15 Jun Natural Areas: Exercise Gyms and Adventure Sports Arenas?
Designated wilderness areas are increasingly being used for adventure sports, such as ice climbing on frozen waterfalls. ©Fort Carson, flickr
To escape the noise and hubbub of everyday life, you’ve probably—at some time or another—sought out an undeveloped, natural area, for a momentary bit of quiet and solitude. Depending upon where you live, you may have been rewarded on such outings with the sights of bald eagles, otters, owls or a whole host of other wild beings. You’ve almost certainly relished the sounds of a rushing river, the whisperings of wind or the songs of birds.
But now imagine going to your neighborhood public garden, protected area or local state park and having your pocket of peace suddenly perforated by human shouts or recorded music. You realize you’ve just run into an outdoor fitness class, “boot camp” session or tai chi lesson.
So you decide to venture farther afield, to a remote, designated wilderness. But here, too, you encounter obstacles to tranquility: in summer, groups of mountain bikers; or in winter, ice climbers who use snowmobiles to reach frozen waterfalls.
Are recreationists and exercise groups threatening our experience of nature in our protected public lands?
Throughout the park
Running into an outdoor fitness class during a walk in the park may become more and more common. ©Port of San Diego, flickr
Using public parks as private gyms has become a popular trend—so in demand, in fact, that the mania may be unstoppable. In St. Paul, Minnesota, for example, residents can take advantage of a summer-long fitness series in eight city parks. A similar Boston invention, the November Project, now offers free outdoor workouts in 19 cities.
Some are beginning to feel, however, that such groups are overrunning their parks and that experiencing the natural aspects of these places is now all but impossible. Outdoor-exercise supporters, however, counter that fitness group participants have a right to use public parks and natural areas as much as anyone else. Such activities, they say, also benefit society by making people healthier.
Into the wild
The trend is also spreading into the backcountry. Recreationists and adventure sports practitioners are becoming increasingly capable of accessing wild lands, and more and more of them are using them as venues for their particular pastimes. Today, it’s not uncommon to run into ice climbers on frozen waterfalls and base jumpers in canyons.
Using public parks as private gyms may be an unstoppable trend. ©Sarah Siblik, flickr
The Wilderness Act of 1964 states that lands officially designated as “wilderness” are to be kept in a wild and natural state—relatively free of human control—while at the same time providing for people’s use and enjoyment. In the past, that mandate was relatively easy to administer, since those who visited the isolated spots were typically either hard-core backpackers or extremely skilled hikers, capable of staying overnight in the wilderness for long periods of time.
But every year, technological advances have increased mobility and allowed people to reach formerly remote locations. The average wilderness visit is changing: lengths of stay are getting shorter, with day-use being the most common type of visit. Today, people use vehicles to cover more terrain in the shorter period of time that they have to spend in the wilderness and engage in more extreme pursuits than hiking or wildlife-watching.
Snowmobiles now take those wishing to climb frozen waterfalls or make fresh ski tracks in untouched snows to the spot where they can practice their sport. In a single day, a mountain biker can cover two to four times the distance as a strong hiker. Places that once were refuges for sensitive wildlife (such as grizzly bears) because most hikers could never reach them in a day’s outing are easily gained for a mountain biker.
Does the desire for a bit of solitude supersede the prerogatives of hobbyists? ©Candice Gaukel Andrews
Of course, not everyone or group that climbs, skis, or rides mountain bikes is a threat to wilderness and the solitude that is often sought there. But almost effortless access to our natural lands for however we wish to use them could, in time, erode those places and our serene experiences of them.
Is using our public natural areas for our own hobbies and sports activities a “right,” or does maintaining a restful and calm atmosphere supersede self-interests?
Here’s to your adventures, in whatever corner of the world you find them,
Candy
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