Program on the Environment

Despite increases in annual park visitation across the United States, funding for state park agencies has stagnated in recent years. This has led to many parks shifting their funding from a fully public model to a user fee-based model. In turn, this shift discourages low-income populations from taking advantage of natural resources that provide recreation, education, and greenspace—all of which have benefits to the environment, communities, and public health. Historically, low-income—especially minority—communities have been centered near areas of pollution and generally poor environments, making accessibility to the benefits of parks an environmental justice issue. The purpose of this study was to analyze transit accessibility of state parks in Washington to determine the system’s efficacy and identify solutions. To accomplish this, I worked with Washington State Parks Foundation (WSPF), a non-profit agency dedicated to improving Washington state parks. Using the Center for Neighborhood Technology’s AllTransit accessibility indicators, I analyzed transit accessibility to each of Washington’s state parks. Washington charges park user fees on a per-vehicle basis using parking passes rather than at an individual level, creating the possibility for an equitable distribution of natural resources to the state’s low socioeconomic status (SES) populations. However, results of the transit accessibility analysis reveal only 5% of Washington state parks scored higher than a 3 out of 10 AllTransit score. Therefore, Washington state has an enormous opportunity to increase equity in their state park system by increasing transit accessibility to parks.