Individual Assignment:
Introduction
California a western United States country which stands among the states with the largest economies in the US. Within California, there are 28- recreational parks that are areas of relaxation and exploration by both residents and visitors. These parks are lucrative income generating avenues for the state. For this assignment, we explore the statistical data of the biggest recreational park in California which is the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. This paper presents a discussion on the parks land use, management economy and general observations.
Being the biggest park in California, the Anza-Borego Desert State Park covers an area of 5,050.16 acres within the Colorado Desert in southern California ("State Park System Statistical Report"). Being a desert park the park is covered by over 500miles of dirt road which is networked throughout the park (S. et al.). There is also many more miles in place of hiking. This area has many desert mountains and a variety of natural flowers. Through the hiking trails, several natural oasis also exists providing shade camping areas and resting places for visitors. Although the park stretches over a vast area, human activities in the park have been recorded by anthropologists to go back 6000 years ago, and presently there is no record of human occupation of the land. The park, in turn, is the home of endangered plants and animal species like the peninsular bighorn sheep ("Anza-Borrego Desert SP").
Management
This park is operated under the management of the California Department of State Parks. This state department runs under the Director, Lisa Manga, who has been in office since April 30, 2015 ("Lisa Mangat, Director"). The park itself is directly managed under a proactive team with the director Travis E. Huxman, Reserve Manager Jim Dice, Assistant reserve managers Robert Theriault and Elaine Tulving, and the staff research associate Sicco Rood. This team works and maintains the Anza-Borego Desert State Park Research Center.
The Economy
As a recreational park like other parks in California Anza Borego Desert Park can attract visitors from all over the world to come in and enjoy its adventure and beauty. Around the park, we have hotels, lodges, and resorts that are readily available to offer services to visitors. This is the main income generating activity around this recreational park. Taking advantage of the inflow of visitors there exist firms such as “Expedia Cars” which specializes in offering rental car services to clients who intend to enjoy the exquisite adventures of this park ("Anza Borrego Desert State Park Car Rental: Find Cheap Rental Cars In Anza Borrego Desert State Park, California | Expedia.Ca"). There is also the existence of a golf course and other complementing businesses such as petrol station and food outlets. All these are complementary economic activities that generate income within this resource. Other than the direct economic benefit brought forth by this park there is more than a hand full of other opportunities that have been created by the existence of this park. The availability of these complementary resources, also, the existence of this desert park ensures that visitors can stay for longer periods within this vicinity which relates to more expenditure. This plays a key role in elevating the economy of California.
The average Number of people that visit California over the years have been averaging to over 60million per fiscal year. This is not the statistic of Anza Borego Desert Park but this park always has the greatest number of visitors per fiscal year. Thus from the average $3.2 billion spent by visitors per year the larger amount relates to expenditure around this recreational park.
Observations
Other than the sand mountains that are present in this recreational park. There is a variety of other natural items to enjoy in the park. This park is the home of the around 253 bighorn sheep which are an endangered species. The park also possess a variety of natural Blair Valley wildflowers which are beautiful and give life to the sandy dry deserts lands. Further life is provided by the existence of oasis in the middle of hiking terrain. This sports are perfect camping sites where one can observe beautiful sky’s and clear stars in the sky at night.
The dirt roads that stretch to over 500 miles was way beyond my expectations because I had the perception that less area would be covered by vehicle maneuvering. The existence of a golf course further impresses and exceed my expectation off the manmade addition to the natural environment of the recreational park. I also observed the car renting agency as a very valuable addition to the existence of the park since it further empowers visitors to the personal maneuvering of the park.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we see that the existence of Anza Borego Desert Park within the Colorado Desert have a positive economic result to the economy of California. Other than just offering a location of comfort and relaxation to visitors, this location also preserves nature and habits endangered species while creating a source of income to the community and state.
Work Cited
"Anza Borrego Desert State Park Car Rental: Find Cheap Rental Cars In Anza Borrego Desert
"Anza-Borrego Desert SP". Parks.ca.gov. N.p., 2016. Web. 26 May 2016.
"Lisa Mangat, Director". Parks.ca.gov. N.p., 2016. Web. 26 May 2016.
"Research Center Staff - Anza Borrego Desert Research Center". Anza Borrego Desert Research
Center. N.p., 2016. Web. 26 May 2016.
S., Alyx et al. "Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, CA | Search Private And Public Campgrounds".
Hipcamp. N.p., 2015. Web. 26 May 2016.
"State Park System Statistical Report". Parks.ca.gov. N.p., 2016. Web. 26 May 2016.
