Pandemic spurs interest in great out of doors

Itmay be a tough call to find any kind of silver lining to the Covid 19 world- wide pandemic that has infected over seven million Americans, killed some 215,000 of us, and cost our economy tens of millions of jobs while wreaking havoc on so many small businesses. But for lots of folks, especially those who live in our neck of Penn’s Woods, there has been a clear and beneficial side effect: motivation to spend more time out in the great out of doors.

After all, according to our public health experts, outdoor activities are empirically less risky than those held indoors, especially if they include other people and lack social distancing. LastMarch when the disease really started to take hold, the state shut down and forced bars, restaurants, movie theatres, gyms, bowling alleys, sporting events, schools, and many businesses to close. This left plenty of people with excess free time on their hands and precious few options about what to do with it. The solution: put on those hiking or biking shoes, grab that fishing rod, launch those canoes and kayaks, and get busy exploring the wilds afield and afloat outside your window. I mean, really, under the cloud of Covid this spring and summer, other than staring at a TV or computer screen, what else was there to do?

Anecdotal evidence that exponentially more folks in our corner of the state ( in far greater numbers than in a normal, non- pandemic year) comes from my hiking, biking, and riding around my regular Chester County outdoor haunts. Improving springlike weather in early April sparked gridlock in the parking lots of the Brandywine Red Clay Alliance Myrick Conservation grounds and the Natural Lands Cheslen Preserve properties where countless numbers of people, eager to reacquaint themselves with the outdoors, steadily flocked to enjoy the myriad hiking trails that are the hallmark of these facilities and others here in Chester County.

While the popularity of communing with nature afield and afoot soared to new heights here, other folks took to the water to explore the natural world while afloat. TheWest Branch of the Brandywine Creek is visible fromour back deck here in Northbrook, and this year it has boasted what appears to be record numbers of canoers, kayakers, and tubers. While many of these paddlers were do- it- yourselfers, most of them ( particularly the tubers) were patrons of the Northbrook Canoe Company that, once permitted to open under certain Covid restrictions, enjoyed a huge uptick in business this summer. On my outings this spring and summer, I would always find the creek habitually carpeted with boat traffic. Although these crafts included both kayaks and canoes making the downstream trip from Embreeville, Corcoran’s Bridge, or Harvey’s Bridge to Northbrook, most folks from the Embreeville launch were leisurely riding the current on an armada of orange inner tubes.

Another outdoor activity that seems to be trending upward is nature photography. Evidence that shutterbugs are on the job in the woods and on the water can be found, among other places, on the pages of many of our Facebook friends posting photos of everything from natural scenery to wildlife to the catch of the day. And now, with the leaves changing color, expect an army of photographers to be out there capturing the favor of the autumn season.

For more empirical evidence that the pandemic has spurred increased interest in the outdoors, just take a look at the increase in the sales of Pennsylvania’s fishing and hunting license this year. To that end the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission reported an 18.74 percent increase across all categories of fishing licenses, up 147,445 to 934,238 this year. Licenses bought by Pennsylvanians were up 22.98 percent, up 138,897 to 743,348 this year. The agency also reported a 50% increase in boating registrations. The PF& BC’s sister agency, the Pennsylvania Game Commission reported a 7.94 percent increase across all license categories, up 162,747 to 2,211,709. General hunting licenses, the basic license that all hunters must buy, were up 4.82 percent, increasing by 26,258 to 570,789. Similar upward trends in these license saleswere also reported by most other states. Whether these upward trends continue in future years once this pandemic finally passes remains to be seen.

PHOTO COURTESY TOM TATUM Interest in fishing and the growth of fishing license sales have trended up during the pandemic.

PHOTO COURTESY TOM TATUM Canoeing, tubing, and kayaking on the Brandywine Creek is one of the outdoor activities spurred by Covid 19.