posted on Nov, 30 2008 @ 10:25 PM
National Forest Visits Are Down about 13% and the Park Service is looking at the
reasons. Like:
-rising gas prices, the popularity of video games and the Internet, and an increasingly urban and aging population less inclined to camp out.
-Critics focus on fees charged for hiking trails and visitor centers, a proliferation of noisy off-road vehicles and the declining proportion of the
Forest Service budget dedicated to recreation.
-Scott Silver, executive director of Wild Wilderness in Bend, sees a strong correlation between the imposition of fees and declining visits.
"They raised the fees, and people stopped coming," Silver said. "The theory of supply and demand, price and elasticity was proven. Now that
they've seen demand drop, they're saying `Oh my goodness, we've got to figure out how to increase visitation."'
That National Visitor Use Monitoring program found 204.8 million visitors annually in the period 2000-2003 and 178.6 million for 2003-2007 — a
decline of 13 percent. When compared to the rising population, the proportion of Americans visiting national forests is falling even faster.
Personally, a number of times I've driven up to a park entrance and found they charge entrance or user fees and turned around. Maybe I'm not enough
of a diehard user/ camper. So I agree with:"(there is)a strong correlation between the imposition of fees and declining visits (fee collection began
1996 under Clinton)".