Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe biked on High Bridge Trail, canoed on Bear Creek Lake and spent time with his family at Twin Lakes State Park on Friday and Saturday in an effort to fulfill his promise to become the state’s first governor to visit all 36 of Virginia’s state parks.

During his time in Farmville, Cumberland and Prince Edward, the Democrat touted the influence tourism has on the state and local economies.

McAuliffe, who was joined in his visit by members of his family and several state park officials, met separately with friends groups of both High Bridge Trail and Bear Creek state parks. The governor discussed economic development, park visibility and new initiatives with the volunteer organizations.

In Farmville, the governor said the state’s economy needed to be less reliant on the federal government, noting tourism as a large part of his new economic plan for Virginia.

He said last year, the state saw about $22.4 billion in tourism revenue. “A big part of that were our state parks,” he said.

McAuliffe, who called himself a huge advocate for the parks system, said that a visitors center was needed for High Bridge Trail.

In Cumberland at Bear Creek Lake State Park, he told The Herald if he looked at this region to grow economically, he would put tourism at the top of the list. Secretary of Natural Resources Molly Ward agreed.

“We’ve got the assets. I think we need to do a better job of promotion to hit more folks,” McAuliffe said. “Once you get people to come here and you get them to go back and tell their friends, who will tell their friends.”

He called for more interconnectivity between the state’s forest and park systems and said more entry points for water at parks were needed.

“We’re very pro-business, pro-tourism and we need ideas out in the field. …,” he said.

“When you talk tourism, it’s not only the historic heritage sites, it’s what we talked about today. Folks want to come, they want to get in the water, they want to have paddleboards, they want to canoe, they want to exercise. And, we’re working hard to make sure adding more cabins,’’ McAuliffe said.

During a luncheon with the Friends of High Bridge Trail, Prince Edward County Administrator Wade Bartlett said that between the state parks, state forests and wildlife management areas, more synergy was needed. “What you have is three stovepipes. State parks do a great job of inviting people in, [the] other two not so much,” he said.

“If they could join up in Prince Edward, tourism could be big in our whole region,” Bartlett said.

“We have dreams and visions of doing a cooperative visitors center out at Bear Creek to tell the story of forestry and the state parks,” said Craig Seaver, the state’s parks director.