12. Wild land/urban interface Public- and private-sector providers will need to continue to provide viewing, learning, and social gathering opportunities to meet the rising
demand by the majority of the public. Many of these types of NBT opportunities can be provided near the urban places where many of those
seeking such opportunities live.
13. Accessibility
Because most forms NBT participation depend so heavily on natural settings, which differ among regions of the state, and because most of
these forms continue to grow in popularity, tourism and associated NBT travel can be expected to continue growth as long as transportation
remains as affordable and as convenient as today and access to land and water areas is available.
14. Limited supply
Increasingly, travel to Pennsylvania for NBT will add to pressures on the state supply of NBT opportunities, particularly at the most popular
parks, forests and other NBT destinations.
15. Water sites
Especially heavy pressures are likely to occur at water sites that have always been a major attraction for many types of NBT activities. These
pressures will take on added significance with advances of technology making them accessible to jet-propelled watercraft.
16. New technologies
New technologies and better modes of accessing NBT resources will continue to shift the nature of the demand for NBT. Most impacted by
these shifts will be the more traditional passive forms of NBT where quiet, natural settings for learning, reflection, and nature appreciation are
sought. Also impacted will be traditional forms of active participation where new technology enables more and different users use the
resource, for example, whitewater canoeists experiences impacted by jet ski use, or vice versa.
17. Data management
Improved data, monitoring systems, and well understood management objectives that are in touch with the NBT demand shifts constantly
occurring in Pennsylvania will be necessary to manage NBT successfully in the future. The decline in data and information on NBT visitation,
customer satisfaction, and economic impact information has proven to be a detriment to effective, timely management, and policy
specification. Greater attention will be required for reliable information on trends, emerging issues, and effectiveness in delivering NBT
services and opportunities.
18. Population diversity
Rapid increases in the diversity of the population in race, culture, age, income, and other factors will change the demand for NBT, but not
diminish the size of the overall market. Increasing population diversity will result in different preferences, expectations, and ways of seeking
and participating in NBT. Management policies and solutions of the past will only partially fit the emerging shifts in demand and new forms
of NBT people will pursue.
19. Private enterprise opportunities
Increasing domestic NBT in Pennsylvania will create opportunities for large-scale private businesses to provide services, accommodations,
and information.
20. Inner-city needs
Concerns about availability of NBT to inner city disadvantaged groups will grow with the realization that these groups participate
substantially less in all forms of NBT because they do not have opportunities that are affordable and close enough to where they live.
21. Price increases
As management tools, such as charging fees, continue to evolve, the implications of such tools will increasingly be issues viewed differently by
different social groups and by different types of NBT participants.
22. Research
Research will become increasingly important in helping to understand changes that will occur across many different fronts. Ongoing NBT
participation surveys, on-site studies of various user groups and interests, linking NBT behavior and preferences with social changes, enabling
NBT providers to understand market shifts as or before they happen, and monitoring access equity are among the vital research roles that will
be needed.
23. Reservation systems
Continued increases in visits to most federal and state forests in Pennsylvania will put added pressures on public managers to adopt new
management policies and practices. Visitation rates to state parks will remain level. Fees and reservation systems will spread. Information will
be more available. Greater attention will be paid to the unequal effects of these policies on lower income, less well educated, and placeconfined
segments of our population.