The Impact of Reservoir Management Agency on Recreation Participation

In the United States, dams and reservoirs were constructed with the primary objectives of flood control, water storage, and hydroelectricity generation. However, recreation has grown in importance to be a major benefit of reservoirs. Agencies with traditional water storage and flood control objectives need to evolve or partner with other agencies. A dataset for recreation visitation was developed and analyzed. After controlling for reservoir size and facilities and other economic, geographic, and site-specific factors, reservoirs managed by the National Park Service did have significantly more visitation than Army Corps of Engineers managed sites. This research corresponds to concerns that current National Park Service sites are overcrowded and complements research that suggests that converting other recreation areas to be National Park Service sites would increase not only visitation, but local economic benefits.