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People and Nature-Based Recreation

Richard Louv (2005), in his popular book Last Child in the Woods, sparked a national dialogue about the importance of nature for children. In the past 20–30 years, lifestyle changes have contributed to rising rates of obesity, impaired social skills, and increased stress leading to negative influences on the lives of children, adults, and families. Some of these issues have been attributed to the lack of connection that people have with nature. Louv referred to this condition as nature deficit disorder. As the evidence mounts that reconnecting children to nature is important, the potential of nature-based recreation for enhancing the lives of all individuals should be considered. The focus of this special issue of Leisure Sciences is on examining and re-examining the nexus of people and nature related to recreation and leisure. Although past leisure research has focused on the human dimensions of outdoor recreation environments, this special issue addresses expanded ways to understand nature and recreation as a milieu for leisure development among diverse groups of people. Dustin, Bricker, and Schwab’s invited article outlines an ecological approach to health promotion. They contend that being in the outdoors is important to individual health as well as to the health of the planet. Their essay calls for new leisure research approaches to address how outdoor environments contribute to health promotion in a myriad of ways. Using a gender-based qualitative interview design, Cosgriff, Little, and Wilson explored the context of outdoor leisure for Aotearoa-New Zealand women. These researchers showed how nature might be re-examined with a focus on connections to nature through sensory experiences, being part of nature, and in using a variety of words to explain its meanings. Dorwart, Moore, and Lueng examined visitors’ perceptions to determine how these perceptions affected recreation experiences along a trail. A visitor employed photography opportunity and a post-trip interview showed that participants noticed both negative and