State Parks by the Numbers
- Many people may know that Utah State Parks and Recreation operates 42 parks and one recreation area, but the agency is also responsible for annually grooming more than 25,000 miles of snowmobile trails, patrolling 1 million surface acres of water and managing six golf courses.
- The park system was born in 1957 when the Territorial Statehouse in Fillmore, This is the Place Monument in Salt Lake City and Camp Floyd/Stagecoach Inn in Fairfield all opened.
- Visitation has grown from an estimated 350,000 visitors in 1957 to nearly 4.5 million in 2005.
- Government officials first talked about a state park system in 1925 and the Sons of the Utah Pioneers campaigned for a system in 1956, setting the stage for Gov. George Dewey Clyde to create the Utah State Parks Commission in 1957.
- Annual budget for 2008 is $31.7 million (30 percent general fund, 70 percent fees and federal and other state funds; approximately 300 full-time and 300 summer seasonal employees).
- Utah State Park Rangers are the law enforcement and education authority for Utah's off-highway vehicle (OHV) and boating programs on all public lands. More than 35,000 youths have been trained in safe and responsible OHV operation.
- Wasatch Mountain State Park in Midway is the most visited in the system, with 442,069 visits in 2006. Camp Floyd/Stagecoach Inn in Fairfield had the lowest number of visits in 2006 at 13,176.
Parks from A to Y
There are 42 parks and one recreation area managed by the Utah State Parks and Recreation. Here's a list of the areas and when they opened to the public:
Anasazi State Park Museum 1970
Antelope Island State Park 1969
Bear Lake State Park 1962
Camp Floyd/Stagecoach Inn State Park and Museum 1958
Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park 1963
Dead Horse Point State Park 1959
Deer Creek State Park 1971
East Canyon State Park/Mormon Flat 1962
Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum 1978
Escalante State Park 1976
Flight Park State Recreation Area 2006
Fremont Indian State Park and Museum 1987
Goblin Valley State Park 1974
Goosenecks State Park 1962
Great Salt Lake State Marina 1978
Green River State Park 1965
Gunlock State Park 1970
Historic Union Pacific Rail Trail State Park 1992
Huntington State Park 1966
Hyrum State Park 1959
Iron Mission State Park Museum 1973
Jordan River OHV Center 1973
Jordanelle State Park 1995
Kodachrome Basin State Park 1963
Millsite State Park 1971
Otter Creek State Park 1965
Palisade State Park 1962
Piute State Park 1963
Quail Creek State Park 1986
Red Fleet State Park 1988
Rockport State Park 1966
Sand Hollow State Park 2003
Scofield State Park 1965
Snow Canyon State Park 1962
Starvation State Park 1972
Steinaker State Park 1964
Territorial Statehouse State Park Museum 1957
This Is The Place Heritage Park 1957
Utah Field House of Natural History State Park 1959
Utah Lake State Park 1970
Wasatch Mountain State Park 1968
Willard Bay State Park 1966
Yuba State Park 1970
The lost parks
Utah State Parks and Recreation has handed over management of some parks during its 50 years.
- Jordan River Parkway (transferred to Salt Lake City in November 2003)
- Fort Buenaventura (transferred to Weber County in 2002)
- Newspaper Rock (transferred to Bureau of Land Management in 1993)
- Minersville (transferred to Beaver County in 2002)
- Veterans Memorial (transfered to Utah Department of Veteran Affairs in 2001
Did you know?
Utah State Parks also manages three locations in what can best be described as primitive conditions:
- Fort Deseret, near Delta.
- Danger Cave, near Wendover
- Gunnison Bend Reservoir, near Delta
