Arizona State Parks & Trails

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Wikipedia

Arizona State Parks & Trails
Agency overview
Formed1957
JurisdictionState of Arizona
HeadquartersPhoenix, Arizona
Agency executive
  • Bob Broscheid, Director
Parent departmentArizona Department of Administration
Websiteazstateparks.com

Arizona State Parks & Trails is the state agency responsible for managing Arizona state parks and historic sites. The agency oversees 33 parks encompassing more than 64,000 acres and receives more than 3 million visitors annually.[1][2]

History

The agency was established in 1957. Its creation reflected the statewide expansion of outdoor recreation and tourism during the decades following World War II.[3] Scholarly work describes how Arizona’s relatively late creation of a state park system influenced its early reliance on interagency partnerships and shared management arrangements.[4]

In 2017, the National Recreation and Park Association awarded Arizona State Parks & Trails its Gold Medal Award for the best-managed state park system in the United States.[5]

The agency was known as Arizona State Parks from its founding until March 2017.[6]

Holdings

The agency manages 33 state parks encompassing more than 64,000 acres statewide[1] and receives more than 3 million visitors annually.[2] Volunteers contributed more than 178,000 service hours statewide in fiscal year 2024.[2]

The system includes:

  • 23 recreation parks — 15 with camping and 8 day-use only
  • 8 historic parks
  • 1 memorial state park
  • 1 state natural area

Regional media have profiled the system’s wide range of landscapes and recreation opportunities.[7]

Representative landscapes within the state park system

References

  1. 1 2 "Who We Are | Arizona State Parks". azstateparks.com. Retrieved September 28, 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 Arizona State Parks & Trails Annual Report FY24 (PDF) (Report). Arizona State Parks & Trails. 2024. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
  3. ↑ "Book review for "Gateways to the Southwest: The Story of Arizona State Parks"". Archived from the original on October 12, 2008.
  4. ↑ Ross W. Gandy and J. G. M. Ramsey. Gateways to the Southwest: The Story of Arizona State Parks. University of Arizona Press, 2004.
  5. ↑ Harris, Craig (September 26, 2017). "Arizona State Parks wins best managed park system in the nation". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
  6. ↑ "2017 CRT Awards - CRT". www.americantrails.org. Retrieved October 16, 2025.
  7. ↑ "Arizona State Parks". The Arizona Republic. April 4, 2014. Retrieved November 28, 2025.

Further reading

  • Gandy, Ross W.; Ramsey, J. G. M. (2004). Gateways to the Southwest: The Story of Arizona State Parks. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 9780816523672.