[at-l] The Pecking Order

[bullard@northnet.org (James Bullard)]

At 03:08 AM 5/16/01 +0000, Jim and/or Ginny Owen wrote:
>I spent a couple hours today working my way through a Pennsylvania DCNR 
>News Release detailing $30 million in grant money for "Open space, Parks 
>and Recreation".  I thought it was interesting that of the $30 Mil only 
>$4.7 Mil was allocated to anything resembling a trail.  . . . clip . . .
>Some of you may not understand this - but Pennsylvania has over 8000 miles 
>of marked and maintained hiking trails and the distribution of these 
>grants is a clear signal about where hikers fit in the pecking order as 
>far as the politicians are concerned.

There is a long standing notion in the business community that hikers don't 
spend as much money on their outings as those who use wheels, especially 
motorized wheels (dirt bikes, ATVs and the like).  In the Adirondacks, 
snowmobilers are beloved by local retailers and hikers are considered 
cheapskates.  Aside from the question of whether the purpose of public 
recreation investments should be be driven by economic development 
considerations (which I'll leave for others to debate) a study conducted at 
Adirondack trailheads by SUNY Potsdam Professor John Omohundro and his 
students disproves this myth.  According to the study, which has been 
reported in various regional media, hikers spend an average $80 to $110 per 
trip or about $2 million annually in the local economy.  Perhaps 
Pennsylvania needs to have a similar study to show the error of their 
spending priorities.

Saunterer