Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Timothy Keane / When visiting a national park, what do you expect to see? Beautiful views of scenery, or long lines for crowded overlooks and massive parking lots overflowing with people? With the current state of most national parks, you will most likely be in for all three. Within the last hundred years, the national parks have offered visitors a chance to escape the hustle and bustle of life by offering a place outside of crowded cities and sprawling suburbs. But the increasing popularity of the National Parks comes with a cost: a decline in the nature experience as parks become more crowded and parking lots become more sprawling. What are the impacts of visitors on the national parks, and how can the NPS reduce these impacts? This report begins with background research to determine what impacts visitors have on the National Parks, as well as the strategies and practices park management uses to help combat the negative impacts of visitors. Next, park profiles of 8 of the top visited parks in the nation were developed to understand more about the history of each park, and what impact mitigation practices they have used in the past. Using Manning and Anderson’s matrix for identifying and organizing information about the issues in the national parks and the management strategies and solutions an online survey and a phone interview were developed to gather information on current conditions in the most visited parks (Manning and Anderson 2012). With the information gathered from the interviews, surveys, and park profiles, a set of recommendations for the future of the national parks was identified. The objective of this research was to determine what options are available for national parks to preserve these relaxing vacation destinations for future generations.

Thesis (M. Environmental Studies)--University of Adelaide, 1983. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 454-475).

No description available.

No description available.

The National Park Service (NPS) is currently contemplating the implementation of a system-wide traffic monitoring program. While several of the national parks within this network collect continuous vehicle data at multiple stations within each park, these programs have not been examined for their efficiency and cost effectiveness. Therefore, as the NPS looks to expand their count program, this thesis investigates potential improvements using a sample set of five parks. To determine whether the national park seasonal and day-of-week traffic patterns exhibit consistency from one year to the next, the seasonal and day-of-week factors were compared across all five years. Using the Kruskal-Wallis test, it was determined that the seasonal and day-of-week factors were not statistically different from 2002 to 2006 for all five national parks. Therefore, it is recommended that the NPS consider reducing the amount of data that they collect by using short-duration counts in conjunction with a modest number of permanent counts. To determine whether data collection efforts can be shared amongst various entities, the national park traffic counts for 2002 to 2006 were compared to those of nearby state highway automatic traffic recorder (ATR) locations using correlation analyses. While the correlation values ranged from “high” to “negligible”, the distance between the park and ATR location had a direct effect on the magnitude of the value. Therefore, in order to achieve the greatest probability that the correlation will be “high”, it is suggested that the NPS share data collection efforts using ATR locations within 20 miles of the park. To determine which design volume calculation method was most appropriate for the parks, design volumes were computed using two methods. Using the traditional Kfactor plot, it was determined that the 30th highest hourly volumes should be used for urban parks as this is where the “knee” occurs. Although this is not the case for rural parks, there is no compelling evidence to suggest a more appropriate design hour. Additionally, the method recommended by AASHTO for recreational roadways resulted in volumes that were frequently exceeded. Therefore, the K-factor plot method is most appropriate for both the urban and rural parks.

Thesis--PlanA (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis sets out to explain the establishment and., . protection of United States federal-' heritage '. land, --throughsome 200 years of conflict and `change. ý. It uses concepts,. like preservation, conservation and --exploitation. As US has .- the-- grown in area and population, pressures on land and natural resources have also intensified, particularly at times of external + and -internal strife: wars, the Depression, etc. As the exploitative pressures grew, a counterbalancing response arose from the preservationists. Various federal agencies have a role in protecting heritage land, none more so than the National Park Service since Its founding in 1916. Its achievements and problems, and Its relations with the other agencies, are discussed in some detail. From one point of view, heritage land Is a location for recreation or contemplation. Others regard It as a potential source of exploitable wealth, specially in its timber mineral and water resources. These opposed positions may be understood in terms of a theory that the countervailing forces of land exploitation and land protection were (and are) expressed politically in the conflict and Interdependence of heritage land protection. More recently, environmental problems have arisen at a global level, suggesting that the preservation : exploitation symbiosis is of relevance there as well. It Is possible that large, though comparatively local, environmental issues in the United States could be resolved through the Interplay of local and global politics.

Project report (M. For.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1990. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 144-147). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.Env.St.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Geography and Environmental Studies, 2000. / Bibliography: leaves 106-109.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 386 p.; also includes graphics (some col.). Includes bibliographical references (p. 312-322). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center