Americans love the outdoors. Millions of Americans spend their free time participating in outdoor activities. A Harris poll conducted by Humphrey Taylor in 2003 found that of forty-six leisure-time activities cited by Americans when they were asked to list their two or three favorites, approximately a third were activities or sports in which participants were directly involved with nature. A surve…
According to Outdoor Recreation in America 2003, there was a correlation between education and income and TABLE 3.1 rates of outdoor activity participation. College graduates participated in an average of 5.9 activities, compared to 3.7 for those with a high school diploma or less. Households with income above $75,000 per year reported 5.8 activities, while those earning $30,000 or less repor…
One of the best ways to enjoy the outdoors is to visit America's national parks. Since Congress established Yellowstone National Park in 1872, the United States has created a system of national parks occupying huge tracts of land. In 2004 the 83.6-million-acre National Park System encompassed 388 parks, monuments, preserves, memorials, historic sites, recreational areas, seashores, and othe…
America is a huge country with many millions of square miles of natural wilderness and a rich tradition of enjoying nature. Many Americans find wildlife-associated recreation a source of immense pleasure, and some of the most popular recreational activities involve wildlife and wild terrain. According to data gathered by the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Commerce in a survey conducted in 20…
Many Americans enjoy boating. The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) estimated in its 2003 Recreational Boating Statistical Abstract that in 2003 seventy-two million Americans participated in recreational boating and almost 17.5 million boats were in use. Close to thirteen million Americans were registered boaters in 2002, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Michigan (1,000,337), Flor…
Motorcycling is not only a means of transportation but also a popular recreational activity. In 2002 the U.S. Department of Transportation reported that just under five million motorcycles were registered in the United States. The Motorcycle Industry Council reported that motorcycle sales increased 6.4% during 2003, to a total of approximately 996,000 cycles sold during the year. In 1980 the avera…
Recreational vehicles (RVs) include a variety of vehicles, such as motor homes, travel trailers, folding camping trailers, truck campers, and van conversions. Motor homes and vans are motorized, while the others must be towed or mounted on other vehicles. According to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA), in 2003 there were approximately 7.2 million RVs in the United States—…
Growing numbers of people have begun participating in high-risk recreational activities. Young adults dominate the thrill seekers, but older people are jumping in as well. Skydiving, hang gliding, rock climbing, mountaineering, bungee jumping, white-water rafting, and other extreme sports have all shown huge increases in participation. The U.S. Parachute Association (USPA) reported that its member…
Theme and amusement parks, in general, saw a drop in attendance in the early twenty-first century. According to Amusement Business magazine, attendance at the nation's top fifty parks fell 1.6% in 2003, to almost 168 million people, following a slightly smaller decline in 2002. Factors cited for the drop included the depressed U.S. economy, the war on terrorism and in Iraq, and bad weather …
Americans have long loved agricultural fairs that feature displays of prize-winning farm animals, crafts, vegetables, and baked goods, along with midways filled with rides and food vendors selling such treats as elephant ears and corn dogs. Traveling carnival operators that provide the midway attractions for such fairs also set up shop in temporary locations such as school or church parking lots t…
For some Americans, outdoor activities are as close as their own backyard. According to the National Gardening Association (NGA), in 2003 eighty-four million U.S. households (78%) had at least one gardener, up from seventy-two million in 1994. Gardening participation varied from year to year, based on home ownership rates, the number of sunny days during the growing season, and portrayals of garde…
According to the middle-series projections of the U.S. Census Bureau, the total population of the United States will increase 49% between 2000 and 2050. Most of the growth, however, was expected to be among the older ages and minorities, neither of which have had historically high rates of participation in active sports. A rapidly increasing share of young adults would be black, Hispanic, or Asian…
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