2020 / Health and well-being, Public land

Nature, Outdoor Experiences, and Human Health

Citation

Wolf, K. L., Derrien, M. M., Kruger, L. E., & Penbrooke, T. L. (2020). Chapter 6: Nature, outdoor experiences, and human health. In: Selin, S., Cerveny, L. K., Blahna, D. J., Miller, A. B., eds. 2020. Igniting Research for Outdoor Recreation: Linking Science, Policy, and Action. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-987. (pp. 85–100). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/60068

Link to file

Studies from around the world keep confirming that spending time in nearby nature is good for people. This chapter explores how the latest science on health and nature can shape recreation planning on public lands — from small local parks to large regional forests, and everything in between. It also introduces evidence-based active living and nature-for-health initiatives that communities across the country are already putting into practice.

These ideas represent a real shift in how we think about recreation. For one, health has always been an unspoken benefit of time outdoors, but making health a stated goal opens up new opportunities to welcome visitors and keep them coming back. Second, looking at recreation through a health lens connects public lands to the neighborhoods around them, and to the local governments that serve those communities. Finally, this approach brings in partners who don’t traditionally work in natural resources, like medical professionals, public health departments, and community organizers, who offer fresh insights into why outdoor experiences matter.

This health-centered view also changes the story of recreation itself. Rather than thinking of it as just leisure, we can see it as a source of human connection and recognize the importance of nature-based activity in everyday life.

Abstract

Recent scientific studies from around the world identify a broad array of human health benefits associated with experiences of nearby nature. This chapter explores how the current surge in health response science can inform recreation facilities planning and programming on both rural and urban public lands, at local to regional scales. We also introduce a number of evidence-based active living and nature-for-health initiatives—both conceptually and literally—that have emerged in communities across the country and that can be implemented across the entire landscape gradient. This collection of ideas concerning outdoor activity and human health represents a paradigm shift in several ways. First, human health response has been implicit in many recreation plans and lands, yet explicit health-centered goal setting suggests new opportunities for visitor recruitment and retention. Second, an alllands outlook, from a human health perspective, extends connectivity of recreation facilities beyond the public land boundary into nearby neighborhoods, and into partnerships with local governments. Finally, exploring the contributions of outdoor activity to human health initiates collaborations with nontraditional partners whose work is not based in natural resources, but who can offer valuable insights into visitor benefits. Such partners include medical professionals, public health departments, and community organizers. Looking back to chapter 2 (Cerveny et al. 2020), a human health lens also shifts the notion of “recreation as leisure” to one of “recreation as human connections” and expands the notion to acknowledge the importance of nature-based activity in everyday life.