Little Susitna Recreation River
Managed by Alaska Department of Natural Resources
179 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
BOutdoors
Outdoors in Houston
18% of Houston’s land is conserved: 2,778 acres
167 acres are parks and preserves, 91 per 1,000 residents. 11 miles of mapped trail cross Houston, 0.5 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 65% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
18%
2,778 acres · of 23.9 sq mi of land
Trails
11 mi
0.5 per sq mi of land
Park land
167 ac
91 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
under 1%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
14 mi
0.8 mi lanes · 13 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
12
1 boat launch
What kind of outdoors town is Houston?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Houston have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Houston is ahead of 65% of U.S. towns. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Houston’s overall grade.
Conserved land18% of the land · typical AK town 15% · U.S. 4%ATrails0.5 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (11 mi) · AK 0.5 · U.S. 0.4BPark land91 acres of park per 1,000 residents (167 acres) · AK 15 · U.S. 13AParks close to home0% of residents within a half mile of a park · AK 36% · U.S. 72%D−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 65%
LessMore
Alaska towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 15%; the U.S., 4%), so Houston’s 18% is ahead of 51% of Alaska towns, while its trails per square mile lead 49% of them.
Water is 5% of Houston’s area (1 of 25 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 17%.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
2,778 conserved acres
18% of Houston’s land. Water is left out: Houston has 23.9 square miles of land and 1.3 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Houston’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State natural resources2,631 ac
Bureau of Land Management146 ac
State Other or Unknown · 2,452 acState Recreation Area · 180 acNational Public Lands · 146 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 3 of 5 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| State Land Disposals - Municipal Purposes State Other or Unknown | State natural resources | 2,434 | Unknown |
| Little Susitna Recreation River State Recreation Area | State natural resources | 180 | Open |
| Anchorage Field Office National Public Lands | Bureau of Land Management | 146 | Open |
| State Patented State Other or Unknown | State natural resources | 12 | Unknown |
| State Land Disposals - Municipal Entitlements, Mun State Other or Unknown | State natural resources | 6 | Unknown |
Things to do
3 places to go in Houston
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Dog parks in Houston
1 dog park without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Boat launches in Houston
1 boat launch without a name on the map.
Campgrounds in Houston
Little Susitna Campground
DirectionsTrails & water
12 lakes & rivers
Biking & sports
14 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.8 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
13 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
4Tracks
2Baseball
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Houston: June and July
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 6.2 | 8.8 | 11.5 | 14.6 | 17.5 | 19.5 | 18.6 | 15.9 | 12.8 | 9.8 | 7.0 | 5.3 |
| High (°F) | 24 | 29 | 34 | 47 | 58 | 64 | 67 | 64 | 55 | 42 | 30 | 25 |
| Rain (in) | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 2.6 | 3.4 | 2.9 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 1.5 |
April is the driest month (0.4 in) and July the warmest (highs of 67 °F). 3.4 inches fall in August, the wettest month. The climate in Houston →
Next door
Houston and its neighbors
Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houston | 18% | 0.5 | 91 | under 1% | B |
| Big Lake | 49% | 0.7 | 1,994 | 2% | A− |
| Willow | 83% | 0.1 | 11,237 | 15% | B+ |
| Meadow Lakes | 41% | 0.1 | 86 | 21% | B |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Houston
How much of Houston is conserved land?
18% of its land, against a typical 15% for an Alaska town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Houston’s trails?
Little Susitna Recreation River doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Houston?
14 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.8 of painted or protected lanes and 13 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Houston?
26,320 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Houston or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 318 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Houston have?
Ahead of 65% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Houston neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →