Recreation Trends
Planning for Outdoor Recreation: Defining and Measuring Success
The Recreation and Conservation Office has surveyed Washingtonians about their recreational habits and is making recommendations about the roles and responsibilities of Washington State government in outdoor recreation in a draft document now out for public review.
The State Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Planning (SCORP) document
proposes to:
- address the need for meaningful, measureable elements for state government’s budgeting and accountability initiatives
- incorporate a model that will help communities determine if they are providing the right amount of parks and recreational spaces
The survey and draft plan were completed so that the agency can receive federal Land and Water Conservation Fund grants.
RCO is seeking comment on the draft SCORP document (PDF, 41 pages).
Send comments by May 30, 2008 to
Jim Eychaner, Senior Outdoor Resource Planner
Recreation and Conservation Office
PO Box 40917
Olympia WA 98504-0917
E-mail
Telephone: 360-902-3011
TTY: 360-902-1996
Recreation Survey, prepared by Clearwater Research:
If organizations are interested in more information, it may be possible to arrange a staff presentation. Contact Jim Eychaner.
2002 Assessment of Outdoor Recreation in Washington State
In 2002, Recreation and Conservation Funding Board (RCFB) completed an Assessment
of Outdoor Recreation in Washington State (Adobe Acrobat format). The Assessment is
intended to fulfill federal requirements for state planning under
Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF)
rules. To prepare the Assessment, RCO spent considerable effort
seeking guidance from the public and from professional recreation
and habitat providers. Forums included a year-long diary based survey
of citizen recreation participation (1999-2000), public focus group
meetings (2001), open public meetings (2001), and consideration
of numerous comments on the draft Assessment.
Click a link below for more information.
Findings regarding our citizens' demand for outdoor recreation.
Outdoor recreation is complex: this Assessment
is able to report on at least 170 different types of outdoor recreation
in 15 major categories. This complexity reflects the diversity
of the state's population and the spectrum of public interests
and attitudes.
More than half of the state's population
participates in some form of outdoor recreation. Roughly half
of this activity is local, with the other half shared among state,
federal, and private providers.
The state's population has grown about 20%
since RCFB's last statewide recreation survey. Importantly, this
growth results both in total numbers of people actively recreating
and in an increase in the proportion of inactive people. Growing
demand is resulting in more reported crowding, increased specialization,
increased user conflicts, and increased management actions to
limit adverse impacts of access and activities. The increase in
the inactive population is contributing to a possible decline
in public health.
On the supply or inventory of recreation lands:
There are about 10 million acres of public
land managed in whole or part for outdoor recreation, habitat,
and environmental protection. The vast majority of "recreation
lands" are federal lands, located at higher elevations distant
from populated areas, and able only to host relatively low-participation,
challenging activities that demand high skill sets.
Precise facility inventory data is lacking,
but many recreationists report shortages of facilities from trails
to ball fields.
In an effort to preserve the inventory of
both land and facilities, managers have adapted a variety of techniques
to control or ration access, including reservation systems, catch
limits, party-size restrictions, permits, licenses, fees, and
facility scheduling.
On key issues identified by the public:
People feel more "crowded" than ever in virtually
all recreation pursuits.
Reports of incompatibilities between activities,
including competition for limited resources, are becoming more
common.
Adults are concerned that younger generations
are out of touch with nature and natural resources such as fish
and wildlife.
Some people are skeptical about management
conclusions that recreational activities are incompatible with
wildlife and habitat values.
Habitat and open space are seen as integral
to the recreation estate, directly contributing to traditional
natural resource-based recreation (hunting, fishing) and emerging
recreation (photography, observation).
The public continues to identify lack of
physical access to land as a more critical issue than lack of
supply, a trend with documentation going back to the early 1960s.
The public cites a lack of adequate maintenance
and operation (M&O) of public land and facilities as a critical
issue, and desires an on-the-ground management presence especially
on state and federal lands.
People are concerned about fees associated
with recreation and access.
Conclusions: some major issues need to be addressed.
The complexity of outdoor recreation in Washington
State defies simple solutions. However, the results of public involvement
and professional review indicate that some major issues need to
be addressed in the next several years:
There is high need to provide better managed
land and facilities supporting virtually all outdoor recreation
categories;
Linear activities are the most popular activities.
A significant portion of all linear activity, especially walking
and bicycling, takes place close to home on sidewalks, streets,
and roads. It is not well understood whether walkers and cyclists
actually prefer the facilities and settings they use most frequently;
Sports, individual and team types combined,
is second in popularity, with many, sometimes incompatible, sports
competing for use of available facilities;
Nature and natural settings play an important
role in many activities by category and type. There is high participation
in observing and photographing the outdoors, especially wildlife,
as well as continued participation in the established nature-dependent
activities of hunting and fishing, all of which indicates the
importance of preserving habitat for fish and wildlife;
There is a need to find acceptable means
to pay for maintenance and operation, including improved on-the-ground
management presence, of public lands and facilities; and
There is a need for improved data on public
recreation behavior and preferences, as well as the inventory
of available facilities, in order to ensure that public resources
are more effectively utilized in meeting public needs.
Policy Framework to address these issues.
To address the findings and conclusions of this
Assessment, it is necessary to provide a set of state policies to
guide the selection of appropriate actions.
It is a policy of the State of Washington:
To recognize outdoor recreation sites and
facilities as vital elements of the public infrastructure, essential
to the health and well being of Washington citizens, and important
to visitors.
To assist local and state agencies in providing
recreation sites and facilities that benefit our citizens' health
and well being.
To provide adequate and continuing funding
for operation and maintenance needs of state-owned fish and wildlife
habitat, natural areas, parks, and other recreation lands to protect
the state's investment in such lands.
To work in partnership with federal agencies
to ensure the availability of a variety of opportunities and settings
for outdoor recreation.
To encourage the private sector to contribute
needed public recreation opportunities.
To encourage all agencies to establish a variety
of financial resources which can be used to significantly reduce
the backlog of needed outdoor recreation, habitat, and open space
projects.
Looking into the Future
RCFB has developed estimates of future participation
in outdoor recreation. The report Estimates
of Future Participation in Outdoor Recreation (Adobe Acrobat format) builds on the
statistical base presented in An Assessment of Outdoor Recreation
in Washington State.
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