and I was up in a place called Sunrise Way and we didn’t have televisions up there. It was a pretty sleepy weekday, it was September 11 but all of a sudden these people from Seattle showed up,” Gamman said. “They were stunned and shocked and they were all walking around shell shocked but they needed that place of serenity and peace, they needed a refuge.”
“We didn’t know until the end of the day what really happened, but I was really glad the national park was there for people.”
“We are good for the soul of America, we are good for the serenity of America and like I said, because of our form of democracy we said, ‘These places are so special were going to set them aside and were not going to mine them, were not going to log them, and we’re not going to graze them,’” Gamman said. “They’re going to be there for people to enjoy.”
Lee Ann Pendergrass and her husband Joe visited 23 parks in the United States. When they plan to visit a park, they usually fly, then rent a car so they can drive into the park.
Instead of camping they usually stay in a hotel or motel nearest the park. They enjoy the restaurants and cafes that the towns have to offer if the park itself doesn’t have one in the visitors center. They spend an average of $400 on lodging, transportation, food and recreation in addition to the cost of airfare.
“The national parks connect us to nature, they are a resource for affordable recreation for families to explore the landscape, connect with family members in a meaningful way, to educate not only children but adults about the endangered landscapes, natural communities, and species,” Pendergrass said. “The variety of the geographic landscape in the different parts of the USA shows stunning natural beauty and beautiful wildlife.”
“One can’t imagine the natural wonders of the different national parks in the U.S.,” Pendergrass added.
The parks are vital to the survival of many species of flora and fauna, essential to the human species and necessary to the survival of local economies.
“National parks are not necessarily forever, they only exist as long as they’re relevant to the American people,” Gamman said.
“We love what we do, we believe in these places and I cannot express that enough, I feel so lucky to be an American because we have this.”
Fresh Take Georgia contacted the National Parks Conservation Association to ask questions about recent cuts made by the Trump administration. Emails and phone calls were not returned.
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