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Recreation

Primary Question (chapter 11): What are the supplies of and demands for forest-based recreation and other noncommodity uses of forests in the South?

Related Question (chapter 10): What role do forests play in employment and local economies in the South?

Southern forests are the settings for a wide variety of recreation activities. We examined recreation use, the influence of population growth and change on recreation demand, and changes in recreation supply (chapter 11).

Driven by a growing population and changes in demographic characteristics such as income and median age, participation in outdoor recreation of all types has increased in the South. Some activities, including viewing and photographing nature, gathering various forest products, and certain forms of boating have grown more rapidly than others. The most popular outdoor recreation activities among southerners tend to be the least expensive and include walking for pleasure, attending family gatherings, picnicking, and visiting historic sites. Next in popularity are activities such as viewing and photographing wildlife, fishing, gathering forest products, hiking, hunting, and biking, which require somewhat more financial outlay. In general, the popularity of the activity is inversely related to the cost of participation. Among the various classes of recreational activities, those focused on viewing, learning, and photographing in natural areas have been expanding the most rapidly (chapter 11).

The patterns of recreation participation among southerners are very similar to averages for the United States as a whole. However, with the exception of water-based activities, the level of participation in the South is lower.

In addition to the growth in largely nonconsumptive recreation activities, recreation focused on the harvest of various nontimber products has also grown. A recent survey showed that 31 percent of respondents in the South participated in some form of this activity. Products included firewood, rocks and minerals, berries, mushrooms, herbs, flowers and other decorative plant materials, and several other minor products (chapter 11). A small percentage of people (2 percent) indicated that they collected forest products for income; 96 percent collected for personal uses. Fifty-four percent collected in a forest setting. Based on the income distribution of respondents who participated, it appears that only a small portion engaged in gathering as a subsistence activity (chapter 11).

Recreation and tourism, including that derived from forested settings, is a source of employment and income in the South, although data are not available for isolating the effects of forest-based recreation.

• In 1997 outdoor recreation-based tourism contributed between 0.64 and 2.88 percent of southern jobs and between 0.51 and 2.51 percent of the South’s gross regional product. Public lands represented 56 percent of this contribution (chapter 10).

• Tourism-related industries are increasing in the South but are not becoming more concentrated. The percentage of State-level jobs and income in the tourism-related sectors has increased in all 13 States, as have the actual numbers of jobs and amount of income (chapter 10).

Forest-based recreation is largely concentrated on relatively scarce public land. Because only 4.6 percent of Federal land and 12 percent of State park and forest lands are in the South, which has about 33 percent of the Nation’s population, recreation pressures on public land are substantial. For example, U.S. national forests in the Southern Region are the second most heavily used of the nine USDA Forest Service regions, with visits of 1.9 per acre (chapter 10). Only 7 percent of private land held by individuals is open to free access by any member of the public, and the trend is toward decreasing access to private land (chapter 11).

Increased demand for outdoor recreation will therefore likely be placed on public lands. The ability to provide these kinds of uses will be constrained by Federal budgets and by the mandates of the various Federal agencies. For example, national parks are managed with a mandate to protect natural, historic, and cultural areas, and management of wildlife refuges must focus first on wildlife conservation.

• The current proportion and distribution of public and private land ownerships, combined with divergent owner objectives, appear to constrain the growth potential of forest-based recreation opportunities in the South. There is a trend toward increasing scarcity of recreational opportunities (chapter 11). Recreation areas on public land will likely be increasingly congested, and competition between various recreation user groups for limited area is forecast to increase based on forecast population growth. Competition may be greatest between nature-viewing activities, such as birdwatching and nature photography, and technology-based activities, such as mountain biking and other forms of mechanical trail use.

• As recreation congestion increases, the costs imposed on owners of private tracts may increase. This could lead to more restricted uses of private land, thereby shrinking supply and increasing congestion even further.

• Furthermore, competition between recreation types indicates that investment to support one type of recreation activity may diminish opportunities for other types. Because public land is so scarce, tradeoffs between recreation opportunities are critical issues for forest managers.

Another important outcome of recreation congestion is the potential for damage to the productive and protective capacity of forest ecosystems. Recreation can damage soils through compaction, pollute water, damage and alter vegetative cover, and influence native wildlife populations. While a complete assessment of existing or potential damage has not been conducted, increased damages are expected in the recreation “hot spots” identified in fig. 30. In these areas, heavy recreation pressures on forest resources are anticipated (chapter 11).

Increasing recreation participation rates combined with population growth and decreased forest area adjacent to urban areas portend substantial challenges for public forest managers. These include addressing user competition and mitigating recreation-related environmental damages.