L.A. County park visits plunged after the 2025 ICE raids. Attendance still hasnt recovered

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Set us as preferred A year after ICE raids swept through Los Angeles, attendance at six county parks still hasn’t recovered, according to researchers from UCLA and UC Berkeley.The parks lost an estimated 150,000 visitors across the past two summers compared with 2024, a decline researchers link to immigration sweeps.The joint report, released Thursday by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute and the UC Berkeley Latinx Research Center, reviewed data from six fee-charging parks in L.A.County: Santa Fe Dam, Castaic Lake, Whittier Narrows and Kenneth Hahn recreation areas, as well as Frank G.

Bonelli and Peter F.Schabarum regional parks.The study counted about 21,000 fewer vehicle entries in 2025 and 17,000 fewer in 2026.

Across 12 matched summer weekends in June, July and August, entries fell 17%.Researchers estimated four visitors per vehicle to calculate attendance.The decline in visitors is believed to have cost the parks about $380,000 in additional entry fees.Two parks, however, did see modest gains in visitors: Schabarum and Kenneth Hahn.The report’s authors also found significant drops at parks near large Latino communities.

Santa Fe Dam in Irwindale saw an estimated 8,500 fewer vehicle entries in 2025, while Whittier Narrows Recreation Area, near South El Monte, saw 7,000 fewer.“Our latest findings show how these effects extend to something as simple as families spending a day in nature,” said Nicholas Vargas, one of the report’s authors and a professor at UC Berkeley, in a prepared statement.“Angelenos are already dealing with the economic pressures of rising costs.

Losing safe access to parks where they can relax, experience the joys of community, and get away from those stresses only makes things harder.”L.A.County considers most county property, including parks, sensitive locations.

However, ...