ABSTRACT
Statistics of outdoor recreation use are mostly available in terms of visits to recreation areas or of factors associated with use. The emphasis is on quantity, and there is an almost implicit assumption that the quality of the outdoor recreation remains constant. However, quality is neither constant nor unchanging. An increase in the number of visits to an area does not necessarily mean that the output of the area is increased, if output is measured in terms of total satisfaction, i.e., if it is regarded as the product of the number of visits and quality per visit. An increase in visits may be accompanied by crowding and therefore by a reduction in quality. In that case, total satisfaction might increase, but not in the same proportion as use, or it could even decline.
