This is a list of Idaho state parks. The U.S. state of Idaho currently has 30 state parks. This count includes the state-managed City of Rocks National Reserve and four parks which are managed jointly as Thousand Springs State Park. Heyburn State Park, the oldest, was created in 1908, the first state park not only in Idaho but the Pacific Northwest. Total visitation across the system is more than 4.5 million annually.
The state park system is managed by the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation. Their mission statement is "To improve the quality of life in Idaho through outdoor recreation and resource stewardship." The department has the dual duty of "protecting and preserving the resources of the state park system and of providing recreation opportunities and facilities for public use." The park system includes four classifications: natural parks which preserve significant natural resources, recreation parks which offer opportunities for outdoor activities, heritage parks which preserve and interpret sites of cultural importance, and recreation trailways.
For much of the system's history it was managed by the State Land Board, and briefly by the Idaho Transportation Department in the late 1940s. A professional park management agency wasn't created until 1965, this being a qualification both for the donation of Harriman State Park and for federal Land and Water Conservation Fund money.
Those federal grants, largely raised from fees charged to oil companies for offshore drilling, brought $60 million into Idaho for city and county parks as well as state parks. In 1981 the Department of Parks and Recreation began charging entrance fees, which support park operations and maintenance.