Note that the data published in the 2002 State of the Nation’s Ecosystems Report as well as the 2003 and 2005 Web-Only Updates have been superseded by the 2008 Report and thus should be used with caution. For the most recent data, purchase the 2008 Report from Island Press.

View data for Recreation in Forests

What Is This Indicator, and Why Is It Important? This indicator reports the number of times Americans over the age of 15 took part in a variety of outdoor recreational activities in a forest setting. (Each time someone took part in an activity is counted: if the activity took place over multiple days, each day counts as a separate event, and if a person took part in several activities on a single day, each activity is counted as a separate event.)

Many people take part in at least one recreational activity over the course of the year (see the national outdoor recreation indicator). Recreation is a benefit that is derived from forest ecosystems, in much the same way as we derive products such as timber from forests.

What do the data show? Walking and viewing activities are the most common forms of outdoor recreation in forest settings. Americans over the age of 15 walk in a forest setting nearly 6 billion times per year, and they take part in viewing activities over 7 billion times per year in forest settings. Hiking and climbing is by far the next most popular activity, with people doing this nearly 3 billion times per year. The lower graph shows water-based activities, of which freshwater fishing had the most participation (1 billion times per year).

Discussion: The data presented here depend on the interpretation of individual respondent’s as to whether or not they took part in these activities while in a “forest setting.” In addition, these data do not include information on how long people participated in various activities, but rather the number of times they participated (as noted above, each day in a multiday trip is counted as a separate event). Many of these categories are the same as those used in the national outdoor recreation indicator, however, some caution should be used comparing directly between those data and these (see technical note).

This report also includes other indicators of recreational activity. See outdoor recreation, recreation on farmlands, freshwater recreation activities, and recreation on grasslands and shrublands.