The Data

Data Source: Data for 1995 come from a national survey conducted by phone (National Survey on Recreation and the Environment [NSRE] 1994–95; see http://www.srs.fs.fed.us/trends/fsoutrec.html), in which questions were asked about participation in 68 specific outdoor recreation activities. Similar surveys have been conducted since 1965; however, comparable data on recreation days are not available from them. Data for 2001 are from the NSRE program (see http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/trends/nsre2.html) and were obtained directly from the Forest Service.

For the 1994-1995 survey, data from a total of 17,216 interviews were collected from January 1994 through May 1995. The NSRE survey was composed of two random-digit-dialing (RDD) telephone surveys. During the interviews, which averaged 20 minutes in length, Americans above the age of 15 were asked, among other questions, about participation in activities and the number of days and trips spent in recreation activities; comparable statistics for the 2001 Survey are not available.

The NSRE data were grouped into several major activity groups, and the only manipulation of the data here was to re-bundle these groups slightly, as can be seen by comparing Table 4.2 in the NSRE report to the listing below. Note that these categories were adjusted somewhat to accommodate differences between the 1995 and 2001 NSREs. The table below explains the activities that were used for each category.

Data Limitations/Caveats: The RDD survey approach reaches a random sample of telephone numbers rather than of people. A substantial portion of non-representativeness of some groups is attributable to inability to reach selected households and absence of some households from telephone listings. Affluent families are virtually certain to have telephone numbers and many have more than one. However, many low-income households may not have a telephone. As a result, affluent people may have been over-represented somewhat in the survey sample. On the basis of Census data, differences in age, race, and gender were adjusted for over- or under-representation during data analysis.

Data Availability: Data for the 1994–95 NSRE are freely available on the Internet (see http://www.srs.fs.fed.us/trends/fsoutrec.html) and data for NSRE 2000 will eventually be available at no cost. Data for 2001 are from the NSRE program (see http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/trends/nsre2.html) and were obtained directly from the Forest Service; they will also be published in the forthcoming book entitled “Outdoor Recreation for Twenty- First Century America,” by Ken Cordell and colleagues.

The Data Gap

As mentioned in the text, the list of activities for which recreation days are available is not exhaustive, and further distinctions for some activities (e.g., swimming, hunting, viewing) on whether they were conducted in a saltwater or freshwater setting are desirable.