BISMARCK, North Dakota (AP) -- North Dakota's state parks and campgrounds have been neglected for years and need improved facilities to help draw tourists and encourage them to stay longer, Democratic governor candidate Joe Satrom says.

Better bathrooms and showers, paved parking lots and interpretive centers would help encourage tourism in rural areas, and make the state more attractive for bird watchers and other nature tourists, Satrom believes.

"Public investment in parks and campgrounds, hiking trails, museums [and] historic sites become sort of the pieces of a puzzle in the development of tourism in a region, and we are not doing a coordinated job of developing our potential there," Satrom said at a news conference Thursday.

Gov. John Hoeven said his administration has made rural tourism a priority, and Sara Otte Coleman, the state tourism director, said a conference last year was devoted to the subject. Since then, a plan to encourage outdoor tourism has been drafted.

"Nature and rural tourism is an important part of our tourism mix," Coleman said. "We know it has tremendous impact for rural North Dakota."

She said she was not aware of tourist complaints about state park conditions. "In our general surveying, that has not been a red flag," she said.

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