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published in the 2002 State of the Nation’s Ecosystems Report as well as the 2003 and 2005 Web-Only Updates have been superseded by the 2008 Report and thus should be used with caution.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.

The Data

Data Source: Data come from a national survey conducted by phone, which was done as part of the National Survey on Recreation and the Environment (http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/trends/Nsre/nsre2.html) specifically in preparation for the National Report on Sustainable Forests (http://www2.srs.fs.fed.us/2003/2003.htm). The data come directly from Table 37.2 of this report, which has not yet been formally published.

The data were grouped into categories that were intended to match those used in the Core national outdoor recreation indicator, however, please see the note below (in the Data Caveats section) regarding comparisons between these two data sets.

• Walking
• Viewing Activities: sightseeing, bird-watching, wildlife viewing
• Picnics, Family Activities: picnicking, family gathering
• Motor Sports: off-road driving, snowmobiling
• Snow Skiing: downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing
• Hiking, Climbing: day hiking, caving, mountain climbing, orienteering, rock climbing,
  backpacking, horseback riding
• Camping: primitive area camping, developed area camping
• Hunting: big game hunting, small game hunting, migratory bird hunting
• Fishing: anadromous fishing, coldwater fishing, warmwater fishing
• Swimming: non-pool swimming only
• Motor Boating: jet skiing, motor boating, water skiing
• Sailing, Floating, Rowing, Etc.: kayaking, floating/rafting, rowing, sailing,
  sailboating/windsurfing, canoeing

Data Limitations/Caveats: There are two important caveats about this data set. First, data are dependent on the respondents’ interpretation of whether or not a particular activity was conducted in a “forest setting.” Respondents were briefed on the expectation for what a forest setting was, however, it is not clear how uniformly this was interpreted by different respondents. Second, these forest-specific data were not collected as an integral part of the 2001 NSRE, as were the data presented in the Core National Outdoor Recreation indicator. Because of this, some caution should be used when comparing the data presented in this indicator to those presented in Core National indicator. Specifically, there was no “ecosystem accounting” conducted with the Core National data. This means that the total number of participation days attributed to any one activity (e.g., walking) was not fully attributed to the various possible ecosystem types. Had this been the case, then it would be clear how the 18 billion participation days in the 2001 NSRE for walking should be attributed across ecosystem types. Because this type of accounting was not done, it would be premature to conclude that 33% of all walking occurs in a forested setting (compare 5.9 to 18 billion days for forest-specific and general recreation, respectively). This example was chosen for simplicity and does appear to be out-of-line, however, the Viewing Activities category presents more of a dilemma as it implies that 60% of all viewing activities occur in a forest setting.

Data Access: The data reported here were obtained directly from the National Report on Sustainable Forests (http://www.fs.fed.us/research/sustain/) and are found in table 37.2.