Why the declining interest in backcountry travel in the National Park System?/Bob Mishak
Glance through National Park System visitation statistics for a few years, and some puzzling numbers surface. For example: Doesn't anyone like to backpack anymore.
Ok, that was a little hyperbole. There are still a lot of backpackers in the National Park System. Just not as many as there were when Baby Boomers were coming of age.
Overall visitation to the parks in 2014 reached a record 292.8 million. But surprisingly few of those visitors spent a night -- whether in tent, on a boat, or in a lodge -- in the parks.
According to National Park Service statisticians, of those nearly 293 million who came to the parks last year, just 14.1 million stayed overnight. While that's up from the 13.5 million who spent at a night in 2013 -- that year visitation was significantly depressed by the partial government shutdown that closed most park units for 16 days -- it's slightly down from 2012 levels, when 14.3 million visitors stayed the night.
As for backcountry use, in 2014 the Park Service tallied 1.9 million overnight stays, while in 2013 there were 1.7 million, and in 2012 1.8 million. While those numbers seem bullish, they are quite a bit down from the late '70s and early '80s, when a good number of the Baby Boom generation was fit, able, and determined to see -- and sleep in -- the outdoors.
According to the Park Service, in 1979 there were almost 2.4 million backcountry travelers in the parks, or roughly 500,000 more than last year. In 1980, the number again approached 2.4 million.
Why the drop in backcountry camping, at a time when individualism is still going strong, when The North Face is seen on Broadway about as often as it is on the North Rim? That's the $64 million question.
"The NPS stats system just collects the 'how many' part of the equation - we have very little on 'why' except when there are major events, such as closings, re-openings, etc.," says Pam Ziesler, who works with the Park Service's Visitor Use Statistics Program.
Could it be related to fees charged at some national parks for backcountry access? While the small fees charged by some parks might not seem to be an impediment, access to U.S. Forest Service backcountry sites is free, says Kitty Benzar of the Western Slope No-Fee Coalition, and that might be draining some backpackers away from the parks.
Unfortunately, the Forest Service doesn't track backcountry usage like the Park Service does, and so has no easily obtained data that might indicate whether there has been an exodus of backpackers from park lands to forest lands.
Have those fees led you to vistas outside the National Park System?
Comments
You speak of choice, but it is not always a choice, especially when your employer is making demands. Or when, in going to school, you have to work as well as study. In the nineteenth century, the average workday was 14 hours and the average workweek was six days. Farmers worked even on Sunday. Would we want THAT again? Well, in many professions and industries we indeed have it, and that also affects the national parks.
However, I get your point. No one forced us to choose those lifestyles. Now all we need to do is convince the future that working ourselves to death is the way to go.
Yes it is a choice. You choose who you work for. You choose whether you go to school. If a high powered career is more important to you than backpacking, that is your choice. If you go to school, that is your choice. If you sit on your butt and watch TV all day. That is your choice.
GA-ME 2002
If there was only a like button... this comment would get at least one thumbs up.
Eric Buck, Does GA-ME 2002 mean the Appilacian trail from Georgia to Maine? If so, Awesome. That would be a good story for NP Traveler. I am sure others would like to hear your highlights. I always thought I would like to do a backpacking trip in Yellowstone or somewhere, but we only do day hikes or shorter.
Yes David. Be glad to answer questions but don't know it is worthy of an NP Traveler story. I will say, growing up in Northern Virginia I hiked some portions of the AT as a Boy Scout. Did the same with my sons in Pennsylvania as a Boy Scout leader many years later. I had always wanted to hike the AT and I made a choice in 2002 to take the time to make it happen.
Come on, EC. You know what I mean. If you happen to work for anyone, it is never about just your choice. We all have a boss, as the saying goes. Or perhaps you have discovered Utopia? In that case, is the Wizard in?
Here in Seattle, we just chose to pay everyone $15 an hour, and now practically every landlord has chosen to raise the rent. Choose not to pay and move? Easy for a few people, but not for most.
Backpacking is expensive, as is dropping out of society to do it. Forty years ago, it was far easier to do than now. But yes, if you sit on your butt all day and watch television, you have no one to blame but yourself.
Georgia to Maine? Yes, congratulations. And yes, I would like to hear about it in The Traveler. And please include your pictures, too.
Alfred - as my son's Babe Ruth league coach said - "life is about choices". That is (or at least has been) the beauty of our country. We all can make our own choices.
As Gomer Pyle said "suprise, suprise, suprise". Of course they did and prices will go up everywhere and people will lose their jobs.
Only if you want it to be.
Not sure Kurt's server is large enough for all my pictures but would be happy to post a few. Seem to have lost the capability of doing so on this site a while back. If its still possible, Kurt, educate me - here or via email. I promise, I won't abuse.
Thanks for backing up my comments about "too much," ec. Who decides how much to "too much" are all of us who choose where to spend our money, where to spend our time, how to keep ourselves amused, what we eat, and how much or how little we choose to exercise.
Then, based upon our choices, we must live with the consequences -- whatever they may be.