Longitudinal changes in the outdoor recreation community’s reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic: Final report on a three-phase national survey of outdoor enthusiasts

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to alter daily life and lead to changes in the way we spend time outside. In an effort to gather timely and relevant data on national recreation patterns, the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics and its academic partner, Pennsylvania State University, have been working to conduct a study that can offer guidance to land managers, recreation providers, and outdoor enthusiasts across the United States. Through three phases of survey-based data collection, ranging from April 9th to May 21st, 2020, a longitudinal perspective of how outdoor recreationists are reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic was developed from this research. The timing of this research was purposeful, as it intended to capture self-reported information related to outdoor recreation and COVID-19 during periods of time when the virus had been officially documented as a pandemic, resulting federal and state stay-at-home orders were implemented across the U.S., and many parks and protected closed or discontinued regular operations. Phases 1 and 2 of this assessment were detailed by previous reports. This report details the findings across all three phases of research. These findings track behaviors, psychosocial determinants of outdoor recreation decision-making, and future intentions across the study period. This report is intended to provide valuable information for managing the changing recreation use of public lands, predicting spikes in recreation, and offering insight for land managers as they work to protect the natural world. The following tables, figures, and corresponding brief descriptions are intended to compare results across the three phases of this research effort.