Americans Abandoning National Parks(conservation. Environmentally respo...),Health

"Environmentally responsible behavior results from direct contact with the environment," they wrote. "People must be exposed to natural areas as children if they are to care about them as adults. Extended periods spent in natural areas, as well as creating role models, seem to create the most environmentally responsible behavior."

To evaluate the exact usage of the large parks, the researchers looked for decline in usage for 16 different time periods. They looked at national parks in the United States, Japan and Spain, as well as the number of gaming licenses issued and other indicators of camping, backpacking and hiking.

In the United States, visits to national parks steadily increased from the 1930s until 1987. Since that time, the study found the use of these parks has been declining by a little more than 1 percent each year. For some parks, that's translated to a decline in 25 percent in visits since the 1980s.

The researchers also found that parks in Japan and Spain have experienced a similar decrease in usage.

"The trend in declining nature extends beyond U.S. political and cultural boundaries," they wrote.

The only activity that seemed to increase was day hiking. Other activities studied, such as camping, fishing and hunting, declined during the study period.

That's a shame because "there have been a lot of studies that show that being out in nature and participating in outdoor activities is good for you," said study co-author Patty Zaradic, Environmental Leadership Fellow and conservation ecologist at Bryn Mawr College, in Pennsylvania.

However, based on the new findings, "there would need to be more than 70 million national park visits to get it back up to its peak," she noted.

The good news, however, according to Siegel, is that there probably aren't any dire health messages contained in this particular study. While people participating in fewer outdoo
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