Inconsistencies and Further Research

The State Recreation and Parks Department information database, put together by the State Park Directors Association, is a comprehensive data source for much information on State Parks. Some inconsistencies that were found while using this source include:

1. Data sets were missing from 1993-1995 and 1998-2000. Other years do exist, and are obtainable from the director of the State Park Directors Association, however it is difficult to contact or locate this person, and the RI division only had the information for the years listed above.
2. Acquisition information in this data was confusing, because RI showed no increase in State Park Acreage for the years included, yet had acquisitions for most years. These land acquisitions were not specifically for State Park Land, but were DEM land purchased under different titles, while the land itself is controlled by the Recreation and Parks department. Further inquiry into this issue could clear up where funding for land, and maintenance of holdings fit into how acquisition is tabulated.
3. Trail information seems to be inaccurate. RI claims to have 2 trails totaling 150 acres in the entire State Park system, which is untrue. This is an area where funding has not existed, nor an interested party willing to tabulate the exact trail mileage, and could be an important area for further studies.

The Rhode Island Golf Association, a private group, is the expert on golf course changes in Rhode Island. Many areas of information are lacking to create a real informative picture on how this important area of open space use has changed, including:

1. Data on acreage changes and land use issues.
2. GIS coverage's showing golf course locations.
3. Economic activity and tourism issues.

The Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) is a most impressive compilation of recreation data. Drawbacks to this source of information include:

1. The plan is only compiled every five years, and thus does not include yearly data.
2. Many of the interesting data sets collected are not repeated within the next plan, or are done differently, making it hard to compare figures.
3. Some of the data sets include information which seems very difficult to obtain - such as the number of publicly owned picnic tables - making the source of such information questionable.

For more information on SCORP and the types of information found within these plans click here.

In general, more research has to be undertaken to determine the role of private and small local community recreation opportunities. In order to create usable information to display here, data sets provided by a variety of State agencies were used. Very little specific information could be found on major issues such as trails within the state. There is a plethora of information out there, but very little of it is put into a format that can be used to detect trends, and it is recommended to anyone interested in this field to look into developing a clearinghouse for RI recreation information.