Countryside Recreational Access in the United States: A Statistical Comparison of Rural Districts

Abstract

Abstract This comparative study employs the concept of physical rigor to map and measure recreational routes and zones available to the public. The comparison is made for 20 representative countryside districts in five regional settings (Northeast, Midwest, South, Great Plains, and California). Five of the districts are national parks, while the rest are 40 × 25 km settled areas chosen to typify landscapes of their region. Statistical measures of access availability are derived from 1:24,000 topographic maps for five levels of access rigor. Access was determined for small quadrats (500 m square) on a presence/absence basis, beginning with the easiest access mode (passive) and then testing for increasingly rigorous modes (casual, vigorous, rugged, arduous, and closed). Polynomial regressions show strong relationships between levels of access and the independent variables of topography, land cover, road density (a surrogate for land-use intensity), and natural vegetation. In highly utilized areas of low relief there is plentiful access via the road network, but few trails, and much closed land. By contrast, remote wilderness areas, exemplified by national parks, offer little road access, but provide ubiquitous cross-country access for a small minority of specialized or expert recreationists. Regional variations in access availability are also tentatively related to the scale of original landholdings, in turn related both to date of settlement and type of land allotment and survey. For given levels of land-use intensity, areas of large-scale landholdings have fewer public rights-of-way, and more land closed to the public.