Category: Recreation

Get Black Outside Events Connect People of Color with the Outdoors

by Rebecca Robbins, Southern Region Public Affairs Specialist  • 
In 2019, data collected from National Park Service, USDA Forest Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service surveys found that 88 to 95 percent of all visitors to public lands are white. The national non-profit collaborative Get Black Outside is partnering with the Forest Service to change that statistic. Four Forest Service units recently joined…  More 

Snorkel Education Program

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
A watery world lies next to ours, and it’s inhabited by fish, mussels, and aquatic plants and insects. Snorkeling is a way to visit this realm. “Snorkeling is how managers and researchers have done fish surveys for decades,” says Craig Roghair, a USDA Forest Service fisheries biologist. From these surveys, a snorkel education program emerged.…  More 

Projecting Climate Change Effects on Outdoor Recreation

by Megan Bequette, SRS Science Communications Intern  • 
Cool temperatures enjoyed by hikers might rise enough that people decide to stay inside instead. The culprit – climate change – will cause higher temperatures and uneven intensification of both drought and rainfall. As a result, outdoor recreation trends could change markedly. A study by University of Georgia postdoctoral research associate Ashley Askew and USDA…  More 

Can Southeastern Bats and Rock Climbers Share Cliffs?

by Jennifer Moore Myers, SRS Science Communications  • 
“Researchers haven’t really studied cliffs as foraging areas for bats,” says USDA Forest Service scientist Susan Loeb. “When so little is known about that habitat, it can be hard to gauge the impacts of different uses or management plans.” Rapid growth in technical climbing has put rock climbers in the same spots as bats. How…  More 

The Stephen F. Austin Experimental Forest

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
Located seven miles west of Nacogdoches, Texas, the 2,560-acre Stephen F. Austin Experimental Forest (Stephen F. Austin) was established by an act of Congress in 1945. For its first 15 years, the experimental forest was primarily used for research that improved methods for growing loblolly and shortleaf pine. In 1949, 40 acres were set aside as…  More 

Effects of Coyote Predation on Deer Hunting in South Carolina

by Zoё Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
Deer hunting is a very popular activity in South Carolina, generating about $200 million in direct retail sales annually. The 2015 Deer Hunter Survey published in late May by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) showed that the statewide harvest of deer in 2015 decreased about 4 percent from the previous year, which…  More 

The Chipola Experimental Forest

by Zoё Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
Located in the sandhills of the Florida Panhandle, the Chipola Experimental Forest (Chipola) was established in 1952 on privately owned land under a 99-year lease to the Southern Forest Experiment Station (now the Southern Research Station), International Paper Company, and Hardaway Contracting Company. The two companies requested the cooperative arrangement with the Forest Service to…  More 

A Different Twist on City Green Spaces and Health

by Viniece Jennings, SRS Integrating Human and Natural Systems unit  • 
Although the benefits of urban forests, gardens, parks, and other green spaces have been documented, the nuances of this relationship continue to be explored. For example, the role of green spaces in the social aspects of public health are often overlooked. My colleagues Lincoln Larson  (Clemson University), Jessica Yun (Georgetown University) and I recently explored…  More 

What’s Wilderness Worth?

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
In 1964, Congress protected areas where, according to the Wilderness Act, “the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” Wilderness areas now cover approximately 5 percent of the United States – over 100 million acres. While the ecological and aesthetic value of…  More 

Coldwater Fish in Warming Streams

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Delivery  • 
Scientists and managers are concerned about the future of trout in the southern Appalachian Mountains, but what about anglers? Over 100,000 people enjoy trout fishing in north Georgia. U.S. Forest Service scientist J. Michael Bowker recently coauthored a study about how trout anglers perceive climate change risks to trout. The study was led by Ramesh…  More