U.S. Forest Service Study Shows Sharp Decline in Forest Visits

First posted on 11-26-2008

New figures released by the U.S. Forest Service show a sharp decline in visits to national forests over the three year period from 2004 through 2007.

These findings are in line with other recent studies, including one a few months ago that was conducted by the Nature Conservancy. The continued declining interest in the outdoors is attributed to a society increasingly glued to television sets, video games and the Internet, and with little time for outdoor activities.

All that has been cause for great concern among scientists and survey analysts who associate the decline in visits to a similar declining interest in nature, which they predict could result in dire consequences for the planet. The decline is also worrisome from an economic standpoint as rural economies suffer the loss of visitors to nearby state and national parks.

The forest service figures are estimates based on actual counts and on surveys from each national forest. They show that total forest visits dropped from 204.8 million in 2004 to 178.6 million in 2007, a 12.8 percent drop.

The largest drop, 27 percent, occurred in the Pacific Northwest Region, which encompasses Washington and Oregon. The second largest drop occurred in the Eastern Region, a large section of the country that includes Missouri. The Eastern Region saw a 24.3 percent decline in forest attendance.

While high gasoline prices, an ill economy and errors from learning the new counting system used to compile the figures all contributed to the decline, the impact from a society more concerned with indoor than outdoor pursuits cannot be ignored.

Some researchers, like Thomas Stevens, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, suggest that single-parent families and families where both parents work full-time leaves less and less time for leisurely family trips to the national forests.

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