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Inventory of Outdoor Recreation Opportunities

Recreation opportunities of many types are available across the rural South and found across a variety of settings. Settings range from large tracts of undeveloped land to highly developed theme parks in urban settings. Our inventory was limited to rural settings to be consistent with the overall scope of this Southern Forest Resources Assessment. The source of data is the National Outdoor Recreation Supply Information System (Betz and others 1999). Because most of the data in this system are from secondary sources, it is not possible to separate forest from nonforest settings. The prevalence of forests on undeveloped land in the rural South, however, suggests that most of the opportunities reported here are, in fact, in forest settings.

Federal properties—There are an estimated 29.8 million acres of Federal land in the South, 4.6 percent of the Nation’s total Federal land. This total includes 12.9 million acres in national forests, 5.4 million acres in national parks, 3.8 million acres in wildlife refuges, 0.8 million acres in Bureau of Land Management properties, 5.6 million acres in Army Corps of Engineers projects, 1.0 million acres in Tennessee Valley Authority projects, and 0.2 million acres in Bureau of Reclamation projects.

Federal water resources—Water resources in forest settings are a very significant component of recreation opportunities. Under Federal jurisdiction, many of these water resources are available as recreation opportunities. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages over 2.6 million acres of water area in the region, most of it in reservoirs along river systems. To access these water areas, there are almost 1,400 boat ramps and 423 swimming areas. The National Park Service manages 234,000 acres of national rivers, 435,000 acres of national seashores and lakeshores, and 183 sites for swimming and boating. The Tennessee Valley Authority manages 18 reservoirs along the Tennessee River and a few of its tributaries. These reservoirs are highly significant as boating and other recreation activity destinations, including resorts. The Bureau of Reclamation manages 94,000 acres of water in the South, to which there is limited boating access. The USDA Forest Service manages over 260 boating sites and almost 100 swimming sites. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages 84 refuges that have boating access. Fishing is permitted in 83 of these refuges. Together these Federal water resources are highly important for outdoor recreation, and increasingly they are under pressures for use by different recreational interests.

The National Wilderness Preservation System—This system was established by Federal law in 1964. Managed in the South by the Forest Service, National Park Service, and Fish and Wildlife Service, over 2.6 million acres of Federal wildland in this region have been designated for this system. Just under 2.4 percent of our country’s total land area is in designated protected wilderness. Six of the country’s 50 States have no designated wilderness, but all of the Southern States do.

National recreation trails—This system includes highly scenic or otherwise recreationally significant trails. The South has almost 2,500 miles of national trails. Of these, 1,479 miles are on Federal land, over 400 are on State land, 279 are on local government land, and over 300 miles are on other land such as that of corporations and foundations.

Public campgrounds—Federal, State, and local governments operate 1,064 public campgrounds in the South. This number represents an increase from the 993 that existed in 1987. In these campgrounds are almost 90,000 individual campsites.

State land—Southern States provide 1.7 million acres for recreation in their State park systems and 3.6 million in their State forest systems. In State park systems are 858,600 acres in designated parks, 106,500 acres in recreation areas, 622,900 acres in natural areas, 29,100 acres in historic areas, 4,700 acres in environmental education areas, and 53,500 acres in miscellaneous other areas. The State park systems have an estimated 36,000 campsites, 2,562 cabins or cottages, 2,681 lodge rooms, 54 golf courses, 128 swimming pools, and 23 stables.

State scenic rivers—Thirty-two of the 50 State governments have river protection systems similar to the National Wild and Scenic River System. The South has 99 protected river segments with a total of nearly 2,500 miles of protected river settings. Louisiana has the largest of the region’s State river protection programs.

Local government recreation supply—Data are less available for describing the role of local governments (county and municipal) in providing outdoor recreation opportunities, and the sources do not distinguish between urban and rural locations. The South has 896 municipal recreation departments, 416 county, 9 special district, and 40 miscellaneous others. These departments range in size from 1 part-time professional to over 50 full-time professionals, depending on size of population and service area. Opportunities are provided for picnicking, boating, fishing, hunting, swimming, biking, hiking, and nature study. A highly significant local role, in cooperation with Federal and State agencies, is the Rails-to-Trails program. With this program, abandoned rail corridors are converted to trail recreation uses. In the South in 1997, this program provided 101 trails with a total length of 669 miles. In addition, 241 new projects were underway that would add 3,560 miles of trails for nonmotorized uses.

Private forest land—In the South, almost 5 million private owners control nearly 190 million forested acres. The region has almost half of all the private forest land in the Nation. Fifty-five percent of the private land is owned by individuals. Only about 7 percent of this individually owned forest land (just over 13 million acres) is open for public recreation by people not connected in some way with the owner.

The Nature Conservancy—This private organization manages about 273,000 acres of natural land in the South. Of that total, about 102,000 acres are open for public recreation. The South has less Nature Conservancy land area than any other region of the United States.

Private campgrounds—About 1,850 privately owned and operated campgrounds are in the South. This total represents a decrease from 2,114 in 1987. These campgrounds have nearly 234,000 individual campsites—about 2½ times the number of public campsites. Not only in the region, but also nationally, the number of private campgrounds and campsites decreased throughout the 1990s.

Private recreation businesses—The private sector provides recreation opportunities in a wide variety of ways. Except for campgrounds and day camps, the number of enterprises involved has grown over the last 15 years. For example, the number of guide and outfitter services has gone from just under 100 to over 350 in the South. Private enterprises make enormous contributions, especially as partners in providing facilities and services generally outside the mandates and authorities of government.