WASHINGTON, DC—We know that people visit national forests and grasslands for myriad reasons—to decompress, hike, drive or fish. They might visit once or hundreds of times. So we know where to devote our resources, we need to know what visitors are looking for when they visit our lands.

That’s where the National Visitor Use Monitoring Program comes in—it can help us identify how our forests and grasslands are used and who is using them by using data estimates. The FY2021 estimates of recreation visitation to national forests are now available. The national estimate for FY2021 is 156 million visits, which was somewhat less than the pandemic-related surge in FY2020, but a 4% increase over pre-pandemic levels in FY2019. 
It was in dispersed settings (settings that do not include developed facilities such as toilets, tables, grills and other structures) that the public found space to be outdoors and uncrowded, and engage in activities such as walking, viewing nature and relaxing. In the latter half of FY2020, visitation to general dispersed settings was about 70% higher than normal.

Wilderness visitation nearly doubled compared to normal years. These changes show the public viewed national forests as a safe and restorative place to be outdoors and gain respite from stress.

Hiking, walking and viewing nature and wildlife continued to be some of the most frequent activities undertaken by visitors. The percentage of visits that included trail-related activities increased 3% between FY19 and FY21. Use of trails on Forest Service lands has been growing steadily over the last 10 years.

The national report is available here. Detailed data, including estimates for individual forests and previous years, are available in the Natural Resource Manager NVUM Results application.