Resources Planning Act regional assessment of outdoor recreation demand and trends, 2020 to 2070
| Authors: | Ashley E. Askew, Eric M. White, Gary T. Green |
| Year: | 2026 |
| Type: | General Technical Report |
| Station: | Pacific Northwest Research Station |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.2737/pnw-gtr-1045 |
| Source: | Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-1045. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 113 p. (Online Only). |
Abstract
Understanding recent and potential future trends in recreation demand can help inform natural resource managers and decision makers as they plan for investments that support sustainable recreation and plan how to manage forests and rangelands that provide a diversity of goods and ecosystem services. We focus on participation and engagement for 17 recreation activities common in forests and rangelands across the United States. For each activity, within each U.S. region and for all ownerships collectively, we project the number of adult participants and the number of days of recreation in 2040 and 2070. We provide projections for recreation demand under four potential futures, with varying levels of U.S. socioeconomic growth and atmospheric warming, that were used in the 2020 Resources Planning Act (RPA) Assessment. Each RPA assessment is a federally mandated and multidisciplinary effort that (1) periodically evaluates the status and trends of the nation’s renewable resources, including those closely connected to outdoor recreation (via access and opportunities); and (2) yields long-term projections on the future availability, condition, and demand of forest and rangeland resources. We describe how three factors—U.S. socioeconomic change, atmospheric warming, and climate future—influence demand for each recreation activity and, within each region, identify those activities where future recreation demand is thought to be most stable and most dynamic.