Facilities

• 34 recreation areas 
• 116 picnic sites 
• 748 camping sites 
• 14 playgrounds 
• 6 swimming areas 
• 43 trail miles 
• 2 fishing docks 
• 40 boat ramps 
• 2 marinas 
• 2,838 marina slips 

• 3,426,800 in total
• 445,484 picnickers
• 48,465 campers 
• 1,062,308 swimmers 
• 239,876 water skiers 
• 1,267,916 boaters 
• 1,199,380 sightseers 
• 753,896 fishermen 
• 34,268 hunters 
• 376,948 others

Benefits in Perspective

By providing opportunities for active recreation, lakes help combat one of the most significant of the nation's health problems: lack of physical activity.

Recreational programs and activities at lake also help strengthen family ties and friendships; provide opportunities for children to develop personal skills, social values, and self-esteem; and increase water safety.

Economic Benefits

3,426,800 visits per year resulted in:

• $57.47 million in visitor spending within 30 miles of the lake.
• 66% of the spending was captured by local economy as direct sales effects.

With multiplier effects, visitor trip spending resulted in:

• $62.44 million in total sales.
• $32.97 million in total income.
• 1,675 Jobs in the local community near the lake.

Benefits in Perspective

The money spent by visitors to lake on trip expenses adds to the local and national economies by supporting jobs and generating income. Visitor spending represents a sizable component of the economy in many communities around the lake.

• 24,842 land acres
• 27,700 water acres
• 620 shoreline miles
• 12 acres reforested
• 9,257 environmental educational contacts

Benefits in Perspective

Recreation experiences increase motivation to learn more about the environment; understanding and awareness of environmental issues; and sensitivity to the environment.

Computations of Economic Impacts of CE Visitor Spending

Four components are needed to estimate economic effects: recreation spending, visitor use estimates, capture rates and economic multipliers.

Economic effects = # of visits × average spending per visit × capture rate × regional economic multiplier

The visitation data used here was derived from the National Recreation Management System (NRMS), while the spending profiles were estimated from a national visitor spending survey that was conducted in 1999/2000. Capture rates and economic multipliers were estimated using the Impact Analysis for Planning (IMPLAN) system. IMPLAN is a microcomputer based input-output (I-O) modeling system that is currently maintained by the Minnesota IMPLAN Group Inc. Spending averages were computed and multiplied by visitation statistics to estimate total annual visitor spending. Generalized spending profiles were developed for two sets of visitor segments: (1) campers, other overnight visitors and day users, and (2) boaters and non-boaters. These profiles were applied to recreation use data gathered from the 1999/2000 survey and from the NRMS to estimate total spending by each segment for each of the 456 CE projects.

It is important to distinguish these results that employed local models, or “bottom-up” approach (aggregation of local effects) from the “top-down” approach that used state or U.S. models. The top-down effects were the results of total trip spending by CE visitors (both within and outside 30 miles of projects’ borders) and employed state or national multipliers. These effects were much higher than the aggregation of local effects because the higher capture rate and higher multipliers. The economic impact estimates the employed the "top-down" approach are available on this website for all state and the national level reports.

Sources of Data

Chang, W.H., Propst, D.B., Stynes, D.J., and Jackson, R.S. (2002). Expenditures and Associated Economic Effects of Recreation Visitors to Corps of Engineers Projects. Technical report, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS. In press.

Jackson, R. S., Stynes, D. J., Propst, D. B., and Carlson, B. D. (1996). A Summary of the National and State Economic Effects of the 1994 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Recreation Program. Technical Report R-96-1, U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, MS.

Natural Resource Management System –1999. (2000). Electronic database. Maintained by US Army Engineer, Fort Worth District, Mike Owen for Headquarters US Army Engineer, CECW-ON. Washington, DC.