Includes bibliography. / Recreation has an important social function in modern societies, with ever-increasing pressures in the day-to-day life being felt by most people. This study addresses the impact of recreational activity on metropolitan shorelines, with particular reference to the False Bay shoreline. During summer holiday periods shoreline utilization in the Western Cape peaks on the public holidays of 26 December, 1 and 2 January, beach attendances reaching levels of 2 to 10 times higher than attendances on other days during the summer holidays. The greatest proportion of visitors to the beach (94%) engage in non-exploitative activities, such as sunbathing and swimming. Most visitors occur on the beaches between 12h00 and 16h00, week-ends being most popular during out-of-season periods, but in-season week day attendances exceed those of weekends. Only 6% of visitors surveyed were engaged in exploitative activities such as angling and bait- or food-gathering. Conservation awareness of visitors to the shore is related to the place of residence of the person, as well as activity engaged in by the person. Fish numbers and their size frequency distributions in protected areas differs to those of unprotected areas. If boulders on a sheltered shore are over-turned during bait gathering it has an adverse effect on the boulder communities, whether the boulders are replaced or left over-turned. When bait gatherers target on mussel-worms as bait, they may cause inadvertent damage to the primary matrix of mussel bed or tube-worm reef in the process, thereby affecting ecological succession processes in the intertidal environment. Management of metropolitan shorelines must therefore provide for quality recreational experiences, while applying conservation measures to selected areas that are susceptible to over-exploitation under the onslaught of ever-increasing numbers of recreationists. For such measures to be of any benefit to the marine environment, it is essential that people are not only informed, but that the regulations are also properly enforced.

Environmental issues are manifest throughout our lives. Sport is no exception. The concern for sustainable sport management has precipitated efforts to reduce the ecological footprint of sport, and to use sport to raise environmental awareness. This dissertation examines the challenges of reducing the ecological footprint of an urban recreational sport: disc golf. The project consists of four studies. The ecological degradation associated with the sport of disc golf is reported in the first study. It is shown that disc golf increases soil compaction, which yields greater soil erosion and a decrease in vegetation cover. The second study examines player behaviors, and identifies two behaviors that are clearly related to the environmental degradation, and that could be reduced without interfering with the game: (1) dragging bags with disc golf equipment along the ground, and (2) using tress as practice targets. The subculture of disc golfers is explored in the third study in order to identify characteristics of the subculture that could be leveraged to foster the desired behavioral changes. Disc golfers felt a strong sense of ownership and attachment to the park in which they played, and placed a high value on the sport and the park in which they played. However, disc golfers were unaware of the environmental effects of their behaviors. In the final study, a brochure was distributed to players that informed them about the environmental damage caused by dragging bags and using trees for target practice, and that appealed to their sense of ownership and attachment to the park in which they played. A multiple baseline study of disc golfer behaviors in three parks demonstrated that the brochure reduced the target behaviors so significantly that they were virtually extinguished. It is concluded that behavioral management strategies can be useful tools for environmental management of urban sport settings. It is suggested that appeals to supportive subcultural values enable self-policing of target behaviors. It is also noted that education can be an effective intervention when the values are supportive but player ignorance of their impact has allowed environmentally damaging behaviors to be tolerated. / text

Initially, components of an aquatic food web were examined to study impacts of recreational use on the aquatic ecology of Quartzville Creek, Oregon in 1995 and 1996. Measurements of the food web components consisted of observations of harlequin ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus), visual counts of the larval caddisfly Dicosmoecus gilvipes, benthic macroinvertebrate samples, and chlorophyll a biomass of epiphytic algae. In February 1996, a major flood forced closure of the study area to the general public throughout the 1996 season, providing a "natural experiment" situation. The difficulty was how to distinguish between effects of flood damage and effects of the presence/absence of humans. By accounting for various measured abiotic and biotic factors using multiple regression, distinctions between disturbance effects were made with regard to abundances of D. gilvipes and benthic invertebrates. Regression analysis also was used to account for annual site differences in average depth, habitat types and substrates. Generally, recreational impacts were apparent at more localized spatial and temporal scales than were effects from extensive flooding. However, scales at which these disturbances affected components of the food web varied. Impacts of the flood included an 81% reduction in overall D. gilvipes densities, a 37% decrease in benthic abundance, reduced chlorophyll a biomass, fewer numbers of ducks and changes in site substrates and habitats. These impacts occurred across all study sites and throughout the 1996 season, except for the recovery of benthic abundance to 1995 levels by July 1996. Recreational impacts were apparent at the site scale and appeared to be seasonal in duration. In 1995, sites without human use had significantly higher densities of D. gilvipes than those sites impacted by recreation. In 1996, no significant differences in D. gilvipes densities among sites were observed after accounting for flood effects and site differences. There were no direct significant relationships to human use among sites with regard to total benthic invertebrates, chlorophyll a biomass or H. histrionicus. Despite the lack of a direct spatial relationship between H. histrionicus and D. gilvipes at the local scale of this study, there were strong temporal correlations between harlequin brood development and D. gilvipes maturation. / Graduation date: 1997

This creative project presents guidelines for Rail to Trail Conversion. A preliminary plan for conversion of the CSX running from Richmond County through Delaware County, and ending in Marion County, Indiana, is presented as a case study. The line, which connects several communities and several points of interest along the railroad right-of-way, has been requested for abandonment.To keep the line for interim public use, one of the possibilities is to convert the line to trail use. The trail corridor might create a good linkage between several adjacent places, because it provides various recreational zones along the former railroad right-ofway. There will be two different kinds of trail corridor-urban and rural trail. The distinction between the two will be one of use, urban trails will be used for daily activities and rural trails usually used primarily during weekends, holidays, and vacation time.The development of trail corridor will also encourage movement of people foreither cycling or walking. Campgrounds, wildlife watching stations, scenic overlook areas, trailheads, and outdoor fitness centers are the most common auxiliary components associated with trail development. Wherever the improvement passes through communities, the communities will benefit from the improvement of retailing activities. Each improvement requires certain criteria of location and land surface.Rail to trail conversion is a costly project. In order to make the project easier and economically feasible, the project should encourage more individuals, private organizations, and public agencies to get involved with the conservation. Local newspapers, broadcast on local radio and television, and interest group workshops are the most effective means of developing support. Time is critical in developing succesful rail to trail conversion. The project should be implemented as soon as the railroad has been abandoned, in order to prevent the tracks reverting to adjacent landowners. / Department of Urban Planning