Over 18.8 million acres of Washington State are public lands—6.5 million of which are managed by state agencies—offering both residents and tourists opportunities to camp in old-growth forests, fish for wild salmon, hike to breath-taking lookouts, and more. Effective recreation management relies on a robust understanding of the scale of visitation and the benefits to local communities, which also highlights the importance of investing in their maintenance.
2025
This update to our 2022 study continues the use of anonymized mobile device data, expanding the data and models to estimate outdoor recreation on state-managed lands from 2019-2023. This report also updates recreational unit boundaries to include sub-units (e.g. trails, visitor centers), and tests the effects of shifting from monthly visitation models to daily models.
We found that from 2019 to 2023, visitation to State Parks grew 9.9 percent, mostly driven by an increase in day visits. Visitation to WDFW lands grew 7.3 percent, while recreation on WDNR lands in 2023 was roughly the same as in 2019, despite a post-COVID surge. Because day visitors tend to spend less than those staying overnight (lodging, restaurants), these trends are also reflected in the average spending and overall economic contribution per visitor.
2022
This study used statewide 2019-2020 anonymous mobile device data to model the total economic contribution of visitors to state-managed recreation lands. State lands supported an estimated 78 million visitor days in 2019, increasing to 87 million in 2020. WDNR land had the largest increase—21 percent. Just over half of all visits in 2019 were day trips; by 2020, this had increased to 66 percent, likely a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The total spending associated with outdoor recreation on state recreation lands supported goods and services (directly and indirectly) worth a total of $5.9 billion. This supported 37,600 full- and part-time jobs, and $1.65 billion in wages in the state. Spending by visitors to state recreation lands contributed to more than $435 million in local and state tax revenue.