Ginger Murphy, Assistant Director for Stewardship for the Indiana State Parks and Reservoirs, spoke to Kiwanis about Indiana’s state parks. On 32 properties the system covers 171,123 acres and hosts 15.8 million visitors a year. They maintain 2,080 buildings, 600 miles of trails, and 61,000 acres of hunting land. They also have 31,000 acres of lakes, 73 boat ramps, and 17 marinas. There are 14 year-round interpretive centers with 631 inn rooms and 7,797 campsites and 149 cabins. There are 17,000 picnic tables, 174 picnic shelters, 163 playgrounds. All of this is staffed by 348 full-time staff and is paid for with entrance/rental fees and a per capita cost to Hoosiers annually of only $1.89. Indiana is fortunate to have one of the best park systems in the country.
Ginger handles education for Indiana school children and helps with resource management. She told that she came from Kentucky and originally thought “Indiana was just a long cornfield” but was surprised and pleased with the diversity and variety of our state and parks.
Ginger gave a questionnaire on “How Much Do You Know About Indiana’s State Parks and Reservoirs?” It was discovered that not enough was known since the top score was 12 of 32 possible. After hearing about the 32 properties, the group is more knowledgeable and many plan to visit parks new to them.
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