Self-reported participation in outdoor and nature-based recreation before and during the COVID-19 pandemic supports psychological health and well-being

•Outdoor and nature-based recreation declined during the COVID-19 pandemic.•Mental health and subjective well-being generally declined during the pandemic.•Outdoor recreation pre-COVID-19 buffered against declines in well-being.•Outdoor recreation during the pandemic alleviated declines in well-being.•Women and Hispanics experienced greater impacts to well-being during the pandemic. Restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered daily lives and affected human health and well-being. Outdoor and nature-based activities could potentially mitigate some of these negative impacts. To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on outdoor recreation and subjective well-being, we combined two samples of U.S. adults collected from April 30th - June 15th, 2020 and from August 7th - August 26th, 2020 (total n = 2178) using Qualtrics XM. During the pandemic, participation in outdoor activities declined by 35%, participation in nature-based activities declined by 33%, and subjective well-being declined by 24%. Participation in outdoor activities and nature activities prior to the pandemic and during the pandemic predicted smaller declines in subjective well-being. Results highlight the importance of outdoor recreation for building resilience to changes in subjective well-being before and during global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.