Equity in Access to Outdoor Recreation—Informing a Sustainable Future

Patricia L Winter,William D Crano,Tatiana Basáñez,Christopher S Lamb

doi:10.3390/su12010124

Abstract

Despite an increasingly ethnically and racially diverse population in the United States (U.S.), growing evidence indicates that minorities are underrepresented in national forest visitation. Many reasons for continuing underrepresentation have been examined, involving research reaching back multiple decades. In the current study, a random sample of residents (n = 1977) from four large metropolitan statistical areas in California was involved in a telephone survey about forest visitation. Analysis revealed a continuing pattern of inequities in lifetime visitation to a national forest, as well as recency of visitation. Constraints to national forest visitation show similarities among groups. Lack of time was the most often mentioned constraint, with resource-related constraints more frequently cited by minority respondents. In contrast to prior studies, a lack of information or concerns about discrimination were not cited by survey respondents, though the open-ended approach to top constraints may underpin some of this variation from prior research. The primary information source for outdoor recreation used most frequently and most trusted was the Internet, followed closely by social networks (family and friends). In the presentation of U.S. outdoor recreation information, natural resource management agencies, use groups, and opportunity providers would benefit from incorporating culturally relevant messaging and images to affirm the message of inclusion and welcome.

Highlights

Inquiries surrounding racial and ethnic disparities in United States (U.S.) outdoor recreation participation have been the focus of ongoing research for the past 40 years [1]
Lacking sufficient numbers of respondents in some groups, we focused on Whites/Caucasians and Hispanic/Latino respondents exploring the combination of gender, ethnoracial identity (Whites/Caucasians; Hispanic/Latino), and age group to predict whether or not the respondent had visited a national forest
Prior studies exploring outdoor recreation on forest lands have highlighted disparities in national forest visitation associated with traditionally marginalized groups [1,4,5,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]

Summary

Introduction

Inquiries surrounding racial and ethnic disparities in United States (U.S.) outdoor recreation participation have been the focus of ongoing research for the past 40 years [1]. Efforts in natural resource recreation management agencies have focused on increasing representation of ethnic and racial minorities to address concerns over equity, much remains to be done [1,5]. The National Visitor Use Monitoring Survey Report (2013), the U.S Forest Service systematic monitoring survey, showed that only 5.5 percent of national forest visits were from visitors of Hispanic or Latino origin [7], whereas Hispanics were 16.2 percent of the nation’s 2010 population [8]. The Pacific Southwest Region, covering California, had an ethnoracial minority population of about 49.7 percent (+/−6.47) and a reported 21.5 percent (+/−2.51) minority use, resulting in a 28.2 (+/−5.85) equity gap score [9]. Under-representation of ethnic minority groups has been reported in European studies [2]

Methods

Results

Conclusion