The Outdoor Foundation of America has put out its 2011 Outdoor Recreation Participation Top-line Report. The study says that some 137.9 million Americans of 6 years of age and older participated in at least one outdoor activity in 2010. Altogether the report indicates that there were around 10.1 billion outdoor outings last year with a nice increase in action sports such as kayaking, climbing and backcountry activities. The really good news is that the participation was even up in the iPad generation of younger people between 13 and 24 years. The participation remained stable at the level of 2008, but recorded a strong improvement of ethnic groups such as African-Americans, Hispanics and people of Asian origin who now contribute a 30 percent share to the total community of outdoor enthusiasts in the U.S.
