A Brief Inquiry Into Outdoor Recreation

Recreating outdoors is a popular pastime in the US and abroad, which makes sense as coexisting with nature has been a fact of life since the evolution of humans. But how has outdoor recreation become the phenomena that it is today?

It all comes back to the innate drive to survive. Ancient cultures lived in the wild— hunting, fishing, and gathering as a means of collecting food. Historically, Native American and other indigenous cultures migrated with the seasons, oftentimes on foot and on trails we now use for recreational hiking. Locally in the Truckee Meadows area, the Washoe (Wašiw), Numu (Northern Paiute), Newe (Western Shoshone), and Nuwu (Southern Paiute) inhabited the area since time immemorial. The Washoe people lived by Lake Tahoe in the summertime and in the surrounding basins in the winters in between.

Opening Ceremony of the 1896 Olympic Games

Overseas, outdoor recreational activities can be observed as a staple in many cultures. Ancient Greeks were known to value athletics and competitive contests, giving way to the tradition of the Olympics. First observed in the 8th century BC, and coming into fruition again at the international level for the first time in 1896, the games have become a symbol of unity worldwide and this year, the Summer Olympics are currently taking place in Paris for the next two or so weeks!

There’s also something to be said about the spiritual aspect of recreating outdoors. “At its heart the Ancient Olympic Games was a religious festival held in a religious sanctuary,” said Paul Christesen, professor of Ancient Greek History.

When I visited Rishikesh, India, many of the Indian tourists I met were excited to take a dip in the Ganges river, referred to as Ma Ganga and seen as the mother of humanity, and the goddess of purification and forgiveness in the Hindu religion. What may be a simple swim for one person, could be an entire symbolication of cleansing and purification to another, which I find quite beautiful!

Whatever your reasons may be, science shows that there’s benefits to spending time outside. In a study conducted at the University of Exeter, “people who spent two hours a week in green spaces — local parks or other natural environments, either all at once or spaced over several visits — were substantially more likely to report good health and psychological well-being than those who didn’t.” With this being said, there’s so many activities you can do in local parks or other natural environments. Whether it’s Olympic level sports, or going on a walk for some fresh air, you’re likely making yourself a much happier person by doing so!

Getting back to the history of outdoor recreation; in the US specifically, it can be broken down into 6 distinct periods: frontier period (1750 - 1962), acquisition period (1782 - 1867), transfer and disposal period (1802 - 1934), reservation period (1872 - 1934), custodial management (1905 - 1962), and confrontation and partnership (1962 - present). You can learn more about these periods in this webinar produced by Washington State University!

The frontier period consisted of colonists discovering and settling on land, while the acquisition period was marked by the government acquiring land and setting it aside either for protection or their own use. However, some of this was undone during the transfer and disposal period, where large chunks of federal land was transferred to become public domain, which was important for the start of recreational use. This period of time is also marked by the Industrial Revolution. With quick advances in technology, more US workers were spending more time than ever on the clock. Reformation of labor laws led to minimum working ages to address child labor, and the creation of the 40 hour work week, which in turn gave Americans more time and freedom to recreate outdoors.

The reservation period was marked by a preservation mindset, which can be seen in the establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872, the first national park in the US. Shortly after this in 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt spent three nights in Yosemite National Park with naturalist and environmental advocate, John Muir. This leads into the custodial management period, where agencies like the National Park Service, the USDA Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management were created.

A sign in Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park in Florida, embodying Leave No Trace principles

And finally, we have the confrontation and partnership period that we’re in now! This is marked by the fact that more people than ever before want to get outside and enjoy nature, so there’s an even bigger emphasis on the need to protect our outdoor spaces so that they can be maintained and enjoyed by future generations. There also is a need to examine what an outdoor lifestyle means, and how we can make the outdoors accessible to all. You can read more about this in Claire and Brooke’s blog, “Redefining the Outdoor Lifestyle”.

Photo from a recent Junior Naturalist Program

One of the last important aspects of outdoor recreation I’d like to mention is the role it plays in the upbringing of our future generations. Protecting our outdoor spaces starts with us, and the skills we pass down to the children in our community. This starts with education and awareness, which can be seen in our Student Stewards Program offerings here at the Parks Foundation. I’d highly encourage you to check them out if you have any children in your life who you’d like to teach the value of being an environmental steward!

In short, I wrote this blog because I wanted to explore the history, science, and culture surrounding outdoor recreation. If you stuck around this long, thanks for entertaining my musings! There’s a whole lot more to this topic, so feel free to input your two cents about outdoor recreation in the comments section.

About the Author

Born and raised in the Truckee Meadows, Dayna studied International Business Marketing at the University of Nevada, Reno. After graduating in 2021, she spent 2 months in India pursuing her passion by studying yoga and becoming a certified instructor. Now, Dayna is excited to join the Truckee Meadows Parks Foundation promoting one of her favorite things, the outdoors! In her free time, Dayna can be found practicing yoga, exploring the world around her, or cozying up in her hammock with a good book.