Houston Parks and Recreation Department

The Houston Parks and Recreation Department operates and maintains the City of Houston's parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, golf courses, skateparks, and recreation centers; as well as, providing recreational programming. HPARD currently oversees 382 developed parks and more than 167 greenspaces, covering over 39,500 acres; and over 125 miles of hike-and-bike trails.
The HPARD consists of seven divisions:

The Director's Office
Recreation and Wellness Division
Greenspace Management
Facilities Management and Development
Management and Finance
Urban Park Rangers and Safety, and
Communications

WWW houstontx.gov/parks 𝕏 HPARD FB HoustonParksAndRec YT hpard10 IG houston_parksrecreation

History

The Department of Public Parks was created on March 15, 1916 by a City of Houston ordinance. At that time, the department had two parks — Sam Houston Park and Hermann Park.
In 2008, the department received national accreditation from the National Recreation and Park Association's Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies.
As of 2021, the department has:

Budget: $69 million
Employees: 708 full time
Facilities
* Developed Parks: 382
* Greenspaces: 160
* Acres: 39,000+