Winter in New Hampshire is changing. Snow cover is shrinking. The state has about three fewer weeks worth of snow-covered days compared to 50 years ago, and ice-out dates on Lake Winnipesaukee have crept eight days earlier. This year, it was on March 17, the earliest on record.
Meanwhile, the state’s outdoor recreation industry has grown significantly in recent years. The White Mountain National Forest has seen a nearly 50 percent increase in use from 2015 to 2020. Statewide, the sector accounts for around 30,000 jobs and is responsible for 3.2 percent of the state’s gross domestic product, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
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Visitors who come to New Hampshire to enjoy all of the outdoor recreational possibilities aren’t as worried about the changes in the climate, while those who work in the industry see cause for concern, according to a new study from the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire.
Michael Ferguson, one of the authors of the study and professor of recreation management and policy at UNH, said people working in outdoor recreation have always been keyed into environmental change. He said the findings of this study, funded by NH State Parks as an effort to plan for a changing climate, show that visitors are starting to feel the impact, too, albeit to a lesser degree.
“Visitors are becoming more awake to it,” he said. “This is both good and bad.”
The good: visitors are becoming more in tune with the impact of climate change, and environmental degradation. The bad: this suggests that the impacts from climate change are getting worse.
“It’s right in their face,” Ferguson said. “How can they miss it?”
Both groups agreed that winter is the season that has been most impacted by climate change. But outdoor recreation professionals said they perceived that the damages inflicted by storms, like downed trees and flooding, were having more of an impact than visitors did.
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And they were more concerned about extreme weather taking away access to recreation, as a result of trail closures or poor trail conditions.
“A day like today is a perfect example,” said Ferguson. “An ice blizzard in April, I would qualify that as extreme weather.”
The researchers said their findings suggest that people working in outdoor recreation “were substantially more impacted than visitors.” And some of these workers and business owners aren’t sure outdoor recreation can easily change to adjust to a changing climate.
This story first appeared in Globe NH | Morning Report, our free newsletter focused on the news you need to know about New Hampshire, including great coverage from the Boston Globe and links to interesting articles from other places. If you’d like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.
Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.