As the political, economic and cultural fabric of all regions of the British Columbia landscape grows more sophisticated, legislative remedies to environmental issues will become more difficult to execute. If our society's values towards resources are to change, the resource protection field may need to evolve from legislated protection to cultural protection based on appreciation and peer pressure. In this regard, natural park sites have the potential to influence the values which will be carried beyond that particular site. Protective attitudes towards the environment often grow out of a feeling of connection to, and an understanding of, particular places. The act of conferring park status on a natural place acknowledges that we consider it to be special and hence worthy of protection. The way in which this environment is planned, designed and managed has the potential to demonstrate environmental protection values while educating people about the natural world and our impact upon it. Retaining the true "spirit of place" in a natural area park is a worthy goal but often difficult to achieve. In British Columbia's Provincial Park System, a dual mandate to provide for recreational pursuits while protecting the environment creates problems for staff who must fulfill what is often a conflicting prescription. A detailed policy framework for facilities, based on explicitly examined values, would provide direction for decision making about park facilities. This thesis looks at the topic of retaining a "sense of place" in natural area parks, examines the issue of values and tradeoffs in park management, and offers a planning framework to operationalize the B.C. Parks mandate to protect and present provincial parks.

This thesis explores the nature of public access rights for outdoor recreation in New Zealand. It aims to improve understanding of these rights by examining the New Zealand public policy framework for public access, the social constructions of access rights and the interaction of these dimensions via analysis of two contemporary New Zealand access issues: the foreshore access debate and the state-sponsored Land Access Review. An institutional arrangements framework forms the study�s conceptual basis and is critiqued for its value in the examination of rights of public access. Multiple qualitative methods were employed to collect data, including interviews with access actors, submission analysis, examination of public policy documents and critical interpretation of the access discourse within the mass media. Key themes from the international access literature are identified and the disparate nature of much of this research is highlighted. Within New Zealand, public access represents an area of research neglect. This thesis provides the first comprehensive study of rights of public access for outdoor recreation in New Zealand. A threshold has been reached in the evolution of access rights in New Zealand. Societal changes are perceived to be reducing the public�s traditional rights to access land for outdoor recreation. Owing to the importance of these rights within conceptions of New Zealand national identity, the Government is codifying access rights in a bid to protect them. Thus a shift in access arrangements is occurring, from reliance upon social customs to increasing use of public policy instruments. Access rights are being renegotiated within a highly contested environment. The debate is being staged within the political arena and via the national news media; access has become a significant national issue. As a result, the level of engagement has shifted from localised access transactions between landholders and recreationists, to a national discussion regarding competing rights to land. Access actors have reacted in different ways to the reforms of access arrangements, driven by the manner in which the proposals affect their property rights, social values and norms. Some reactions have been strident and confrontational. Inadequate public policy arrangements for access have created the 'space' for these multiple social constructions of access to develop. Convergence of a disparate and poorly enforced access public policy framework with varying social representations of access rights is influencing the access outcomes. The 'place' of public access within New Zealand society occurs at the intersection of several strongly-held cultural traditions, including private property rights, Maori customary rights, and a belief that it is a birthright to freely access the outdoors. The tension between these values underpins New Zealand�s unique (and changing) manifestation of the rights of the public to access land for recreation.

Thesis (M. Env. St.)--University of Adelaide, Mawson Graduate Centre for Environmental Studies, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (last 2 leaves ).

Master's thesis - - State University of New York College at Cortland, 2007 - - Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies . / Includes bibliographical references (p. 130-5).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 1994. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 119-127). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Indiana University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 183-192). Also available online (PDF file) by a subscription to the set or by purchasing the individual file.

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Detroit Mercy, 2010. / "30 April 2010". Includes bibliographical references (p. 136-138).

Thesis--University of Wisconsin--Stevens Point, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 99).

Thesis--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 200-210).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1961. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 152-154).