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Buckner City HallPhoto: Rowen Hansen · CC BY-SA 4.0
C+Outdoors
Outdoors in Buckner

Few parks or trails are on the map in Buckner

The biggest trail networks: Heisler Park (0.5 mi). 43% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 3% of Buckner’s land is conserved, about 29 acres.

Ahead of 39% of U.S. towns · #156 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it

Conserved land
3%
29 acres · of 1.8 sq mi of land
Trails
0.5 mi
0.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
29 ac
10 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
43%
of residents within ½ mile
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Buckner have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Buckner is ahead of 39% of U.S. towns, #156 of 247 in Missouri. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; trail miles come closest.

C+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Buckner’s overall grade.
Conserved land3% of the land · typical MO town 2% · U.S. 4%B−Trails0.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · MO 0.3 · U.S. 0.4B−Park land10 acres of park per 1,000 residents (29 acres) · MO 11 · U.S. 13B−Parks close to home43% of residents within a half mile of a park · MO 74% · U.S. 72%C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 39%
LessMore
Missouri towns of 2,500+ (247)Ahead of 37%

Few Missouri towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Buckner’s 3% is ahead of 62% of Missouri towns, while its trails per square mile lead 51% of them.

NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Buckner. OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers and coverage varies from town to town, so a town with unmapped parks scores low on them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B−. 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.

1
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk

Pick a walk

The longest trail network is Heisler Park, with 0.5 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Heisler Park

Park
24 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Who protects it

29 conserved acres

3% of Buckner’s land. Who manages Buckner’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

Town or city29 ac
Local Park · 29 ac
The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Heisler Park
Local Park
Town or city29Open
Things to do

5 places to go in Buckner

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Playgrounds in Buckner

5 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.

Biking & sports

0.0 miles of bike routes

Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.

Courts & fields
4Baseball
2Tennis
1Soccer

Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.

When to get out

April is the best month for walking in Buckner

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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.710.711.813.214.314.914.713.712.411.110.09.4
High (°F)384455667584888779685443
Rain (in)1.31.62.54.15.45.04.94.34.23.32.31.8

January is the driest month (1.3 in) and July the warmest (highs of 88 °F). 5.4 inches fall in May, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 88 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Buckner →

Questions about parks and trails in Buckner

Where can I hike in Buckner?

The longest trail networks: Heisler Park, 0.5 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.

How much of Buckner is conserved land?

3% of its land, against a typical 2% for a Missouri town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.

Are dogs allowed on Buckner’s trails?

Heisler Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Is there public land near Buckner?

5,709 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Buckner or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 29 of them inside the city line.

How much outdoors does Buckner have?

Ahead of 39% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #156 of 247 in Missouri. 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 Buckner neighbors.

Town Square →
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 →