SEC T I ON T H R EE
that was the City of Farmington Hills, thanks to the
Safari Club International Novi Chapter.
From the time Farmington Hills started offering
archery programs through their parks and recreation
department in 2011 to 2013, the majority of the classes
(beginner, intermediate, camps) were sold out. The
parks and recreation department hosted classes in the
gym, in parks, at the police department shooting range,
on a theatre stage... Anywhere space was available, and
it was safe to shoot. But archery needed a home.
- 39% had not shot a bow in a long time
- 19% of the people shot a bow regularly
- 38% of the people bought archery equipment
- 18% bought hunting equipment after their
experience
- 2,493 people said they were interested in hunting
Based on the economic impact number of $4,400 per
hunter in Michigan, the total economic impact of
adding 2,493 new hunters was $10,969,200.
At the end of 2017, the ten parks and recreation
departments were surveyed, and the results were: Once survey data was shared to parks and recreation
departments in Michigan, existing parks and recreation
departments who were offering archery, joined the
mParks Archery Focus Area. In 2018, twelve parks and
recreation departments were surveyed, and the results
were:
- 9,039 people participated in parks and recreation
archery programs
- 469 participants completed the mParks Archery
Participant Survey
- 3,720 people (41.15%) had never shot a bow before;
- 3,276 people (36.25%) had not shot a bow in a long
time
- 2,043 people (22.6%) shoot a bow regularly
- 7,747 (85.71%) of the participants said they are very
likely to participate in archery again
-1,214 (13.43%) are somewhat likely
- 78 (.85%) are unlikely
- 4,298 participants purchased target archery or
-hunting equipment in the last 1-2 years, spending a
total of $2,260,619
- 6,244 participants said they will buy equipment in
the future =$3,284,157
- 7,285 people are interested in target archery or
competitions
- 4,587 participants are interested in hunting. 3,219 of
those people never hunted before
- 3,219 x $4,400/year in economic impact per hunter
=$14,163,600
- 4,972 people are interested in bowf ishing
- 270 people have bowf ished
- 6,936 people participated in parks and recreation
archery programs
- 42% of the people never shot a bow The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has
responded to this survey data and has partnered with
the mParks Archery Focus Area to take the next step.
In 2015, Farmington Hills used park millage funds
and received donations from Panasonic, the George
Riley Foundation, SCI-Novi and others to construct
a $56,000 uniquely designed archery range in a public
park. Adding parking, picnic tables, range targets and
other equipment, the total project came in at just under
$100,000. And Riley Archery Range, the home for
archery in Farmington Hills was complete.
In January of 2017, and after two years of collecting
participant data through Riley Archery Range, Bryan
Farmer, City of Farmington Hills Parks and Recreation
Deputy Director, Nick DiCresce, Riley Archery Range
Coordinator, and John Corriveau, Thomas Township
Parks and Recreation Director, met with leaders of the
Archery Trade Association (ATA) and USA Archery,
then agreed to form an Archery Focus Area through the
Michigan Recreation and Park Association (mParks)
to pilot the concept of growing archery and hunting
through parks and recreation.
In April 2017, Easton Foundations, ATA, and USA
Archery awarded ten mParks communities with 100%
of all of the necessary equipment to get started with
archery programs, explore bowhunting, and explore
bowf ishing. The total upfront investment was
$120,000 in equipment.
Volume 03 No. 01 | 2019