Approved by the Infrastructure and Research Policy Committee on May 28, 2025
Approved by the Public Policy and Practice Committee on June 18, 2025
Adopted by the Board of Direction on October 7, 2025

Policy

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) supports sustained investment in the deteriorating infrastructure of America’s parks, monuments, battlefields, and other preserves including federal, state, and local recreation facilities. Investment should consider both protection of our national heritage and enhancement of the experience of park visitors. 

ASCE supports:  

  • Appropriate user fees at the local, state, and federal levels and allowing those agencies to use all collected user fees to support maintenance, operations, and enhancements to their park systems.
  • Enacting legislation to permit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to retain all of the collected recreation fees for use at its facilities.
  • Dedicate funding to address the National Park Service’s deferred maintenance backlog of nearly $12 billion and to permanently and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund. 
  • Maximizing franchise fees with concessionaires upon contract renewal of park and recreation facilities to increase dedicated revenues to support operation and maintenance of facilities. 
  • Leveraging partnerships between the National Park Service and other recreation facility operators and private groups to better utilize assets and appropriately compensate for usage.
  • Developing urban parks for multiple uses such as recreation facilities, and stormwater management, and others. 
  • Ensuring Park facilities and programs are accessible by making parks walkable and bikeable, public transit accessible, and parks accommodating to those of all ages, incomes, abilities, and community-specific needs.

Issue 

Our system of parks, monuments, battlefields, and other preserves allow everyone to enjoy the rich environmental, cultural, and historical heritage of our nation. Americans regularly enjoy park and recreation facilities maintained by entities at all levels of government. At the federal level, the National Park Service, the United States Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are the main custodians of park facilities. State parks and recreation areas cover nearly 20 million acres and served nearly 867 million visits, more than twice as many as federal parks. City parks have the highest visitation rates, with over 60 parks receiving over 1 million visitors a year. 

ASCE 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure gave the nation’s public parks and recreation facilities a C-. Parks, forests, and other public spaces in America create jobs and support the overall well-being of communities. Although park systems have recently received significant investment from the federal government, deferred maintenance continues to rise. Meanwhile, parks continue to face challenges posed by workforce shortages as they simultaneously experience record visitation numbers.

On average, park and recreation agencies across the country provide one park for every 2,386 residents, with 10.6 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents. State parks received 867 million visitors in 2023, an increase of approximately 60 million from 2017. The number of state parks has increased by 15%, or just over 1,300 parks, since 2021; totaling 9,817 state-operated parks in 2023 covering over 20 million acres of land. The National Park Service (NPS) currently manages 429 recreation areas, including parks, forests, monuments, and wildlife preservation areas, as well as over 75,000 constructed assets ranging from visitor centers and utility systems to roads, bridges, and trails. Altogether, these recreation areas cover over 85 million acres, about the area of California, and welcomed 325 million visitors in 2023.

Rationale 

The continued lack of investment contributes to the deterioration of our parks and recreation infrastructure. Such neglect may lead to a reduction in the use and benefit of the nation’s parks and recreation facilities. Federal agencies, states, and localities continue to struggle for the necessary funds to invest in parks amid flat and declining budgets.

ASCE Policy Statement 503
First Approved in 2003