The flexible recreationist: The adaptability of outdoor recreation benefits to non-ideal outdoor recreation settings

An attractive element of benefits-based management is its potential to link outdoor recreation benefits to specific setting types. The assumption embedded in these linkages is that outdoor recreation benefits are tied to narrow setting types rather than being flexible to most setting types. To investigate the relationship between benefits and setting types, an experiment was conducted in which participants were randomly assigned to one of six distinct outdoor recreation settings, which were defined with digitally manipulated photos and select written statements. Benefit factors were based on a principal components analysis, and mean differences were assessed between the setting types through a MANOVA. Our data showed that outdoor recreationists on public lands are able to envision themselves as achieving their desired benefits across setting types. While some benefit factors are shown to be more flexible (e.g. physical) than others (e.g. interpersonal), none of the benefit factors measured in the survey significantly predicted participants' satisfaction levels of their randomly assigned setting types. Instead, the ability of respondents to engage in preferred outdoor recreation activities is shown to be statistically significant in predicting satisfaction levels with randomly assigned setting types.Management implications●The vision of a flexible outdoor recreationist whose benefit structure is adaptable to many setting types loosens, rather than constrains, land managers' ability to manage their lands for benefits.●Likewise, our finding that incompatibility of outdoor recreation activities to setting type impacts satisfaction levels constrains, rather than loosens, land managers' ability to manage for activities.●Despite loosening the strings of land management decisions for benefits, our findings do show that benefit factors are less compatible with setting types towards the ends of the spectrum (e.g. primitive and urban) and are generally most adaptable to backcountry setting types.