Outdoor Recreational Activities have Actually Increased

An article in yesterday’s Asheville Citizen-Times contradicts the subject of a recent blog of mine. The Citizen-Times article cites a study that shows overall participation in outdoor recreational activities among Americans is actually increasing.

On August 1st I posted a blog that referenced an article that came to the opposite conclusion. Published in The Economist on July 10th, the article claims that visitation in the National Park system has been on the decline since peaking in 1987. The article also states that Americans are visiting for a shorter amount of time and that they’re camping less. In general, according to The Economist, Americans are spending less time on all outdoor related activities.

Fast forward a month later and we have another study showing that the number of participants in outdoor recreational activities has actually increased by 4.4% since the beginning of the decade. Moreover, the study shows that the number of participation days has increased by 25% during that same time period. The study was released by the U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station and was conducted by Ken Cordell.

"Our research shows that not only are more Americans participating in outdoor recreation, the number of times they participated in many of the outdoor activities surveyed has grown," Cordell was quoted as saying in the Citizen-Times article.

The trends, however, seem to indicate that Americans are shifting away from physically demanding sports to activities that aren’t as demanding. For example, the report shows huge increases in off-road driving, as well as viewing and photographing scenery, wildlife and flowers. The increases are reflected in both the number of participants and the total number of participation days.

On the other hand, the study reports declines in activities such as day hiking, backpacking, mountain climbing, rock climbing, mountain biking, skiing and canoeing.

Although the study seems to suggest that we may not be as adventurous as we used to be, “the increase in the observation and study of nature is a very healthy trend that reflects rising and widespread interest in the future of natural resources, conservation and public lands”, to quote Mr. Cordell from the study.

I’ll refer back to the graph I published in my previous blog (see graph below) which shows growing visitation numbers for the Smoky Mountains. This graph seems to support the findings from the U.S. Forest Service study.



Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com