The average parkgoer across all regions ranked the purchasing of more land for parks and open spaces and planting more trees for increased shade as their two highest-priorities for DNR investment. The third-priority option was ‘educational opportunities’ with “improved parking’ being a a close fourth in some regions. However, preferences for investment were different depending on the race of the respondent. Figure 1 shows the distribution of investment preferences for white vs. non-white respondents. For non-white respondents, planting trees was most important, followed by educational opportunities. Purchasing more land was the third most important investment area for non-whites but improved parking was a close fourth. For whites, however, purchasing more land was prioritized by just under 30% of respondents and planting trees a close second. All other investments were chosen by far fewer people and generally responses were fairly well distributed across the remaining categories.
School Authors: Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz
Other Authors: Camille Wejnert-Depue, Breana Stevens