Written by Executive Director, Joey-Linn Ulrich

As we celebrate Earth Month, there’s no better time to reflect on the incredible value our parks bring to both people and the planet. At the Allegheny County Parks Foundation, we’ve always known our parks are special, but a recent economic impact study confirms just how far their benefits reach.

Economic Impact Study Background

In 2024, the Allegheny County Parks Foundation, through generous funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, looked at the economic impact of the nine Allegheny County Parks. This work was built off of the Park User surveys that were completed in 2016 and 2022. Working in collaboration with Allegheny County Parks, 4ward Planning Inc. conducted an economic impact study of the county parks focusing on estimating annual park visitation and park visitor spending generated by non-Allegheny County residents, as spending from these non-local park visitors inject new dollars into the county’s economy.

The study looked at visitor spending, real estate values and the environmental impact of the parks. The environmental portion of the study builds off of the ecological improvement and action plans that the Allegheny County Parks Foundation has completed. This portion of the study by Pashek + MTR was done to better understand each park’s potential impacts on air and water quality. The study includes the calculated figures that the avoided infrastructure, property damage and healthcare costs associated with ecosystem services – that is, what carbon sequestration, air pollution reduction and avoided stormwater runoff would cost taxpayers absent ecosystem services provided by the county parks.

Visitors and Visitor Spending

Of the 23 million visits the nine county parks receive annually, 7.2 million are made by non-Allegheny County residents and approximately 141,000 visitors come to enjoy the parks annually. They do so by visiting the recreational facilities, attending a special event like a Summer Concert or a private event at a facility, like a family reunion. When these visitors come to the park, they spend an average of $60 per visit, or combined, a total of $8.45 million dollars annually. This includes trip-related food and beverage purchases for a day trip to one of the nine county parks and dollars spent in the surrounding community.

The local spending by non-Allegheny county residents support local jobs and also provides tax revenues to the local economy.

Environmental Impact

The 12,000 acres of parkland has a total tree canopy of approximately 9,180 acres. Trees act as a sink for carbon dioxide by storing carbon. The carbon benefits of trees in all the parks are estimated to sequester approximately 9,993 tons of carbon annually and store a total of 314,731 tons of carbon. The total estimated value of carbon sequestration is $1.7 million per year.

Air pollution is absorbed by trees which results in improved air quality and cost savings such as reduced healthcare costs and premature deaths. The combined number of trees in each park remove an estimated 664,966 pounds of pollutants from the air each year. This value of air pollution reduction is estimated to be $3.0 million dollars each year.

Stormwater management is another benefit of the parks. The trees help manage stormwater and reduce runoff and improve water quality by filtering pollutants from the runoff water. Approximately 121 million gallons of water is captured each year and the avoided runoff value is estimated at $1.08 million dollars each year.

All combined, the county park ecosystem benefits amount to over $5.8 million in total annual tree value.

Supporting Your Parks

We invite you to read the Executive Summary to explore the full impact of the parks, and we extend our thanks to Allegheny County, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, and everyone who contributed to making this study possible.

This Earth Month, we’re proud to share the findings of this important study and celebrate the value our county parks provide. From supporting local businesses and jobs through tourism to helping clean our air and manage stormwater naturally, these green spaces are working hard behind the scenes—for all of us.

And there’s more good news—this Earth Month, your support can go even further. Thanks to a generous matching gift from Giant Eagle, every donation made in April will be doubled. That means twice the impact for the parks you love. Please invest in and protect these vital spaces that give so much back to our region with a donation today!