California Parks
There are over 450 cities and communities in California that operate local city and community parks, providing recreational activities for citizens who pay taxes and reside within area bounds. These parks often operate under a city department called Parks and Recreation, serving both as spaces and as places for recreational activities. The typical city parks provide many amenities and activities. Most have playgrounds, picnic tables, some have BBQ grills, pavilions, covered shelters and clubhouses. There are tennis courts, basketball courts, baseball, soccer and volleyball fields for sports. And you'll sometimes find lakes for boating, trails for walking and hiking and in recent decades, the popular dog parks offer dedicated areas for unleashing pets. Some cities offer places for horseback riding, camping and other outdoor activities, and most city parks include at least one public pool for the citizens to swim.
Most associate the generic term "California parks" with the state operated parks system that contains an inventory of over 270 parks and places maintained by State of California Parks Division (parks.ca.gov) While it comprises California's largest single parks operation entity (including over one million artifacts in valuable collections,) and divisions that include beaches, off-road areas, waterfalls, mountains, and venues for meetings and events, there are other types of parks operated by other groups in the government chain of command.
National parks in California are operated by the National Parks Service and in addition to the 8 national parks, there are 6 national monuments, 4 national historic trails, and a handful of national memorials, seashores and national recreation areas. (nps.gov)
There Bureau of Land Management, another U.S. government agency, manages 15.2 million acres of public lands in California - nearly 15% of the state's land area. BLM California also administers 47 million acres of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal surface land, 2.5 million acres underlying privately owned land, and 592,000 acres of Native American tribal land where BLM has trust responsibility for mineral operations. (blm.gov)
Then the 58 counties in California manage land holdings in their county regions usually known as County Parks.
There is no estimate as to how many parks exist in the California city operated parks inventory, though the number would likely be close to 100,000 or more. The smallest cities have at least one park and often several. Cities with populations of around 200,000 usually have around 50 parks or more, and places like Los Angeles have so many parks, their holdings include botanical gardens, museums, lakes, and Pacific Ocean waters. Los Angeles is so large, it even operates the parks on Catalina Island in Avalon.
Some famous parks in large cities in California include San Diego's Balboa Park with more than 13 museums and Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Griffith Park in Los Angeles contains a zoo, museums, trails and Griffith Observatory.
Parks are a necessary amenity to healthy living in California. Some cities have discovered that as their populations increase, the parks don't meet demand. It's important to have places for both young and old to stretch their legs, run safely, play and learn in nature.