Whether hiking, bicycling, riding on horseback or participating in motorized recreation nearly everyone uses trails for a similar goal – to spend time outdoors. This time outside, whether a short walk down a paved trail to work in an urban setting, or a hike to a point reachable to only a few Americans makes trail users happier people.
Trails drive economic success in a number of ways. When trails are brought into a community studies have shown that property values near the trail increase, businesses near trails flourish, trail tourism provides an influx of money to communities, and jobs are created due to the trails impact. More and more we are seeing individuals take outdoor recreation opportunities, largely driven by trails, into consideration when choosing where to live.
Published February 19, 2020
American Trails celebrates decades of working on behalf of all trail interests. Our website is one of the world's most comprehensive online sources for planning, building, designing, funding, managing, enhancing, and supporting trails, greenways, and blueways.
This 1997 paper estimates the value of a relatively new form of recreation: mountain biking. Its popularity has resulted in many documented conflicts, and its value must be estimated so an informed decision regarding trail allocation can be made. A travel cost model (TCM) is used to estimate the economic benefits, measured by consumer surplus, to the users of mountain bike trails near Moab, Utah.
Mountain Biking as a Means to Encourage Public Health and Wellbeing
This manuscript explains how mountain biking is related to public health and the issues underlying trail access in the United States.
The Physiology of Mountain Biking
In recent years, competitive mountain biking has attracted the interest of sport scientists, and a small but growing number of physiological studies have been published. The aim of this review is to provide a synthesis of this literature and directions for future research.
Adapting to the New Economy: The Impacts of Mountain Bike Tourism in Oakridge, Oregon
Oakridge provides but one example of a rural community experiencing economic and social decline.
