Study suggests public lands are becoming more important amid COVID-19

Public lands are becoming more important to outdoor recreationists amid COVID-19 and that trend is expected to continue, according to a recent study conducted by the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics in conjunction with Penn State University.

The survey focused on people who spend time in the outdoors and collected information about their recreation patterns before, during and after COVID-19.

Survey findings showed that outdoor recreation enthusiasts are going outdoors alone, more often, and closer to home. The study also indicated that respondents were ready to travel again when it is perceived as safe and that people will utilize public lands more often.

“With the greatest concentration of public lands in the Commonwealth and located within a day’s drive of a quarter of the nation’s population, outdoor recreation in the rural Pennsylvania Wilds region has the potential to become even more of an economic driver post-COVID-19, helping our rural communities recover from decades of divestment and population decline,” said Ta Enos, CEO + Founder of the PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship Inc. “Thanks to the many public- and private-sector partners at the local, state and national level who continue to invest in this regional strategy for rural PA.”

Here is link to the results of the national LNT COVID-19 survey.