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Mystery Behind Plunge in National Forest Visitors

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posted on Nov, 30 2008 @ 10:25 PM
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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)".



posted on Dec, 1 2008 @ 02:56 AM
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reply to post by plumranch
 


This is a worthy article, it certainly piqued my interest. The lack is visitation to our national forests is definately NOT beyond the U.S.F.S. sphere of responsibility, however. As a regular visitor to the national forests of Washington state, I have ben progressively appalled by the lack of access. More and more roads are 'ditched-out' at their arterials. It seems that the Forest Service does not want more visitors, but fewer. Try looking for a suitable site to camp in an accessible national forest recreation area during a busy holiday weekend, and you may either be finding yourself sleeping in your truck along a well-traversed logging road...or, more probably, going home very disappointed and 1/2 tank lower on fuel. Also, as someone who is not an ORV enthusiast, I have never had to struggle to find solitude in the forest, just access.



 
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