Recreation and the Environment as Cultural Dimensions in Contemporary American Society

This paper broadly explores changing outdoor recreation demands, environmental opinions and demographics in the United States. With this country’s population predicted to more than double by the end of this century, it is imperative that we understand these treru.5 and their implications for better managing our natural envimnment and pmviding opportunities for outdoor recreation in that environment. Using notional survey dota, we have described differences in recreation behavior (participation) and envimtunentat attitudes nationwide across six socio-demographic factors-race, country of birth, rural-urban residence, region of the country, age and income. Results indicate that demographic d@erences, recreation activity choices and people ‘s environmental positions ore linked.