RPA Assessment of Outdoor Recreation: Past, Current, and Future Directions

In f 974, the US. C o n p s s passed the Forest a d Rangelmd Renewable Raources Planning Act (RPA). ?-his legislation requ iss the Secretary of Agriculture to t\ssess the klemand and supply situation for the Nation's forest and rmgeland resources every 110 years. The Secretary of Agricullure has designated the USDA Forest Semice as the lead agency for the RPA Assessntent. The h t RPA Assessment was published in 1975, a year after the passage of the 1974 Act. The second was publiskd 5 years later in 1980. The third (the 1989 Assessment) was completed in 1989 and published In ornmencing the 10-year internal for publishing fubre Assessments. In this paper, the outdoor ~ctvcation sections of the W A Assessmnb cotlducbd to date are feviewed. The resulb of a survey on cument policy and managernent applications of the outdoor recreation results published in 1989 BPA Assessment are also presented. By and large, it appears tlrat these r e s u l ~ are providing useful and valuable input into natural resource policy and management decisions in the Uni td States. The paper concfudes with a discussion of limitations of the a984 Assessment and opport.unities for irngrovillg the applicabilit)i of the oulc;ioor =creation results to policy and managernent decisions. P r i o r i ~ issues identified for future W A Assessment efforts 'mciude national demmd and supply &ends, regional demand and supply trends, units of measure far recreation quantity, the esects of qualiq on recreation demand and supply, the ef-fects of demographic changes on recteation demand and supply, and estimzllion of the net economic value and regional economic impacts of outdoor recreation.