MILWAUKEE— It may be a little cold to have a picnic in Brown Deer Park, but it’s the perfect weather for cross country skiing. 

“Today’s snow is absolutely perfect,” says Ingrid Pierson. 

Ingrid has been cross country skiing since she was a kid. Now, she and her husband, Brian Pierson, partake in the hobby together. 

“It’s important to get outside in the wintertime. Keeps you warm when it’s cold,” says Brian.

Their favorite parks to cross country ski are Brown Deer Park and Whitnall Park. 

“In those two parks in Milwaukee County, they groom the trails, which is really nice,” says Ingrid. 

Taking care of its 157 parks is something the Milwaukee County Parks Department feels is important. 

“It’s kind of an amazing opportunity that we all have and our residents have to be able to have green space,” says Guy Smith, executive director of Milwaukee County Parks. 

People outside of Milwaukee and Wisconsin are noticing. 

The Trust for Public Land released its top 100 cities in the United States when it comes to their parks.

Milwaukee came in 28th. 

“I think it’s a travesty, sham,” says Brian. “I think we should be in the top five."

“Well, that works for me,” Smith says. "I would love to be in the top five."

The Trust for Public Land looked at many different criteria to make its list. 

One of the criteria is the percentage of people who live in the city and live just a 10-minute walk from a public park. 

In Milwaukee, that’s 90%. 

“Whether it is a local community park that you’re able to literally just pop out your front door or be there, or like you said, within 10 minutes of being able to be in a park or green space is pretty amazing,” Smith says. 

Milwaukee isn’t the only city in Wisconsin on the list. 

Madison came in 12th. 

“We’d like to be better. We think we’re better than the ranking, but the ranking is important and it helps to do some comparative analysis on where we do well and where we can improve,” says Eric Knepp, City of Madison’s Parks’ superintendent. 

Madison has about 14% of its public land dedicated to parks. 

To improve, Knepp says Madison has to look beyond that. 

“What we’re thinking about now is how do we take the acreage that we have and have it perform best for the community and the environment,” Knepp says. 

Milwaukee says funding is always the biggest need, as there is a big gap between how much Milwaukee spends on parks per person, compared to cities in the top five of TPL’s list. 

“The parks systems at the very top are spending about $400 per person on parks. In Milwaukee County’s it’s only $100 per person,” says Ian Everett, communications manager for Milwaukee County Parks. 

Both cities say it’s a process, but one they’re both committed to. 

To see Milwaukee’s Park score, click here.

To see Madison’s Park score, click here.