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San Antonio River Basin Report Card 2022

2022
San Antonio River Basin Report Card Summary
The overall grade for the 2022 San Antonio River Basin Report Card is B. This grade is the average of twelve individual indicator grades, which are explained in greater detail below.
69.5
Park Usage
Park Usage
How is this being measured?
Explanation of the grade
Key findings

A+Park Usage

While all the metrics in the San Antonio River Basin Report Card have overlapping correlation to the safe, clean, enjoyable creeks and rivers aspects of the River Authority’s mission, the Park Usage grade is primarily related to the enjoyable aspect.

The River Authority’s District is home to over 2.4 million people per the latest Census data, and as development continues to drive local population numbers up, there will be a growing need for all types of recreation facilities. The River Authority firmly supports the health and quality of life benefits of nature-based recreation. Over the past decade, the River Authority has added nature-based recreational activities throughout the basin including hike and bike trails, paddling trails, picnic and camping areas, playgrounds, fishing, birdwatching, and even disc golf courses. These river-based recreational resources have attracted thousands of users to enjoy the beauty of nature.

Escondido Creek Parkway Walk

 

The River Authority is working to increase the availability of nature-based recreation throughout the San Antonio River Basin by adding to our park assets, collaborating with other government entities to develop park resources along creeks and rivers in the basin, and by working with citizens to promote the use of and connections between recreational facilities that encourage the public to enjoy the natural resources of the area. With more recreational access to creeks and rivers, the River Authority believes individuals will develop a greater appreciation for the natural resources provided by the San Antonio River and its tributaries. This appreciation will lead to awareness of the issues affecting the basin and promote increased preservation and conservation of these natural resources by individuals, businesses, and governments.

How is this being measured?

For this metric, the grade is calculated by using the total park usage for this fiscal year (July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022) and dividing that number by park usage data from previous fiscal years, then multiply by 100 to get the final score. All of the individual park scores related to usage of parks operated and maintained by the River Authority are averaged together for one grade and a second grade is created for all the individual park scores related to usage of parks located along creeks and rivers throughout the basin which are operated and maintained by other governments or entities. These two grades are then averaged together to determine the final overall grade for this metric. The list of parks being scored are identified in the “Explanation of the Grade” section.

The intent of this grade will be to expand the historical data available over the next few years so there is enough data to allow for a rolling 5-year average to be used in the calculation of the grade. For this year’s basin report card grade, the oldest park usage data we have for some of the parks comes from fiscal year 2017-18, which will allow for a 5-year rolling average to be used in the calculation. Some of the park usage data does not go back all the way to Fiscal Year 2017-18, and in some cases, parks have just opened, or they are identified to open in the future. Therefore, there isn’t yet enough historical data to score each park listed in the “Explanation of the Grade” section. The missing data will be clearly identified in the “Explanation of the Grade” section. We have decided to include the parks with missing data because over the next few years it is anticipated that all the data gaps will be filled allowing for these parks to be properly scored.

Essentially, this grade is a trend analysis for park usage with the basic assumption being that maintaining or increasing the amount of park usage is positive (i.e. will get a higher grade) and a decreasing amount of park usage is negative (i.e. will get a lower grade). Being a trend analysis, it is possible that this grade may produce scores above 100 or below 0. Scores above 100 will be shown as an “A+” on the report card dashboard and a score below 0 will be shown as a “F.” The actual numeric value will be used in the averaging of all metrics to produce the overall basin grade.

Park Usage

 

There is an exception to this metric as related to the River Authority’s paddling trail usage score. This score is not a trend analysis, but rather is based solely on data from Fiscal Year 2021-22. This score is determined by comparing the reported number of paddlers per the Canoe Trail Goliad and the approved paddling vendors in San Antonio against their beginning of the year projections.

For transparency, the River Authority recognizes that it is possible that overuse of a park may, in the long run, be detrimental to that park. Therefore, it may be argued by some that giving a positive score for increasing park usage may not be the ideal way to grade park usage. We were aware of this concern during the development of the San Antonio River Basin Report Card and decided to proceed with the use of the metric as described above despite its potential shortcomings. The River Authority firmly believes that more access to nature-based parks and paddling trails will provide area residents and visitors a greater appreciation for the natural resources and quality of life benefits provided by the San Antonio River and its tributaries. This increased appreciation will help promote preservation and conservation of these resources by individuals, businesses, and government. We will, however, address the potential threat of park overuse, when necessary, in future report cards in the “Key Findings” section of this metric.

Explanation of the grade

Paddling Trails

FY22 Projected Users

FY22 Actual Users

Score

 

4221

5352

126.8

 

 

FY17 data

FY18 data

FY19 data

FY20 data

FY21 data

Average

FY22 data

Score

Museum Reach

289745

260975

245615

327119

320282

288747.2

355999

123.3

         

 

 

 

 

Mission Reach

409539

310006

353271

510609

516787

420042

434193

103.4

         

 

 

 

 

Confluence Park

NA

I

57255

74914

72004

68058

60696

89.2

         

 

 

 

 

San Pedro Creek Culture Park

NA

NA

I

93754

89119

91437

72621

79.4

         

 

 

 

 

River Crossing Park

NA

I

4983

8626

9466

7692

8014

104.2

         

 

 

 

 

Graytown (main gate)

NA

10345

12614

13902

19569

14108

15713

111.4

         

 

 

 

 

Helton (main gate)

NA

36607

49076

60681

67969

53583

64771

120.9

Helton (special use gate)

NA

I

9315

6489

8571

8125

6446

79.3

         

 

 

 

 

Escondido Creek Parkway

NA

NA

NA

NA

I

NA

86661

100.0

         

 

 

 

 

Trueheart Ranch Park

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

         

 

 

 

 

Mann's Crossing Park

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

         

 

 

 

 

Hendrick Arnold Park

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

         

 

 

 

 

Score for River Authority Parks

104.2

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

FY17 data

FY18 data

FY19 data

FY20 data

FY21 data

Average

FY22 data

Score

Government Canyon

81000

80500

71100

72700

59600

72980

84820

116.2

         

 

 

 

 

Howard Peak Greenway Trails

309191

268099

258610

385403

663203

376901

2048455

543.5

         

 

 

 

 

COSA Parks

53269

102692

93121

77320

33485

71977

54200

75.3

         

 

 

 

 

Bexar County Parks

NA

216265

225410

226665

226665

223751

226665

101.3

         

 

 

 

 

Goliad State Park

50700

46500

49600

36900

45200

45780

50293

109.9

         

 

 

 

 

Presidio La Bahia/Zaragoza Birthplace State Historic Site

NA

20956

22104

15811

18199

19268

20156

104.6

         

 

 

 

 

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

34278

46513

36495

50599

52000

43977

55000

125.1

         

 

 

 

 

Score for Non-River Authority Parks

168.0

     

 

 

 

 

NA: there is no data for this fiscal year. I: there is incomplete data available, which we decided not to use.

Final score: (104.2+168.0)/2 *100 = 136.1, which equates to an A+

For this metric, the City of San Antonio’s Howard W. Peak Greenway Trails System score is based on combining the trail counter totals from the Leon Creek at Ingram Transit Center, Leon Creek at Prue, and Salado Creek at Blanco.

For this metric, the City of San Antonio Parks score is based on combining the estimated visitors to Walker Ranch Historic Landmark Park, McAllister Park, Brackenridge Park, Roosevelt Park, and Medina River Natural Area.

For this metric, the Bexar County Parks score is based on combining the estimated visitors to Mission County Park Pavilions, Mission County Park II, and Padre Park. For Fiscal Year 2021-22, Bexar County does not have data to share because the county was not allowing reservations in county parks due to COVID-19. Therefore, Bexar County was not collecting the park usage data even though their parks were still open and being used by the public during the pandemic. With regards to the circumstances of the pandemic, the River Authority will repeat the numbers of the previous Fiscal Year 2019-20, and in future years, actual data will be used when the data is being collected again.

Key findings

Park usage is up once again during Fiscal Year 2021-22 as compared with park usage data from previous fiscal years. It is believed that they ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has once again impacted the park usage numbers as citizens remain eager to get outside and utilize the nature-based and cultural park resources throughout the San Antonio River Basin. The City of San Antonio also opened additional hike and bike trails with new trail counters which significantly contributed to the City’s increased park usage data.  

Park Usage

 

As mentioned in last year’s river basin report card, the uncertainty brought about by COVID-19 has caused anxiety, impacted plans, and altered lives in one way or another. For many, the outdoors has provided an escape from the stress of the current times. More people have been seen enjoying a walk, run, bike ride, fishing, or paddle along the San Antonio River. COVID-19 has reminded us that our creeks, rivers, parks, and green spaces are woven into our life as places that we need for personal physical and mental wellbeing as well as our community’s economic strength.

Overall, the data shows a growth in park usage for both River Authority and non-River Authority parks as, collectively, more than 1,355,923 park users were recorded above last fiscal year’s total park usage figure. Of the 16 individual park usage scores, 8 recorded an increase in usage over previous fiscal years and 8 recorded a decrease. As you can see, the increases in usage across the parks that had higher attendance this year far exceeded the decreased attendance in the other parks. The total increased usage was just shy of 1,477,000 whereas the total decrease amongst the others only numbered 121,000.

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