The trend of measuring public use of the national park

Since the outburst of interest in outdoor recreation travel in the period following World War II, measurements of outdoor recreation have been made in many ways. The measurement of outdoor recreation is decentralized activity being carried out by a large number of private and federal agencies with a variety of goals and purposes. Future improvements in federal statistics will partially come from the emergence of a combined strategy for statistical data gathering. Partially due to decentralization, such a strategy has not emerged even though the need for trend data is wide-spread. To envision the characteristics of a more coordinated and cost effective program of outdoor recreation measurement, it is helpful to consider the history of outdoor recreation studies. Changes in studies conducted for the National Park Service (NPS) illustrate a trend with several periods.