A Short History of Outdoor Recreation

I was going to write a blog about ‘living a life you don’t need a vacation from’ when I realized that this was just the tip of the iceberg. The real issue at hand is that we no longer feel connected to nature despite the fact that we ARE nature. Research shows that our connection to nature has declined by 60% in the past 200 years with the fastest decline happening in the last 50 years! This coincides with the rise in popularity of ‘outdoor recreation’. Today, outdoor recreation makes up a significant portion of the tourism industry world wide with over 75% of residents participating in outdoor trips in summer here in BC alone. Outdoor recreation is very much dependent on transportation. Yet, the ministries responsible for outdoor recreation and transportation operate largely separate with far reaching consequences.   

Prior to the industrial revolution, most people lived rurally. Almost everyone lived a subsistence lifestyle, meaning that we were out in nature everyday farming, hunting or foraging for food. We were getting plenty of physical exercise, sleeping when the sun went down and waking when it came up. We lived and ate with the seasons and depended on each other, extended family and community, to meet all of our needs. We didn’t need to escape to nature. We were already living in it.  If we needed to get somewhere, we walked. More than 50% of the world’s population still lived in the country until as recently as 2007. Only 19 years ago, did humanity cross this threshold! Today, the majority of us live in or near urban centres. Many of us are removed by generations from a country lifestyle.

By the 1880’s, camping was beginning to become a popular activity among the elites of society. Believe it or not, some of the earliest trips were cycling camping trips. The automobile did not become popular until at least the 1930s and was not mainstream until the 1950s when road building really took off in earnest. By the 1960s, car camping was a firmly established family leisure activity. Campgrounds could be found in national parks across North America. 

Early bicycle camping, photo: Dejan Drijovski

The automobile made tent camping accessible in remote locations that might have only been reachable on foot, and with all the necessary equipment in tow. Although Americans had the desire to escape modern life into nature, they also wanted to enjoy all the comforts that modern live provided. After the second world war, recreation vehicle popularity exploded. And this is when outdoor recreation really became a mainstream activity.

Outdoor recreation is a pretty new concept when we consider how long humans have been walking the earth - only a tiny fraction of our history. Yet, the last few generations alive today have never known anything else or at what cost they are enjoying this privilege. Vehicles and the infrastructure required to make outdoor recreation possible has a widespread and devastating impact on the natural world. The province of British Columbia has built approximately 700,000 roads zigzagging through our forests just like the pine beetle burrows through tree bark. The building of roads everywhere has made such a massive impact on the environment that there is now an entire scientific area of study called ‘road ecology’. 

When we all still lived in the country, there was no need to escape. Everything we needed was close by. We didn’t travel very far either. If you were adventurous, you had to be willing to walk, ride a horse or travel by boat. There were no motors. Without motors, you had to make sure you stayed close to water and food sources to keep you fueled on your journey. Humans rarely ventured up mountain peaks or deep into the wilderness for fear of starvation or worse. Plants and animals thrived in these remote locations left untouched by us. The private automobile has changed all that and opened up a whole new world for us.

Tourists flock to places like Banff just to get an up-close look at large mammals such as grizzly bears. Bears are shy and go out of their way to avoid human contact. Bear behavior becomes more aggressive when they are unable to avoid humans. Researchers have discovered that roads with just 20 vehicles or fewer, passing by in a day, is enough to make bears avoid an area. By today’s standards, that’s very low volume. In the summer, we count over a hundred vehicles a day driving up the Smallwood Forest Service (FSR) road through our retreat. That’s just the FSR in our area. The entire Kootenay area is riddled with roads. There is less and less space for the animals.

Bears are not the only ones to feel the impact. The Southern Mountain Caribou in our region are almost extinct due to logging and habitat destruction. Habitat destruction increases with each new road. Unsurprisingly, the logging industry incentivised road building for decades. Once built, the forest industry passes the responsibility of road maintenance and forest protection over to the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. Use of these roads for outdoor recreation is promoted to justify keeping them maintained and operational. Public funds pay for this cost. To make matters worse, there are now so many roads to manage that there are not enough officers to ensure protection or safety in these areas. These are areas that have only recently been opened up for public recreational access and are now suffering from significant negative human impacts.

Impacts include litter and dumping, soil damage, water contamination, noise, and air pollution. In addition, 40% of wildfires in Canada are started by people. Entire species of birds, amphibians, and mammals are going extinct due to human caused damage. Outdoor recreation is not inherently a bad concept. The problem is that the participants in outdoor recreation are not making the connection to nature. They often never leave the artificial comfort of their motorized vehicles. If they do venture out, they are unaware of the lasting impacts they are leaving behind such as trash, trampled plants, frightened animals from noise and damaged areas with polluted air and water. The bottom line is that people who feel connected to nature, care for it. 

Being able to access remote locations does not necessarily mean people are connecting with the natural world. This is especially true if you are getting there in a motorized vehicle loaded with all the modern conveniences such as satellite internet connections, air conditioning, and pre-packaged food. A true connection to nature requires the use of your senses where your ‘body is the vehicle of being in the world’. It requires careful observation and listening. Feeling the crunch of leaves under your feet, the smell of pine needles warming in the summer sun, the buzzing of insects, hearing the birds chirping at sunrise or the crickets go silent at night when a predator enters the area. It means noticing the spider spinning her web in the morning light, watching where squirrels are stashing nuts, what type of mushrooms are growing on fir trees or finding a random spring bubbling out of the ground. You can’t see or feel those things from the comfort of a car. You have to be willing to go beyond our sanitized version of recreation and risk experiencing some discomfort. 

Restricting access to the outdoors is not the solution. But, we could restrict how we access the outdoors. Motorized access should be discouraged with user fees that cover the costs to maintain the integrity of the environment. This means parking fees if you get there in a vehicle and perhaps permit requirements for ATVs, snowmobiles and other off-road motorized access. By promoting free access to remote locations for outdoor recreation, we are inadvertently damaging the very eco systems that we depend on to filter our air and water. I would also like to see protection and restoration of wild areas right where we live so that outdoor recreation is accessible from our back doors. Then we wouldn’t have to go far to connect to nature. For those wanting to explore further, there needs to be a more sustainable means to get there and recreation vehicles including SUVs are not it. 

Outdoor recreation and the auto manufacturing industry go hand in hand. We have allowed manufacturers to promote environmentally destructive consumption via unregulated advertising. This type of advertising encourages a form of tourism that brings the very urban lifestyle into nature that people are trying to escape from. It perpetuates the idea that wilderness is a space to be conquered rather than a place for quiet recreation. These ads often depict outdoor recreation vehicles in a way that suggests that they are a natural part of the ecosystem. These ads are quite literally promoting the consumption of nature. They are a great example of the disconnect from nature that humanity is struggling with today. The solution is investment in public and active transportation options that get people where they want to go efficiently, affordably and with significantly less impact on the environment. 

Jeep advertisement, lets animals do the talking. https://www.carpro.com/blog/jeep-lets-animals-do-the-talking-for-them

Recently, major tourist destinations have become overwhelmed with tourists arriving in vehicles and have started making investments in buses and bike lanes. Some destinations have been closing roads altogether in an attempt to reduce congestion and pollution. Lake Louise has restricted tourist access to bus only. Banff created a pedestrian only zone and although it has been ended, park officials expect high volumes of traffic and congestion. Private vehicle access to Morraine Lake is closed year round. You can get there by walking or biking though. Other areas are closed to all activities to give animals the space they need to thrive. You can also get to Canmore and cycle the 22km legacy trail to Banff. Park fees are not required if you get there without a car. Destinations like Lake O’Hara, in Yoho National Park, have had bus or hiking only access for decades as it is located in a major grizzly bear corridor. Most restrictions are limited to national parks but, in my opinion, should be applied to other popular destinations.

Unlike Alberta or other countries, only about 3% of land in the province of British Columbia is privately owned or leased. This means that the public has access to a vast area, most of it by motor vehicle. Our province is beautiful with many spectacular nature destinations. Our tourism industry depends on the integrity of these environments. Both tourists and residents benefit from access to these places. It is in our best interest to protect these natural wonders and make transportation to these destinations more sustainable. 

There is money to build the most fantastic multi-modal transportation system, if only we spend it more wisely. Our current transport system was built for the sole purpose of moving commercial goods around. Everything else, including the private automobile and outdoor recreation vehicles, are an afterthought for which we all pay for. The cost of moving goods (which we consume, including fuel) is paid for by us! Big companies love this transport system because they get to keep all the profits while downloading the cost to move the goods around on the tax payer. The public pays for the infrastructure and maintenance of roads. For context, the annual budget of the Ministry of Transportation and Transit (MoTT) in BC is approximately $9 billion. The estimated cost to install a bicycle path connecting Nelson and Castlegar is $60 million or 0.006% of that - quite literally a rounding error. Investment in public transit in rural areas is not much better sitting around 0.45% of the annual MoTT budget. We are not getting very much bang for our buck. But we could, we just have to demand it. 

Next time you head out into nature, think about how you are getting there. Could you get there on foot or by bicycle? Carpool or bus? What are you bringing with you? With whom? Are you making sure you leave no trace? How might your presence impact the animals, plants and water there? Is there a closer destination with similar recreation opportunities? When you are there in nature, what do you hear, smell or see? Are you making a connection? When we feel connected to nature we care for it.