trends for undeveloped recreation resources reflect broad social and land use pat- 

 terns, including conversion of land from open space to urbanized areas, and from 

 forest to agricultural uses. Offsetting increases in undeveloped lands owned by State 

 and Federal agencies are not expected, so opportunities for most undeveloped 

 environments are expected to decline. Developed opportunities are expected to 

 increase, due both to additional park land acquisition by local governments and to 

 increased opportunities provided by the private sector. 



National-level analyses of recreation activities mask variations among regions. Each 

 region has a unique combination of resources, travel behavior, population characteris- 

 tics, and projected changes in these factors. In general, the western regions have 

 greater amounts of resources, larger effective travel distances, and higher projected 

 rates of population growth as compared to the eastern regions. Because of these 

 combinations, the availability of recreation opportunities in the western regions is not 

 expected to be as sensitive to population increases as in the eastern regions. Al- 

 though population is expected to grow more rapidly in the West, higher effective travel 

 distances mean that the demand for recreation resources will be spread over a 

 broader area. In the eastern regions, where travel distances are shorter, resources 

 closer to population centers will bear a relatively greater share of increased demand. 

 As the capacity of these resources is reached more rapidly, the availability of these 

 resources for other recreating households will be reduced. Thus, there is likely to be a 

 higher level of use pressure put on recreation resources located near population 

 centers in the eastern half of the country compared with resources in the West. 



Of the various recreation resources, a relatively high degree of use pressure will be 

 placed on trail and scenic resources near population centers. These are the resources 

 that provide a primary resource base for activities such as day hiking, backpacking, 

 horseback riding, sightseeing, and pleasure driving. Since much wildlife observation 

 activity also occurs on or near trails, enjoyment of this activity could also be affected. 



Opportunities for n/lanagement—The major ways of increasing supplies include: 



— Rehabilitating deteriorating sites and adequately maintaining existing facilities; 



— Expanding activities concerned with visitor information services, including field 

 interpretive and educational services that match recreational opportunities in a 

 particular area; 



— Improving coordination and encouraging partnerships among private groups, 

 nonprofit organizations, and public agencies so as to deliver recreational 

 opportunities more efficiently (fig. 31); 



— Developing stable sources of revenue to cover costs of providing recreational 

 opportunities (for example, user fees for recreational use on private and public 

 lands); 



55 



