Sustaining Visitor Use in Protected Areas: Future Opportunities in Recreation Ecology Research Based on the USA Experience

Abstract

Recreation ecology, the study of environmental consequences of outdoor recreation activities and their effective management, is a relatively new field of scientific study having emerged over the last 50 years. During this time, numerous studies have improved our understanding of how use-related, environmental and managerial factors affect ecological conditions and processes. Most studies have focused on vegetation and soil responses to recreation-related trampling on trails and recreation sites using indicators such as percent vegetation cover and exposed mineral soil. This applied approach has and will continue to yield important information for land managers. However, for the field to advance, more attention needs to be given to other ecosystem attributes and to the larger aspects of environmental conservation occurring at landscape scales. This article is an effort at initiating a dialog on needed advances in the field. We begin by reviewing broadly generalizable knowledge of recreation ecology, to separate what is known from research gaps. Then, based on the authors' perspective of research in the USA and North America, several research directions are suggested as essential for continued progress in this field including theoretical development, broadening scale, integration with other disciplines, and examination of synergistic effects.

Effects of extreme natural events on the provision of ecosystem services in a mountain environment: The importance of trail design in delivering system resilience and ecosystem service co-benefits

“…Recreation opportunities can be maximised by the implementation of appropriate management actions including development and maintenance of National Park infrastructure (Niedziałkowski et al, 2014;Rannow et al, 2014;Watson et al, 2014). Many studies have also identified proper trail management as enhancing recreational use of National Parks (Dixon et al, 2004;Hawes et al, 2013;Leung and Marion, 2000;Leung, 2001, 2004;Monz et al, 2010;Pickering et al, 2010). Most of these previous works were related to the overall problem of trail condition and degradation related to their utilization (e.g.…”

“…These problems have been described from all around the world (e.g. Arrowsmith and Inbakaran, 2002;Ballantyne and Pickering, 2015;Belnap, 1998;Cole, 1993;Dixon et al, 2004;Hill and Pickering, 2006;Marion, 1996, 2000;Marion et al, 1993;Monz et al, 2010;Ólafsdóttir and Runnström, 2013;Özcan et al, 2013;Pickering et al, 2010;Tomczyk, 2011;Tomczyk and Ewertowski, 2013b). Extreme weather events, particularly intense rainfall, have similar adverse effects on trails.…”

Quantifying short-term surface changes on recreational trails: The use of topographic surveys and ‘digital elevation models of differences’ (DODs)

“…This topic has been the subject of numerous studies, with an extensive overview having been provided by several publications (e.g. Marion, 1996, 2000;Sun and Walsh, 1998;Orams, 2002;Cole, 2004;Davenport and Davenport, 2006;Pstrocka and Rak, 2006;Pickering et al, 2010;Monz et al, 2010).…”

Standards of quality for outdoor recreation in Tatra National Park: a contribution to integrated visitor monitoring and management

“…Social carrying capacity of visitors can be framed in terms of visitor standards for certain environmental or social conditions of recreational areas, based on normative theory adapted from social sciences (Manning & Freimund 2004;Manning 2013). This concept is related to the emergence of a new field -recreation ecology, which studies the impacts of outdoor recreation on natural or semi-natural environments and their effective management (Monz et al 2010). Studies on this topic originating from North America represent well comparable and focused research efforts with a long research history.…”