Title

Reservation Access to California State Campgrounds in Santa Cruz County, CA

An ArcGIS Pro project, Web Map Application, and distributable maps that can serve as reference tools for those wishing to make camping reservations at the California State Park Campgrounds within Santa Cruz County through the ReserveCalifornia™ website. Additional analysis of campground and park amenities is also included.

Camping within California State Parks is one the most enjoyable and sought-after experiences within California. The demand for access to California State Park campgrounds has grown tremendously over the years, and with the ReserveCalifornia™ website being launched in 2018, it is even easier for park visitors to make camping reservations in advance. Santa Cruz County, with a diverse environment which includes beaches and forests, is one of the most desirable camping regions within the state. The final Web Map Application provides an analysis of California State Campgrounds within Santa Cruz County that are available for camping reservations through the California State Parks ReserveCalifornia™ website.

The inspiration for my project is my family’s annual camping trip to New Brighton State Beach in Santa Cruz County, which is something I always look forward to. Like many others who either live in California or visit here, camping in California State Parks is one of the most popular experiences with the demand for camping sites increasing each year. Per the 2016/2017 California State Parks Statistical Report there was a total of 7,265,525 overnight camping uses within all California State Parks, which was a 10.68% increase over the previous year. These statistics reflect the year immediately prior to the launch of the California State Parks own reservation website, ReserveCalifornia™, which went live on August 1st, 2017. At the initial website launch, only 110 parks were available for reservations, but as of 2020 there are now 145 options to choose from (Sze, 2017). Guests can book reservations up to six months in advance to their desired timeframe. After hearing the stories from my family members struggling to call and make reservations over the phone, this new website sounded like a major upgrade.

The initial launch of the website was relatively well received, but there were some loopholes which allowed people to take advantage of the system. It was reported that because the system allowed reservations to be made on a rolling six-month period, campers were able to indefinitely extend their existing reservation with each new day. Reservations would never be available because the newly opened spots would be taken by guests extending their reservation instead. This drove some guests to use third party websites that would book reservations automatically for them.

Because of this issue, a year after the website was launched a few changes were made to make the highly sought-after reservations more available. Firstly, reservations could only be modified twice while certain locations do not allow any reservation modifications. Secondly, third-party reservation vendors were banned (Trageser, 2018). Because this issue was so rampant, state Assembly Bill 472 was proposed specifically to “make it unlawful for a person to intentionally use or sell software or services to avoid a security control or measure used to ensure an equitable campsite reservation making process" (Boerner and Cooley, 2021). Although the bill passed both the State Assembly and State Senate, it was ultimately vetoed by Governor Newsom who stated that “the Department of Parks and Recreation has already implemented several security measures to ensure an equitable reservation process" (Newsom, 2021).

Because of my family’s annual camping trip, and my love of the Santa Cruz area, I decided to focus my project on the California State Parks and Campgrounds in Santa Cruz County. I wanted to create an easy-to-use Web Map Application and distributable maps that could be referenced by anyone before making their Santa Cruz County State Park campground reservation through the new ReserveCalifornia™ website.

Below is a list of the data layers collected and their respective websites. I provide detailed analysis procedures in the methods section below.

Geodetic Control:
Shapefile of NGS survey marker for Santa Cruz County by radial search on the NGS Website. NOAA NGS Radial Survey Marker Shapefile Generator

Orthoimagery:
2020 NAIP 60-cm orthoimagery from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. 2020 CDFW NAIP Imagery

Elevation:
Elevation Contour lines from the Santa Cruz County GIS through ArcGIS Online Portal. Santa Cruz County Elevation Contours

Hydrography:
Santa Cruz County Stream feature set from the Santa Cruz County GIS Portal. Santa Cruz County Streams

Transportation:
Santa Cruz County Scenic Roads feature set from the Santa Cruz County GIS Portal. Santa Cruz County Scenic Roads

Cadastral:
California State Parks Park Boundaries feature set from the California State Parks GIS Portal. Santa Cruz County California State Park Boundaries

Governmental Units:
Santa Cruz County Border feature set from Santa Cruz County GIS Portal. Santa Cruz County Border

Additional Data:
.CSV file of ReserveCalifornia™ reservable campgrounds from the California Open Data Portal. ReserveCalifornia™ Available Campgrounds

California State Parks Campground feature set from the California State Parks GIS Portal. California State Parks Campgrounds

California State Parks buildings feature set, filtered to restroom facilities, from the California State Parks GIS Portal. California State Parks Restrooms

California State Parks Picnic Areas feature set from the California State Parks GIS Portal. California State Parks Picnic Areas

The table below lists the counts for each item for each California State Parks Type. SP for State Park, SB for State Beach, and Other for park sub-units such as nature preserves. Most of the State Parks and State Beaches had multiple campground options, thus creating additional park counts, because of the different kinds of campsites or areas within each park. Reservation methods on the ReserveCalifornia™ website also reflected this. An example is that New Brighton State Beach Campground has separate Group Camping, Northern End, and Southern End campground areas available for reservation on the website. The campsite options counts were calculated from the 2016/2017 State Parks Statistical Report. Because there are cabins available for reservations through the website, I have also included them in the total campsite count.

As I began this project, I did not anticipate there being any limitations on the reservable campground options for this study area. It is very interesting to see how much of an impact the CZU Lightning Complex Fire had on the available reservable campground options and possible revenue loss for the California State Parks. The closure of the Big Basin Redwoods State Park alone accounted for twenty campgrounds and a combined 234 reservable campsite options not being available. This is a staggering 61.26% closure rate for all the California State Parks campsite options in the study area. Per the 2016/2017 California State Parks Statistical Report, the Big Basin Redwoods State Park had a combined Paid Day Use and Camping Use of 308,288 visits and combined revenue of $1,061,256. This was only second to New Brighton State Beach, which has three campground options and a combined Paid Day Use and Camping Use of 220,298 visits and combined visit revenue of $1,115,491. The current seasonal closure of Manresa State Beach Campground only removed 64 campsite options, or 18.99%, from the 337 available campsite options for all State Beaches in the study area (Statistical Report, 2017).

Once all the analysis was completed, I imported the entire project into ArcGIS Online and created the Web Map for users to view. After the Legend and Basemap Selector widgets, I added a layer List Selector widget so users can remove layers that don't apply to them from the map view. This is followed by a Reservable Campground Filter widget which filters out currently unavailable campgrounds. And the last Group Filter widget allows users to view both Picnic Areas and Restroom facilites available at the selected campground.

Here is the link to the Web Map Application that has been shared with the GEOG 350 Group. Santa Cruz County State Parks Reservable Campgrounds

Screenshot of the Web Map Application

Screenshot of the Web Map Application Layer List Selector widget.

Screenshot of the Web Map Application Reservable Campground Filter widget.

Screenshot of the Web Map Application Amenity by Location Filter widget.

Below are the final reference maps I created that can be shared physically or electronically.

I believe that the implementation of the ReserveCalifornia™ website created a large increase in California State Parks revenues and park visitation numbers. I contacted California State Parks to see if a more current Statistical Report was available to compare statistics from before and after the launch of the website, but unfortunately, they were unable to provide any current information. Further examination of these statistics would be very interesting to review and compare. The Big Basin Redwoods State Park closures undoubtedly created a higher demand for the other reservations available in the remaining study area campgrounds and a loss of revenue that would have to somehow be accumulated from another source.

But for those who wish to make a reservation for a California State Park Campground in Santa Cruz County, I believe this web map application and distributable maps would be great reference tools. It is easy to understand and visualize the location of campgrounds and nearby California State Parks they would want to visit, and the ammenities available. I would also want to continue to update the maps to reflect any changes to which campgrounds and ammenities are available for reservations. I would advise those planning a visit to any of the study area campgrounds to review these maps before making reservations. I would also encourage those people to take full advantage of the six-month rolling reservation period and to have a secondary option picked out in case their first reservation option is not available.