The National Academy of Sciences says in an upcoming report that outdoors activities are being replaced by television, the Internet and video games. This is especially troubling when you consider how little time children spend outdoors.

The study, funded by The Nature Conservancy and set to be published this week, includes data that is kind of dated (1981-1991). But there is nothing that would lead us to believe that anything has changed.

The Nature Conservancy says in its news release:

They found that beginning between 1981 and 1991 there was a decline in per capita nature recreation, dropping at rates ranging from one to 1.3 percent per year, depending on the activity studied. The typical drop in nature use since then has been between 18 and 25 percent.

The researchers said they are concerned that if people do not experience nature in person, they won't be as interested in conservation and ecological issues as past generations have been.

The AP reports:

For example, fishing peaked in 1981 and had declined 25 percent by 2005, the researchers found. Visits to national parks peaked in 1987 and dropped 23 percent by 2006, while hiking on the Appalachian Trial peaked in 2000 and was down 18 percent by 2005.

Japan suffered similar declines, the researchers found, as visits to national parks there dropped by 18 percent between 1991 and 2005.

There was a small growth in backpacking, but that may reflect day trips by some people who previously were campers. ... While fishing declined, hunting held onto most of its market.

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