MADISON, Wis. — The pandemic had a lot of people turning to outdoor recreation. The Wisconsin Office of Outdoor Recreation and outdoor recreation retailers expect that to continue. 

Darren Bush, owner of Rutabaga Paddlesports in Madison, said the past year during the pandemic has been challenging.

“Challenging in different ways,” Bush said.

Different because normally his business is working on marketing and trying to appeal to that next customer. This past year, a new challenge.

“In this case it's been trying to get into the supply chain and trying to get boats,” Bush said.

Bush said his business is well positioned because they have good relationships with their suppliers, but a rush to the outdoors by people looking for pandemic safe actives coupled with some manufacturing and shipping slowdowns have created supply issues.

“One is increased demand and the other there's only so many people that can make boats,” Bush said.

It's not just paddle sports either, Nationwide and in Wisconsin people have been getting outdoors over the past year.

“We believe this trend will continue, particularly in Wisconsin due to our incredible array of natural wonders,” said Mary Monroe Brown, director of the Wisconsin Office of Outdoor Recreation.

Brown said state park passes up were 42% last year. Fishing licenses up 11%.Total camping nights up nearly 7%, despite many campgrounds being closed in early days of pandemic. The DNR even reports bird watching has been up significantly.

“They say 30 days is a habit, 6 months is a lifestyle, and now that we're a year past this pandemic in this country, all signs point to the fact that we've made the decision to seek the outdoors for access to wide open spaces,” Brown said.

All of that extra time on lakes, trails, and parks has a big economic impact.

“We see that grow in many ways through that ecosystem along the way of manufacturing the product to experiencing the product to experiencing a community in which you can use that product,” Brown said.

The Office of Outdoor Recreation said a lot of the push outdoors is from people who have not experienced them much before. Rutabaga Paddlesports noticed that too.

“A lot of people were new to the sport, which was very wonderful for us, we love getting new people into sport,” Bush said.

While some predict outdoor recreation to come back down as people get vaccinated, Bush doesn't think so.

“It is going to continue because those people that got into it are going to keep doing,” Bush said.