FS 97-13 November, 1997

RECREATION AND WILDERNESS IN THE UNITED STATES

R. JEFF TEASLEY, H. KEN CORDELL, JOHN C. BERGSTROM AND PAUL GENTLE

Teasley, Bergstrom and Gentle are Research Coordinator, Professor, and Post Doctoral Fellow, respectively, in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at The University of Georgia, Athens. Cordell is the Project Leader of the Southern Forest Experiment Station, USDA, Athens, Georgia and Adjunct Faculty Member in the Department of

Agricultural and Applied Economics, The University of Georgia, Athens.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Dept. of Agricultural & Applied Economics

College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences

University of Georgia

______________________________________________________________________________

Recreation and Wilderness in the United States

R. Jeff Teasley, H. Ken Cordell, John C. Bergstrom and Paul Gentle

Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics

University of Georgia

Athens, GA 30602-7509

jteasley@agecon.uga.edu

ABSTRACT---

In 1994 and 1995, the National Survey on Recreation and the Environment (NSRE) interviewed approximately 17,000 Americans over age 15 in random-digit-dialing telephone samplings. The primary purpose of the project was to learn about the outdoor recreation activities of people over age 15 in the United States. They were asked about their participation in 81 specific recreation activities.

-----KEY WORDS-----

recreational participation, outdoor recreation, activity

Faculty Series are circulated without formal review. The views contained in this paper are the sole responsibility of the authors.

The University of Georgia is committed to the principle of affirmative action and shall not discriminate against otherwise qualified persons on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age physical or mental handicap, disability, or veteran's status in its recruitment, admissions, employment, facility and program accessibility, or services.

Foreword

The 1994-95 National Survey on Recreation and the Environment (NSRE) is the latest in a series of national surveys that was started in 1960 by the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission (ORRRC). Since that time, six additional surveys have been conducted in 1965, 1970, 1972, 1977, 1982-83, and 1994-95. Through the years, the series has experienced changes in funding, sponsorship, methodology, and composition. In 1960, interviews were done in person in each of four seasons. In 1965, interviewing was done only in early fall. The 1970 survey instrument was a brief mailed supplement to the national fishing and hunting survey. The 1977 survey was conducted by telephone, and the 1982-83 NRS in person.

The agencies responsible for the survey have changed considerably over the years. The ORRRC, which did the first survey in 1960, recommended that subsequent surveys be completed at 5-year intervals, but consistent funding and responsibility were not created to support the process. From 1965 through 1977, the work was done by the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation and its successor, the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service. That agency was abolished in 1981 and responsibility for the survey fell to the National Park Service in the U. S. Department of the Interior (USDI). The National Park Service coordinated the development of a consortium that included itself, the Forest Service in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Department of Health and Human Services' Administration on Aging, and the USDI's Bureau of Land Management.

By the late 1980's, the National Park Service could no longer assume the financial and organizational demands of a large national survey. Park Service officials asked the Forest Service to assume its coordinating role for the next National Recreation Survey. The Outdoor Recreation and Wilderness Assessment Group, a part of the research branch of the Forest Service, assumed this role jointly with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The final list of sponsoring agencies for the 1994-95 effort includes the USDA Forest Service, the USDI Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the USDA's Economic Research Service. NOAA discontinued its involvement shortly before data collection began. The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association also joined as a sponsor. In addition, valuable assistance and resources were provided by the National Park Service, the University of Georgia, and Georgia Southern University. The University of Indiana cosponsored the section on people with disabilities.

The name "National Survey on Recreation and the Environment" was coined to reflect the growing interest by Americans in their natural environment. To address that interest, the scope of the survey was expanded from that of earlier surveys to include more issues related to natural resources and the environment.

Executive Summary

In 1994 and 1995, the National Survey on Recreation and the Environment (NSRE) interviewed approximately 17,000 Americans over age 15 in random-digit-dialing telephone samplings. The primary purpose of the project was to learn about the outdoor recreation activities of people over age 15 in the United States. They were asked about their participation in 81 specific recreation activities.

Massive Participation

Results show that 94.5 percent of Americans participated in at least one of the surveyed forms of outdoor recreation in 1994-95. That percentage translates into an estimated 189 million participants nationwide. Walking is the single most popular activity, with about 134 million participants. Other activities with over 100 million participants include visiting a beach, gathering outdoors with the family, and sightseeing.

Activities with 60 to 99 million participants include picnicking, visiting a nature center, visiting a historic site, playing yard games, attending outdoor sporting events and concerts, pool swimming, swimming in lakes, streams, rivers, etc., visiting a visitor center, and wildlife viewing. Those with 40 to 60 million participants are hiking, boating, skiing, birdwatching, freshwater and warmwater fishing, water-based nature study, running or jogging, biking, and motorboating. Activities with 25 to 40 million participants are tent camping in developed areas, visiting a prehistoric site, other wildlife viewing, volleyball, off-road driving, softball, fish viewing, golf, basketball, and fish viewing.

A wide range of activities, 48 in total, ranging from snowmobiling to windsurfing attracted less than 25 million participants. Even closed-top canoeing, the most specialized of all the activities listed, attracted almost a million participants. Thus, there are large segments of the population seeking opportunities for a wide range of recreation activities. Many activities-such as caving and mountain climbing-require specific settings while other activities can be enjoyed in more general settings.

Trends Since 1982-83

Since 1982-83, the population of the nation has increased by 13.4 percent and the proportion of people participating in at least one activity has risen from 89 to 94.5 percent. As a result, numbers of participants have increased for almost all activities.

In addition, in 1994-95 new activities were added to the list because of their growing popularity. These activities included orienteering, mountain climbing, rock climbing, caving, and specific kinds of nature viewing.

Participant Demographics

To assist the public land manager in the formulation of management plans for providing recreation opportunities, various characteristics of the participants in individual activities and groups of activities were tabulated. These characteristics include distributions by age, race, sex, income, education, size of household, and number of cars in the household.

As one might expect, participation in activities requiring vigorous exercise is considerably higher for young and middle-aged people than for those over 60. Considerable numbers of people over 60 are participants, however. Many of these older people have greater time to recreate because they are retired and interest in maintaining physical fitness is growing for people of all ages.

For most activities, participation is low for people with family incomes below $25,000 per year. Interestingly, it often is also low for people with incomes above $100,000. Participation is highest for people with family incomes between $25,000 and $75,000 per year. It appears, therefore, that many outdoor recreation activities are enjoyed primarily by the middle class.

Participation in team sports is greater for African-Americans than for people in other racial groups. For many across all groups, camping is a traditional family activity, and participation increases as family size increases.

Detailed Demographic Statistics

Probably the most important NSRE result is detailed tables that show rates of participation in individual activities and groups of activities. They also show distributions of participants by age, income, sex, race, etc. These tables can assist the land manager in recreation-based decisions and exist on a nation-wide basis, by Bureau of Land Management region (4 total).

Public Opinion about Management Issues

The final chapter of this report reviews public opinion and attitudes regarding a variety of management issues and situations. These results reflect the percentage of persons 16 and older who reflect various opinions and values within each Forest Service RPA Region. Results are presented in 17 tables in Chapter 6.

Introduction

This report is one of a series that describes the results of the 1994-95 National Survey on Recreation and the Environment (NSRE). The emphasis here is on recreation activities for which public land management agencies supply various outdoor recreation opportunities in the United States. The specific orientation of this report is toward the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and it's administrative regions.

It is amazing to see how important recreation has become and predicting demands for recreation has become increasingly difficult. In the past 13 years, the number of participants in most outdoor recreation activities has increased, placing greater demands on existing recreation resources. In addition to the increase in the total number of participants, the client base is changing as well. Because of this, recreation resource managers are faced with increasingly difficult challenges of satisfying user demands.

Survey Methods

The 1994-95 NSRE was conducted to discover and describe: (1) participation by Americans in outdoor recreation activities, (2) favorite activities and constraints on participation in those activities, (3) uses and values of wildlife and wilderness, (4) attitudes about recreation policy issues, (5) outdoor recreation patterns and needs of people with challenging and disabling conditions, and (6) recreational trips people take away from home. NSRE data will be used by a variety of public and private organizations for various purposes. The emphasis in this report is on the regional and demographic usage patterns across various outdoor recreation activities throughout the United States and BLM regions. This report will therefore assist public land management agencies in the provision of corresponding recreation opportunities, services, and facilities.

The NSRE survey was comprised of two random-digit-dialing (RDD) telephone surveys. In the first survey, a sample of 12,000 Americans above the age of 15 were targeted and people were asked questions in four areas: (1) participation in activities and the numbers of days and trips spent in recreation activities, (2) the characteristics of recreation trips, (3) barriers and constraints to outdoor recreation, and (4) alternative strategies for charging user fees for recreation. The average length of interviews for this survey was 20 minutes.

In the second survey, a sample of 5,000 Americans above age 15 was targeted. People were asked about their participation in specific outdoor recreation activities and the benefits of that participation. Each respondent was also asked questions in three of five additional randomly assigned modules: (1) favorite activities and barriers and constraints to participation in them, (2) wilderness issues, (3) wildlife issues, (4) awareness about public land management agencies, and (5) freshwater-based trips. For each of the randomly assigned modules, sample size was approximately 2,500.

In both surveys, respondents were asked if they had a disability or challenging physical condition. If the answer was "yes," additional questions about accessibility of recreation areas were asked. If respondents indicated that a disabled person other than themselves lived in the home, the disabled person was contacted and interviewed at a convenient date.

Data were collected from January 1994 through May 1995. A total of 17,216 interviews were completed-12,214 for survey one and 5,002 for survey two. One goal of the first survey was to have valid samples in each of eight regions in the United States. A minimum sample size of 900 was set for regions 1 through 7 and a minimum of 400 samples was set for Alaska. The Nation's population is heavily concentrated in the Northeast and the South, so individuals in these regions were proportionately under represented in the first survey. Samples for the second survey were based on population distribution, so almost 47 percent of the samples were in the Northeast and more than 30 percent were in the South.

Sources of Error

State-by-state random digit dialing was employed to sample households across the country. This approach, however, reaches a random sample of telephone numbers, rather than of people. Affluent families are virtually certain to have a telephone number and many have more than one. At the other end of the affluency scale, many low-income households may not have a telephone. As a result, affluent people may have been over-represented somewhat in the survey sample. Demographic characteristics of the NSRE sample are compared with 1990 Census estimates for individuals 16 and above in Table 1.1. Differences in age, race, and gender were adjusted for over- or under- representation during data analysis.

In viewing the results presented in this report, it is important to remember that individuals were asked about their personal participation in specific recreation activities. But they were also asked about the characteristics of their households. Thus, when we report the relationship of family size to rate of participation, the percentages given represent the proportions of respondents in various sizes of households who participated in specific activities.

Activities, Singly and In Groups

Questions were asked about participation in 68 specific outdoor recreation activities. For some of these activities, there is a subset of more specific types of that type of activity. For instance, cross-country skiing is one of the 68 activities, however, participants were also asked what type of cross-country skiing they participated in (i.e., skiing on groomed vs. ungroomed trails, back country skiing, etc.).

For analysis and description of results, it was useful to place these activities into 13 groups, or activity headings. Numbers that describe participation in major activity headings may include participants in activities not specifically listed under that heading. For instance, the heading "Outdoor team sport activities" may include more than the seven activities specifically listed.

For simplicity, each activity was placed in only one category. In many cases, however, activities could have been placed in more than one category. Bicycling, for example, was classed as a fitness activity, which it is for many people. For others, however, bicycling might best be classed as an outdoor adventure activity.

Percentages in the tables were obtained using the results of the 1994-95 NSRE. Number of participants in the tables are based on those percentages and U.S. Census estimates of the number of persons in the country 16 years or older for the survey period, winter 1994 through spring 1995.

The activity groups and the individual activities surveyed were: