Library of Trails Benefits

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the economic impact of outdoor recreation in Washington State. The report includes estimates on spending, jobs, income, impact on GDP, consumer surplus, and environmental benefits of outdoor recreation. In 2019, outdoor recreation in Washington contributed $26.5 billion in spending and supported 264,000 jobs, compared to $21.5 billion and 200,000 jobs in 2014.

This study analyzes the reliability of Global Navigation Satellite System-based (GNSS) Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) using three platforms: GPSies, Outdooractive, and Komoot. These data sources are compared with automatic visitor counters to evaluate the spatial distribution of hikers in Germany’s Bavarian Forest National Park. In a comparison of all three platforms, GPSies and Outdooractive had the strongest correlation of spatial distribution and length of hiking activities.

This study analyzes data from Twitter, Flickr, and Instagram to assess visitation at 10 urban and peri-urban Swiss National Forest Inventory sites and evaluates recreational models on a national scale. Social media text was analyzed and a Flickr-based model and Twitter-based model were compared with a pre-existing potential recreation demand (PRD) model to estimate recreational use. Both the Flickr and Twitter models correlated with the existing PRD model; the Instagram model was not evaluated due to data limitations.

This study uses Flickr data and remote sensing technologies to identify forest biometric and topographic data to map and estimate recreational potential of British Columbia’s provincial park system. Potential recreation and consumer surplus are mapped in Cypress Provincial Park using variables that influence visitors’ preferences for recreational activities. A machine learning approach called convolutional neural network (CNN) was used to filter Flickr images. The CNN was found to perform best in the classification of images depicting hiking, wildlife, skiing, and biking, but not as well for images depicting camping. The analysis also revealed that consumer surplus in Cypress Provincial Park was primarily concentrated in two hotspots.

This study analyzes how visitation in the Columbia River Gorge of Oregon and Washington changed as a result of the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire. A visitation model is constructed by incorporating data from social media to measure visitation patterns and used to look for a substitution effect on nearby recreation sites after the fire.

This study estimates the value Arizona residents derive from visiting motorized and non-motorized trails. The authors also estimated total annual trail use, Arizonans’ perceptions of trails, and favorite and most frequented trails. The value for Arizona residents from non-motorized trail use is around $8.3 billion per year; the value from motorized trail use is about $5.2 billion per year.

This report estimates the job creation resulting from the construction of bicycle and pedestrian facilities such as bike paths, trails, sidewalks, and related projects. Based on data from transportation and public works departments in 11 cities with 58 projects, the author estimated that on average, these infrastructure projects create 9 in-state jobs for each $1 million of spending and an additional 3 jobs if out-of-state effects are included. Bicycle-only infrastructure projects contributed to the highest level of job creation.

The study estimates the impact of the proposed Run of River Whitewater Park in Skowhegan, Maine. The park would include infrastructure to support water sports and additional trails to encourage hiking, walking, and cross-country skiing. Run of River was estimated to generate a direct economic impact of nearly $6 million in spending in its first year and up to $19 million in its 10th year.

This study is listed as the first in a series of Knoxville Urban Wilderness (KUW) health and economic impact reports. This paper details the number of KUW users during 2021. Findings include that the users of the KUW trail system are predominately white, adult males, and that mountain biking, running, and walking are the most popular activities.

The authors conducted a survey in Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in Los Angeles to understand park accessibility and how socio-demographic characteristics affect individuals’ use of the park. They found that the average park user is white, male, middle-aged, has a college education, earns between $50,000-$75,000 per annum, and was born in the United States. They also found that people of color traveled farther to visit the park and were disproportionately represented among first-time visitors.

This paper demonstrates how geolocated social media images can be used for monitoring tourism levels in remote mountains. Researchers identified visitor hotspots and seasonal variations using Flickr photos. Though this methodology has limitations, it serves as a useful approach to manage tourism in a remote, protected natural area where resources are limited.

The authors apply a GIS spatial analysis using social media data to quantify public perspectives of recreational ecosystem services (RESs) or green spaces in Beijing, China. This megacity-scale study was conducted using data from the Little Red Book (LRB) which has been referred to as “China’s Instagram.” Though the authors acknowledge there are some limitations in their methodology, they found that existing urban green spaces do not provide enough outdoor recreation facilities for the current demand, which leads to more clusters of outdoor recreational activity in the suburbs.

To estimate the full economic impact of outdoor recreation across Mesa County, Colorado, researchers measured the impact of both outdoor recreation-related businesses (such as retail trade and manufacturing) and tourism. In 2019, the GDP impact of outdoor recreation was $484,474,065 or 7.2% of total GDP; the direct job impact was 9,897 jobs or 11% of total jobs in Mesa County.

Utah State University researchers found that the creation of the Bears Ears National Monument in San Juan County, Utah, has likely increased outdoor recreation volume and growth in outdoor recreation-related industries. Retail trade, scientific, professional, and technical services as well as food services have all experienced significant economic growth in the three years after the monument was created. The researchers expect that the monument’s creation will ultimately result in a long-term increase in outdoor recreational activity in the county. 

The George S. Mickelson Trail (GSMT) is a multipurpose recreational trail that spans 114 miles across South Dakota beginning in the Black Hills. Researchers compiled survey data from 2,388 trail users who resided outside of the Black Hills Region. They analyzed the perceptions and use patterns of tourism activity on the GSMT and found that respondents were primarily attracted to the trail by the scenery and mountain biking opportunities. Their marketing recommendations include increasing promotion strategies such as providing more shuttle services, creating an online system to buy daily and annual passes, and administering more information about the trail through online advertising and brochures.

In Whitefish, Montana, outdoor recreation is the most important reason why residents stay and visitors come to the community. On the Whitefish Trail, 22,000 annual uses by visitors (30% of total use) generates $3.6 million in spending and supports 68 jobs.

In Helena, Montana, an 80-mile hiking and mountain biking trail system attracts more than 63,000 trail users during the summer. Seven in 10 users are residents, but visitors who use the trail system account for $4 million in spending, support 60 jobs, and generate $185,000 in state and local taxes.

In Taos, New Mexico, Hispanic residents and low-income residents are less likely to have used trails during the previous year, but those who have used trails during the previous year use them just as often as other (non-Hispanic) residents. Among low-income residents, those with a park or trail within a 10-minute walk of their house were 50 percent more likely to have used trails during the previous year.

Across western Oregon, there is substantial variation in how well the supply of hiking, mountain biking, and off-highway vehicle (OHV) trails meets demand for these trails by local users. Although some communities have many miles of trails, such as the 146 miles of mountain biking trails within 60 minutes of Portland, the supply of trails may be too low to support the number of people using them.

In rural Bonner County in northern Idaho, trails are used by three-quarters of residents an average of every day in the summer and every other day in the winter. Trail use is high for all residents, even accounting for differences in the length of residence in the county, income, and age. Business owners are more likely to identify trails as an important factor in their decision to move to the county.

Non-motorized trail users in Oregon account for 162.3 million user days per year, and the vast majority of these days are spent walking or hiking. While these recreation days are associated with substantial expenditures, the amount spent per person per day and the total economic impact vary greatly within the state.

This study assesses the potential impact of a region-wide trail destination for multiple user groups on private, primarily corporate-owned land in southwest Virginia. It found that developing a destination-quality trail system requires region-wide coordination, both in trail construction and linking, as well as in providing supporting infrastructure for tourists and marketing to potential visitors outside the region.

This study found that surveys that directly extrapolate the number of times an individual person visits a trail to the general population will significantly overstate the future trail use. Care must be taken to account for the differences between those interviewed at the trailhead and the rest of the population.

This study found that wilderness trail users are willing to travel farther (and therefore spend more) to reach trails with campgrounds, old-growth forests, and views. Conversely, they avoid trails with long dirt road approaches and clear-cuts visible from the trail.

This study found that hikers were willing to travel on average over four hours to visit the Grandfather Mountain Wilderness Preserve and its trail system, and did so five times per year. Although this study is old, it is one of the few with values specifically for a day of hiking, particularly in the southern U.S.

This study found that locals are the main beneficiary of the Teton County, Wyoming trail system, although visitors are increasingly enjoying area trails outside of Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. The economic impact of the trails may be significant, but is difficult to estimate without knowing how many visitors come to the area just for the trail system.

This study found that most users of Table Rock State Park in South Carolina are willing to pay a fee to use the hiking trails in addition to the existing park entrance fee. The authors found that users were willing to pay a higher fee when they believed the trails were of higher quality.

This study found that crown wildfires that cross trails are likely to have a dramatic effect on use and individual benefit for hikers and mountain bikers that persists for decades after the fire occurs. Prescribed fires are also shown to decrease benefits and use for both groups, but these declines occur gradually over decades rather than an immediate drop in the year of a wildfire.